Hi. I'm L.A. Walton. Most People Call Me The Book Maven. My Inner Critic Calls Me Other Things, But We Don't Listen to Him.

My first novel took six years. Not because it was a masterwork of literary complexity — but because I was so afraid of being judged that I kept "polishing" it until the polish was the only thing left. Somewhere around year four, I realized the problem was never the manuscript. It was me. More specifically, it was the voice in my head — the one I now affectionately call Gerald — that kept whispering, "Who do you think you are?"

So I did what any reasonable person would do. I told Gerald to sit down. I finished the book. Then I helped someone else finish theirs. Then another. Then another.

I have been writing for as long as I can remember — but my journey as a playwright began over 18 years ago. Long before I ever considered going public with any of it, I was writing original plays and quietly donating them to drama clubs in underserved areas. It was never about recognition. It was about making sure young people who didn't have access to the arts could still experience the power of live storytelling. That has always been my mission at its most essential.

Writing is not just what I do. It is how I process the world, how I make sense of joy and pain, how I leave something behind that matters. As a playwright, author, screenwriter, director, composer, songwriter, narrator, voice actor, educator, and entrepreneur — all of these are different expressions of the same woman, the same drive, the same story told in different languages.

The Book Maven is my professional brand as a writing coach, author, and writing mindset mentor — and it is the most personal of everything I do, because it asks me to stand in front of other writers and say: I see your struggle, because I have lived it.

My work as The Book Maven is built around addressing the roots of creative blocks directly. I help writers dismantle the mental and emotional obstacles that keep them from putting words on the page, finishing what they start, and building a creative life that actually sustains them. Under The Book Maven, I offer writing coaching, mentorship, eCourses, and monthly themed content designed to meet writers exactly where they are.

I am not teaching from a textbook. I am teaching from a life spent in the trenches of the creative process. When I tell a writer that it is possible to keep going, to build something real, to survive doubt and difficulty and still produce meaningful work — I am not offering theory. I am offering evidence.

In 2008, I launched Splat Books Publishing — not because someone told me to, but because I needed a way to publish my own work on my own terms. Self-publishing was, at the time, still largely misunderstood. I understood it immediately. I understood that owning your creative work, distributing it without gatekeepers, and building a direct relationship with your readers was not a consolation prize — it was power.

Over time, the business grew and evolved, and I rebranded as Inked Oracle Books — a name that better reflects who I am now. Inked Oracle Books is my official online bookstore, carrying the full breadth of my catalog across adult fiction, children's books, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and more. After three years away during my health journey, it is relaunching — and beginning Fall 2026, I will be opening Inked Oracle Books to my Book Maven clients, offering them a curated platform to sell their own books.