First, some housekeeping: Thank you so much to everyone who took my newsletter survey! Based on the results, I will be giving you more freebies and less craft talk. I’ll still do the crafty corner sometimes, since I enjoy writing it! But apparently only 50% of you read it, and it’s the most time-intensive portion of the newsletter, so it will be sporadic from now on.

(Read on for your first newsletter bonus—an early reveal of my next book! Next month, I’m planning a newsletter subscriber exclusive giveaway. Possibly one of my soon-to-be-released UK paperbacks, if I have my author copies by then!)

In March I continued taking aerial silk classes, which is something I’m really enjoying for the combination of challenging, fun, strength-building, and getting out of my head. (I tend to overthink things, and exercise can help me be entirely present in a really beneficial way.) I am not great at silks, but as I remind myself, learning is the point. And I’m excited to be moving up to the intermediate class for the next session!

The spouse and I also started house hunting. We have seen some… interesting things. Including one house that I was fairly into until we reached the basement and there was flowing water. (No, it was not a water feature. It was flowing from inside the foundation.) We’re currently going through the whole contracting and closing process (on a house with only external streams), which is exciting but apparently not any less nerve wracking the second time around. Honestly, it’s reminding me of all the worst parts of publishing, only with the added stress of wondering whether it’s a good way to spend a ridiculously large amount of money. Good house-buying vibes appreciated!

I’m also proud of myself for having repotted my carnivorous plants. It is not particularly easy to repot a plant that tries to bite you when you touch it. But it is done! (I have a Venus flytrap and five cape sundews, since my original, single sundew decided to reproduce all on its own, Jurassic Park-style. I love them all dearly.)

I’m delighted to share that my first short story of the year, Bad Decisions, has been published in Crow & Cross Keys! It’s a sapphic historical speculative piece about women’s suffrage and claiming the power of choices. Free to read—I hope you enjoy it!

The title and cover of the medieval horror anthology I have a short story in has been revealed: Of Plagues and Blasphemy. Preorders are live now, and all proceeds will benefit The Trevor Project. My short story in this anthology, The Heart, the Hunt, is also a sapphic historical, for which I did far more research about medieval hunting practices than I ever expected to. If you’re into women getting bloody vengeance, I think you’ll like it. (Note that it is a horror story—an early reader said they got whiplash reading it right after Behooved!)

Finally, and most excitingly—I can finally reveal the title and description of my next book!

Drumroll please…

The project I’ve been referring to as “adult fantasy rom com #2” is officially:

It’s releasing in February 2027, and it’s currently going up for preorder on retailer sites—it should be showing up everywhere shortly! (Yes, there will be a preorder campaign. I already have some gorgeous art for it! So save your receipts! And if you’re with a bookstore that would like to participate, I’d love to collaborate!)

I’m so excited to finally be able to talk about this book. It’s a standalone story with opposites (literally) attract, main characters in their thirties, anxiety and myopia representation, a steamy m/f bisexual romance (both characters are explicitly bisexual), and a cranky sentient book. Think: what if you accidentally got magically glued to your one night stand and had to go steal a book together in order to undo the gluey spell? (Rejected titles for this book include “How to Get Stuck to a Guy for 10 Days.” I still think that would have been funny.)

I hope you’re excited! I love this book a lot and can’t wait to share it with readers. More teasers and details to come!

At the beginning of March I started drafting This Ruthless Day (the sequel to This Treacherous Night, and the conclusion to the duology). And friends, writing this sequel has been rough. To start, I got 2,000 words in and realized my beginning absolutely wasn’t working. (I told my spouse it was committing all the “sins of a sequel”.) I scrapped it entirely and started over again, which was unpleasant (I’m not a particularly speedy drafter, so cutting any words from the first draft physically pains me) but definitely the right choice.

I’m now pushing along on the draft, with a daily word count goal of 1,500 words. Like I said—I’m not a super speedy drafter. But that’s a manageable goal for me that puts me on track to finish my first draft and do a full revision before my deadline without burning myself out. Since restarting, it’s going much better, but it’s still such a messy, messy draft—there are literally placeholder chapters containing a single paragraph where I’m trying to figure out what is meant to happen there. Unfortunately, I know that I have to finish the full draft before I can properly figure out how to fix it, so I’m just pushing through. I keep wailing to anyone who will listen (mostly my spouse) about what a disaster it is.

That said, though, I’m actually having a decent time writing it, especially since I’ve now hit some of the scenes that I’ve been building towards for almost two full books! (I’ll give you a hint: the romance in this series is extremely slow burn.)

In March I also did my copy edits for This Treacherous Night! This means that the book is now finished with the entire editing process and off to be formatted. I can’t wait to see the interior design! I expect there should be some updates about review copies in the next few months—I will definitely keep you posted.

The Bookbinder and the Thief (wow! I can finally say the actual title instead of “adult fantasy rom com #2”!) is currently waiting for copy edits, so I did no work on that this past month—though I did receive and give feedback on cover sketches!! And my craft book was with beta readers, so that was also on the back burner. I’m planning to do one more revision pass and then line edits on that before the end of April!

I have three upcoming in-person events!

On April 19 at 5pm, I’ll be discussing writing different points of view at Protagonist Books in Dryden, NY. Free to attend!

On May 9 at 4:45pm, I’ll be on a Spring Writes panel “Writing through the Hard Times: fantasy, YA, & romance authors discuss finding joy, catharsis and survival through writing”. Spring Writes is a free festival in Ithaca, NY. Details and (free) registration on the website!

On June 19 at 5pm, I’ll be discussing getting a book deal at Protagonist Books in Dryden, NY—also a free event!

If you’re local to the area, I’d love to see you there, and of course I’d be very happy to sign books at any of these events!

If you read a single contemporary romance this year, make it It’s All in Your Head by Sabina Nordqvist. It’s a fake dating romance with two disabled leads that unflinchingly examines ableism and disability while also being really damn funny. I adored it and am super hyped for the rest of the cast to get their own books!

To see all my newsletter recommendations, visit the full list here!