The #1 Question I Get Asked (& a question for you)

Hi friend,

It’s time to answer the question that I get asked all the time.

“How’s the writing going?”

Another version of this is, “Are you still writing?”

I hate these questions.

I mean, I get it. I haven’t had a full length book come out since… 2019? I’m sure from the outside it looks like I’ve given up. Maybe even retired. Moved on.

But no. The answer is worse. It’s painful to admit that I kept writing through Covid-times. Through rejections and a chaotic world and raising teenagers. Through breast cancer.

For fun, I’ll share with you what I’ve written (with the abbreviated working titles I usually give my unpublished books.)

2019 - Bookstore - a rom com/ women’s fiction about a woman who inherits her aunt’s bookstore in a small Texas town

2020- Moonshine - a cozy mystery in a beach town and a family with vaguely magic abilities

2021-2022 - Brisbane - half a historical mystery in Scotland; some novellas, the starts to the Martennia Royals series and Museum, inspired by the Isabella Stewart Gardiner heist.

I finished Museum while I was recovering from a double mastectomy and I thought if I could write under those conditions, nothing would ever stop me. But then, the unthinkable happened. I did stop. I had pushed myself too far. I was burned out.

Burnout is real and strange and terribly uncomfortable for me, a person who usually has more ideas than she knows what to do with.

I hated it. I still do.

But I’ve been working through a lot in the last three and a half years. The world changed. Industries imploded. Everyone seems to be looking around with new eyes, wanting new things, valuing new ideas.

Have I figured out all the answers yet? Um, no. Unfortunately.

The only thing I know for sure now is that there are no magic bullets. No one-size-fits-all. No one has any answers, not really.

And that’s liberating, once I came to grips with it.

Here’s what I know for sure: I will always WANT to write. I will always WANT to put stories out.
Here’s what else I know:
Museum is an amazing book that grew me as a writer and I’m obsessed with the story.
Moonshine is a record of all the things that made me happy in the middle of a worldwide shutdown with one of my favorite heroes and the best banter I’ve ever written.
Bookstore is a book of my heart; about Texas and country music and romance books and community and second chances.

mood boards for WIPs

I want to share these things with you as soon as I can, along with the other unfinished works in my Scrivener that I’m trying to figure out how to prioritize: Nepo Baby, Hot Pastor, Evangeline & Finley and this other character that’s been whispering at me lately… Clare…. somebody… The fact that she just popped up and won’t leave me alone… well, I’m taking it as a good sign that maybe - just maybe - burnout might be abating.

Thanks for being patient with me while I prepare my next chapter.

NOW.

On to OPB {Other People’s Books}

What I read this month (and totally recommend!)
Save What’s Left - Elizabeth Castellano || read here || Alright, from the reviews I’ve read, it seems people either love this or hate it. And I get why. I almost put it down several times because it’s a LOT of stream-of-conscious Karen-ing and not as much plot as I usually like, but the book was funny (one night my husband told me to stop shaking the bed from my laughter) and I think it’s a good vacation read.

A Little Ray of Sunshine - Kristan Higgins || read here || Kristan Higgins books are pretty much the definition of beach reads these days. This one about a woman whose adopted baby comes and finds her made me cry - a lot - but it was the good kind of crying!

Magic Claims - Ilona Andrews || read here || I do this every time but Ilona Andrews is my favorite author and at this point, you don’t jump in here. This is a new short novel in the Kate Daniels universe. I’m including this here because there’s nothing better when you’re on a vacation and you can dive back into a world that you’ve loved.

Which brings me to my question for YOU!!!

With more vacations on the horizon for me (and for many of us!), what’s your favorite book series or world?

I’m in the mood to pack 5 books in a series in my suitcase and just submerge myself in them by a cool pool with a neverending drink.

PLEASE - send me recommendations either below in Substack or hit reply and give me all your faves!

And just for fun…

Until next month, stay cool and keep reading!