September! My favorite month of the year!
While this summer has flown by, part of me is eager to transition to fall. I’m ready for things to slow down a bit (maybe in October? Maybe?). August was absolutely packed with house projects as well as deadlines, though I’ve been trying hard to keep a balance of also doing things that are fun.
I also had a lovely time celebrating the release of It Depends at Protagonist Books & Coffee! With being so busy, I half forgot I had a book coming out, so the release party was a nice reminder to actually celebrate that achievement. I’m very pleased to now have two books in the world!
This month I expect to be traveling as well as doing several events, so it’s going to be super busy. I kind of feel like I’m juggling ten balls while walking on a slack line. (I am terrible at slacklining, though passable at juggling.) Getting there one wobbly step at a time!
News
I’m officially putting together the preorder campaign for The Bookbinder & the Thief and have been reaching out to some lovely bookstores to collaborate with! Details of how to get the incentives will be announced on Instagram and my website in mid-October, and I’ll share all the information in my November newsletter too. I’m very excited to bring you signed copies, character art, and more while supporting some fantastic bookstores!
As a preview, here is one of the art pieces included, drawn by Odette Locke (who also did my favorite art for Behooved):
Quick, kiss me to make it look like we totally weren’t trying to break into a forbidden library!
For booksellers, I believe that digital review copies are now available on Edelweiss! (Don’t come for me if I’m wrong; I don’t understand Edelweiss.)
For everyone else, review copies should start going out quite soon—I’ve been told September is ARC time (eek!). I have no control over who gets approved for ARCs, sorry! But I plan to do a giveaway for subscribers once I have my copies in hand, so watch for that in a future newsletter.
Writing updates
Aside from a quick look at some final proofreader notes for This Treacherous Night and a lot of promotional work for The Bookbinder & the Thief and It Depends, pretty much all I worked on in August was revising This Ruthless Day (the sequel to TTN). I’m mostly having fun, but it’s also been an extremely difficult book to work on—there’s just such a massive gulf between what I want it to be and what’s actually made it onto the page, and I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself because I really want readers to be satisfied with the duology as a whole.
This is the first time I’ve actually felt like meeting one of my deadlines is a struggle… I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. But steady progress is being made, even if I have to keep backtracking and revising the same chapters multiple times because I once again forgot to do something obvious like mention the characters’ motivations. My deadline for this draft is September 16, so it will be done soon, one way or another.
Events and appearances
I have three events this month and one in early October—it’s going to be busy!
September 5, 11am: signing at Protagonist Books in Dryden, NY. This is part of the store’s one-year anniversary celebration, and there will be other author signings throughout the day!
September 12, 4:30 pm: in conversation with Isabel Sterling at The Golden Bee in Liverpool, NY. This is part of Isabel’s release tour for With All My Haunted Heart, which is my book recommendation for this month (see below!).
September 26, 1:30-3pm: I’m participating in Mini RomCon, hosted by the Liverpool Public Library. This should be a fun (and free) Syracuse-area event with some panels and signings!
And in October 3, I’m returning to HearthCon! I’ll be on a panel talking about fantasy road trips (which could apply to… well, any of my novels. Oops?). Registration and the schedule are here—it’s all online, and it’s free.
Finally, neither of these are live appearances, but I was honored to be a guest contributor on Substack for Jenna Satterthwaite discussing what the most common debut author questions are, and with Tali Shammas for a Q&A about It Depends and my advice for debut authors! Both posts are free to read.
I’ve been sitting on this announcement for months, and I’m so excited to finally share it:
In October, I’m releasing a free novella exclusively for newsletter subscribers!
It’s called A Grave Revelation, and it’s a historical fantasy adventure set in an alternate version of the California Gold Rush. Here’s the full description and the cover, which I think turned out very fun and vibrant:
In 1852 California, a cursed prospector takes a job burying an item for a railroad company—but when the item turns out to be a young woman who is very much alive, he reluctantly agrees to help her exhume the railroad’s nefarious plans instead.
Being cursed makes it difficult for Julian Bonz to keep a steady job, even without the complication of his immigrant status or the guilt following in his tracks from a deadly ore mining accident. So when he’s offered a shady gig burying an unspecified item, he’s willing to look the other way and take the money.
Until the item he’s agreed to bury turns out to be a body—a living body. Journalist Bridey Moran is none too pleased about the attempt to dispatch her or Julian’s unwitting involvement, but after her initial distrust, she admits she landed in trouble while seeking proof that the Greater America Rail Company has skeletons in its closet. She’s convinced the railroad is up to something both nefarious and magical, and she intends to stop it.
Seeking a chance at redemption, Julian agrees to help Bridey exhume the evidence. But in Ore Rush-era California, railroads reign with an iron rule and corporations are king. If Julian isn’t careful, he’ll find himself on a sure route to a dead end—and that’s if his curse doesn’t catch up first.
This is the “flower project” I alluded to in the previous issue, by the way! It’s a side project that grabbed me out of nowhere, and I’ve had such a blast working on it—everything from the research to the writing to the cover. It’s done wonders for my creative joy, and I hope it’s fun for you, too.
To get your copy, make sure you’re subscribed and look for the link in next month’s newsletter! And if you’re excited, you can go ahead and add it to your TBR on Goodreads or StoryGraph now.
If you have questions about the book, feel free to hit reply!
Book recommendation
This month’s recommendation is With All My Haunted Heart! It’s a lovely sapphic contemporary romance with witchy magic and big, beautiful feelings. I can’t wait to talk about the book with Isabel this month!
Side note for authors: Isabel’s podcast The Author Burnout Cure is absolutely a lifesaver (or at least a mental health-saver). I highly recommend giving it a listen!
To see all my newsletter recommendations, visit the full list here!
Looking for the newsletter exclusives? Find them here!
