Richard White

THE BLACK FILE

Exploring covert operations, fractured identities, and the stories governments bury An internal dispatch for thriller writers CLASSIFICATION: Restricted DISTRIBUTION: Cleared storytellers, narrative architects, and those willing to look beneath the surface SUBJECT: Constructing espionage fiction with archival weight and psychological precision I. OPENING STATEMENT Most …

The Shadow Directive

INTELLIGENCE DISPATCH — PUBLIC RELEASE After years of building stories in the shadows, the operation has officially begun. I’ve launched my first subscription publication on Substack: The Shadow Directive. This is where I’ll be sharing classified-style briefings on espionage thrillers, tradecraft, covert history, and behind-the-scenes …

📚 Indie Authors — Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Writing Room…

Right now one of the biggest conversations in the indie publishing world is this: How much should authors rely on the big platforms vs. building their own direct connection with readers? For years many of us have leaned heavily on places like Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, …

March of the Writers – Day 9: How Do You Recharge? ⚡✍️

March of the Writers – Day 9: How Do You Recharge? ⚡✍️ by Richard White Read on Substack We all hit that point where the mind and body just need a reset. Writing, creating, and building ideas takes energy, and if we don’t recharge, the …

A Call to Writers: Let’s Build Something Together

Across quiet rooms and late-lit desks, stories are already being written.Not at the perfect moment. Not when the path is clear. Simply now—in the middle of hardship, in the slow turning toward hope, in the deep and restless need to speak. Writers who work in …

A Year Tempered by Wind and Ink

A reflective year in review and a look ahead to 2026—new poetry, Whiskey and the Winter Wind, and the launch of The Gemini Project, an MFA thesis novel exploring truth, power, and deception.

Whiskey and the Winter Wind: A Slow Return to Self

There was a time when the wind was kinder. Whiskey and the Autumn Wind was written in that in-between season—when the air still carried warmth, when loss felt survivable, when reflection arrived with falling leaves instead of ice. Those poems lingered in amber light and …

When the Wheels Fall Off (Literally and Figuratively)

Life’s been a whirlwind lately—between my Master’s program, EMS shifts, and book marketing, I feel like a tornado that finally stopped spinning. My old truck is gone, my new Dodge Avenger is here, and The Quiet After the Sirens continues to reach hearts.

“The Quiet After the Sirens: A Personal and Psychological Study in Post-Traumatic Growth”

I did not write this memoir to relive the trauma—I wrote it to survive it. When I sat down to tell the truth about what it means to serve in EMS, to carry the quiet aftermath of war and emergency tones, I didn’t realize I was entering a process psychologists call post-traumatic growth. But that’s what it became.

“What Comes Next: The Story Continues…”

College is in the rearview—and now the real adventure begins. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be finishing my memoir, applying for jobs in publishing and editing, launching Sigma Writing Solutions, and getting ready to begin my MFA at SNHU in August. Also helping my daughter Ollie start college herself, while polishing Gemini Project, my debut fiction novel.