When My Novel Found Its Champions
A Love Letter to the Passionistas, Amy & Nancy Harrington
I'll never forget the moment I realized I was sitting with two women who genuinely saw my book.
Not the version I hoped it could be.
Not the polished thing I wanted to present to the world.
But the messy, beautiful, heartbreaking story I'd actually written—with all its promise and all its problems laid bare on the table between us.
That's the gift Amy and Nancy Harrington gave me during our beta feedback session for The Wind Sings Sorrow. And honestly? Their invaluable commentary helped me polish the first novel in this series into the potent, raw, and far more tight knit version it is today.
The Story Behind the Story
Let me back up for a second because I realize I have done a really poor job sharing about this novel so far (more on that mindset stuff in later blogs, cuz trust me I’m thinking about it).
This universe has been living in my head since I was a teenager. I wrote the first and second books in this world in my early twenties—the origin story of my character Sahj and her eventual meeting with Zos—only to have it tangled up with an ex who convinced me it wasn't good without him.
For years, I avoided the story I really wanted to tell. I moved away from the universe I’d built over a decade. I wrote other things. I circled around it. I was terrified of it.
That was until last summer, when I decided to write a queer pirate story. At first, it was going to be set on historical Earth during the real pirate age, featuring a fantastic trans masc ship captain and a whole fabulous crew. I figured what better excuse to be pirates than when society doesn’t except you for how you dress or who you love.
Instead, my partner Justin gently encouraged me to return to my universe—the one where characters like Sahj and Zos lived.
And so it was a new origin story was written. I set The Wind Sings Sorrow in my universe, a prequel to the Sahj story and the origin of Zos.
And in three days—three days—I wrote the first nine chapters. Then the 2024 election happened, and I crashed. Hard.
When I finally came back to the manuscript in 2025, I realized I'd written something prophetic, raw, and deeply personal. I also realized I had no idea if it actually worked.
Enter the Passionistas.
What Makes Amy & Nancy Different
Here's what I wish everyone could know about Amy and Nancy: they're not just coaches or workshop facilitators. They're master storytellers with Hollywood credentials that would make anyone's jaw drop—and they use that expertise not to gatekeep, but to lift others up.
Amy rose through the ranks to become VP of Post Production and Visual Effects at Warner Bros., working on the Batman, Matrix, and Harry Potter franchises. Nancy founded her own graphic design firm and ran a successful theater company before creating Academy Award ad campaigns for Miramax.
But more than that? They're sisters. Their sisterhood is their superpower and their teaching. Watching them work together showed me what true collaboration looks like: two brilliant minds that amplify rather than compete, support rather than diminish.
And they've built something truly special with The Passionistas Project—a community where women and non-binary folks can tell their unfiltered stories and lift each other up in the process.
When they offered to read my manuscript and give me feedback, I knew I was getting something invaluable and rare—honest, skilled, compassionate attention from people who understand both the craft of storytelling and the vulnerability of sharing your truth.
The Magic of Being Truly Seen
Our feedback session was supposed to be an hour. We talked for nearly two hours because they cared that much about helping me get it right.
Amy and Nancy didn't just tell me what worked and what didn't. They asked me about my vision. They wanted to understand what I was trying to accomplish before they suggested anything.
Amy's visual effects background came through in unexpected ways—she immediately understood how Sprogit's mobility technology could work visually in future adaptations, helping me think through the mechanics in a way that strengthened the writing itself. That's the gift of working with people who've actually built worlds for major franchises—they know how to make impossible things feel real.
"This is the story you want to tell," Amy reminded me more than once. "Not a story we want you to tell. We can write our own damn book."
That kind of respect and integrity? That's everything in a world that largely tries to get us to conform.
Throughout our conversation, Nancy's affirming presence was equally powerful. While Amy articulated detailed craft notes with her post-production precision, Nancy saw the bigger picture—the universe I was building, the heart of what I was trying to say.
"I love the whole concept of the series and the whole universe,” Nancy assured me, “and I can't wait to see it unfold. I'm really looking forward to it."
Since I experienced being shut down in the past to build someone else up, it was entirely unexpected and so supportive to have my own work’s strengths highlighted! Then, they were able to unpack some of the manuscripts weaknesses, all while continuing to see ME.
They helped me understand that the emotional climax scene I'd struggled with for weeks needed to center one of my main character’s voices, rather than the side character that suddenly took center stage. They pointed out that my readers needed action beats throughout the book, not just at the beginning. They caught the places where I was teasing future plot points too heavily, making readers frustrated instead of intrigued.
Then Amy looked misty eyed while talking about one of Ashton's chapters, and I realized she wasn't just reading my book as an editor. She was experiencing it as a human being. She felt these characters. And she saw me in them, too.
"I feel really super connected with [Ashton]," Amy told me, even though she knew almost nothing about his past based on this first book. "I actually cried more because of him than anybody else."
That's when I knew I'd created something real. Something that mattered. And Amy and Nancy were helping me make it even better.
Being Supported in Community
What moves me most about The Passionistas Project isn't just Amy and Nancy's expertise—it's the community they've built. Through their podcast, their Power of Passionistas® women's equality summit, their online sisterhood and beyond, they've created a space where vulnerability is celebrated.
They've conducted over 1,500 celebrity interviews—which means they've spent thousands of hours learning how to truly listen, how to ask the right questions, and how to create space for authentic voices.
But they've also pivoted their entire mission to lift up the stories of everyday women and non-binary people—people like me, people like you—because they believe that when we share our authentic voices, we transform not just our own lives, but the world around us.
Their feedback on my novel reflected that philosophy. They didn't try to make The Wind Sings Sorrow fit a template or follow a formula. They helped me honor what was already there while strengthening the elements that would help readers connect with Atalanta, Barifka, Zos, Sprogit, Ashton, Jian, and the rest of their found family.
"You've done the hard part," Amy told me at the end of our call. "You made us care about the characters. The rest is just moving the furniture around."
That might be the most encouraging thing anyone's ever said to me about my writing.
I will keep going. I will share the stories of these characters. I will allow the unfolding of this universe to happen knowing I’ve created something meaningful.
I will forever be grateful for Amy & Nancy Harrington—for seeing my work when I couldn't see it myself, for respecting my vision while helping me strengthen it, for modeling what sisterhood and creative collaboration can be. Their feedback, community, and genuine care didn't just improve my manuscript. They reminded me why I write in the first place: to tell stories that matter, in a world that needs more voices like ours.
All My Love,
Safrianna Lughna (aka AJ Eastwood)
Join us at this FREE workshop!
Your Story Matters Too
Whether you're writing a novel, building a business, or simply trying to figure out how to share your truth with the world, storytelling is your superpower. But so many of us get stuck—afraid our story isn't good enough, isn't interesting enough, or isn't enough period.
Amy and Nancy specialize in helping people get unstuck. They help you find the heart of your story and share it in a way that resonates. And they're offering a FREE 60-minute workshop on November 19 at 7pm EST / 4pm PST called Storytelling for Women and Non-Binary Coaches & Business Owners.
If you've ever felt like your story is just sitting there instead of helping you connect with your ideal clients or community, this workshop is for you. You'll learn how storytelling builds trust and influence faster than facts alone, and you'll walk away with practical tools you can use immediately.
And Speaking of Stories...
If you want to see what all this feedback helped create, I have a handful of first edition prints of The Wind Sings Sorrow left! This is Book One of Ter'Ahn's Chosen—an adult science fantasy climate fiction novel about a woman gifted with the power to control winds and speak with the planet herself, leading her polycrew to restore life to desert wastelands while fighting an enemy with resources beyond imagination.
It's post-apocalyptic fiction where healing is possible, love takes many forms, and the Earth fights back. It features elemental magic, polyamorous relationships, found family bonds, and characters across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.
Thanks to Amy and Nancy's feedback, it's also a story that will (hopefully!) keep you turning pages while making you feel deeply connected to these characters I love so much.
