Being a successful indie author, working full-time, and raising two children may sound impossible, but not for K.C. McMillian. We had the pleasure of speaking with this fantasy and romance writer, who somehow manages to balance it all. Her journey is truly inspiring!
She has a big imagination, a deep love for storytelling, and the courage to keep chasing her dream. Read on to learn more about her life, her challenges, her books, and what comes next.
From a childhood dream to finally doing it
For K.C. McMillian, writing started as a dream when she was young. In fifth grade, she wanted to be a screenwriter for plays, TV, or movies. But as she got older, self-doubt got in the way, and that dream slipped into the background.
That changed in 2022.
After her husband’s grandmother passed away, K.C. found herself thinking deeply about one conversation they had before her death. Her husband’s grandmother said she had lived her life, done what she wanted to do, and was ready. That stayed with K.C. It made her ask herself a hard question: If something happened to her, had she done everything she truly wanted to do? The answer was no.
That was the moment she decided she wanted to become an author and write her first book.
Writing about what feels real
The themes K.C. keeps coming back to are mental health, found family, grief, and strong bonds between people. These topics matter to her because they come from real emotions and real experiences.
She has shared that many of the traumatic moments her characters go through are connected to things she has gone through, too, or to things that carry the same kind of pain. In Seventeen, for example, Claudette discusses bullying and colorism, and K.C. has experienced both.
In Is Love Enough?, Reign struggles to forgive family members who have hurt her. That also came from something personal. K.C. was dealing with those same feelings in her own life while writing the book.
That is part of what makes her stories feel honest.
Between fantasy and romance
K.C. writes both fantasy and romance, though her relationship with those genres has changed over time.
At first, she thought fantasy would be easier for her. She did not really see herself as a romance author. Romance felt harder because it made her look inward. She could not rely on fantasy elements to carry the story. She had to dig deeper into feelings and relationships. That challenge became part of her growth.
With encouragement from her husband and her best friend, K.C. let herself explore romance more. And over time, she realized she did not really understand how to write romance until she wrote Is Love Enough?
Now, she feels good writing both fantasy and romance. But these days, she says she enjoys writing romance more.
A process that starts with characters
K.C. McMillian’s stories usually do not begin with a full plot. They often start with a conversation in her head.
She might be watching something or reading when a scene suddenly comes to her. Once the two main characters have names, the story begins to take shape. She starts to see certain moments clearly. In fantasy, that could be a magical fight scene. In romance, it could be the moment two characters fall in love.
K.C. does outline, but not in a strict way. Now she keeps track of important details such as appearance, personality, and other key facts, while leaving room for the story to develop naturally. A lot of the time, the characters end up taking over and leading her in a different direction than she first planned.
She also works on more than one book at a time. Usually, she focuses on the one that is closest to release, while writing down ideas for the others as they come.
Making writing fit real life
The author’s writing life is built around real life, not perfect writing conditions. K.C. McMillian works full-time during the week and is also raising two young children. So writing has to happen when it can. She keeps a notebook close by and writes ideas down whenever they come to her.
Most of her actual writing time happens on Sundays. Usually, K.C. writes for one to four hours, depending on what is going on with her husband and kids. She used to try writing every day after work, but that became too much. So she found a rhythm that worked better for her.
That same honesty shows up in how she talks about being an indie author. What she likes most is being able to control when her books come out. But she is also very open about the hard part. For her, writing is easier than marketing. Promotion is still something she is figuring out.
How she keeps going on hard days
K.C. McMillian is very honest about what it feels like to be a writer. She has said that the thought of giving up can come every day. But even then, it never seems to last. A new idea comes, she gets excited again, and she writes it down.
The author also gives a lot of credit to the people around her. Her husband, her best friend, and other authors help her keep going, especially when self-doubt gets loud.
K.C. brings that same mindset to reviews. She reads all of them—good, bad, and in between. Some can be hard to read, but she still tries to take something from them. For her, criticism can hurt, but it can also teach.
At the same time, she is honest that self-doubt does not just disappear. Good reviews and kind words help, but they do not always silence that inner voice. Still, she keeps writing. She keeps learning. She keeps showing up. And that says a lot about the kind of author she is.
What comes next for K.C. McMillian
K.C. McMillian already has a lot ahead of her. The next story she is thinking about is connected to Is Love Enough? It will focus on Trent Collins and Love Williams, two characters she describes as part of a very emotional and raw story about two people brought together by similar trauma.
She also has a lot of other projects in mind: a four-book romance series made up of standalones, four holiday romance novellas, an adult fantasy standalone, and a young adult dark fantasy novel, which she believes may be her last YA book.
Along with that, she has two dystopian ideas and a dark romance in the back of her mind, though she is not yet sure if she will write them.
And when it comes to her biggest dream, her answer is simple: she hopes more people will find her books and enjoy them.
If K.C. McMillian could speak to her younger self—the girl who was just starting to dream of becoming a published author—she would not speak with doubt. She would speak with love and reassurance:
Case Study: Bringing Magic is Real to Life
And, by the way, Miblart also had the pleasure of helping K.C. McMillian with the cover design for her Magic is Real series. This young adult fantasy world is filled with magic, witches, spellbooks, potion bottles, daggers, and more.
Book One — Seventeen
For the first book, Seventeen, K.C. already had a clear vision. She wanted the Sun, Moon, and Earth to overlap. She also wanted a blue color palette with gold swirls.
After the first concept, the author asked for some changes, for example:
- Make the entire cover blue
- Remove the golden swirls at the bottom
- Make the magic wand smaller
- Change the title typography so that not all letters are capitalized
- Add more sparkles in a star shape, and three spell books
- Make the sun and moon symbols bigger
- Move the author’s name lower.
These edits helped shape the final design and bring it closer to the magical, polished look K.C. had in mind.
Book Two — Earth
For the second book, Earth, the direction was already more defined because the first cover had established the series’ style.
K.C. wanted Earth to match Seventeen. The main difference was the color palette. This time, she wanted brown and gold instead of blue. She also wanted the cover to look like Seventeen, but with Earth Spells as the front book instead of Moon Spells.
When the concept was ready, the author requested only a few changes:
- Change the blue books to brown
- Make the magic swirl lighter.
And now, let’s enjoy the full series together!
Wrapping up
We hope you enjoyed learning more about K.C. McMillian, her writing, and her life behind the books. Let us know in the comments what stood out to you the most.
And if you would like to keep up with K.C. McMillian and become part of her reader community, here are all the links you may need:
Also, make sure to check out her books:
