Love the Creative Work
Wrapping up tour and drafting book #2
Let me start off with a BIG celebratory note: The Belles was included on Library Journal’s Best Books 2025 list!!
LJ was a lovely surprise and, honestly, an ego boost at the right moment. LJ has been very good to my debut book—pre-publication, they also gave The Belles a starred review and compared it to the works of Shirley Jackson, Daphne duMaurier, and Donna Tartt (!!!).1
Book Tour Wrap-up
I was MIA with this newsletter last month because fall has been bananas. Between The Belles book tour, keeping on top of my social media, and writing my second book, Fall of the House of Graystone—all alongside a day job and hanging out with my cats and human friends and being person in the world—I’ve been fairly exhausted, even if my weeks have been filled with utter delights.
My final book tour events wrapped up in November. I’m happy with how the tour went. I discovered that I love meeting readers and chatting with folks at book events. To humble brag a bit, thriller author Alex Finlay, author of the bestsellers If Something Happens to Me and Parents Weekend, told me at a joint event in October that I was “a natural” and damn, that felt good. Even though I’m an introvert, I credit years of high school and community theatre with helping me develop comfort in front of audiences and being able to turn it “on.” (The arts! They teach lifelong skills! Fund the NEA!)
An event I’m counting as part of book tour is my very first book club!!! The group of readers absolutely blew me away with the specificity of their questions, the way they were relating to my theme of being an outsider, and the connections they drew between the characters in my book and the rise of trad wifery today. Hats off to book club hosts Tracy and Greg for giving me an incredible experience (and providing me with vegan cupcakes). If you’re in a book club (or know someone who is) and would like me to drop in, let me know!
I also had plenty of time this fall in liminal spaces—at the airport, on planes, in Lyfts, on trains—to think about what I want to do with this newsletter. I’m going to play around with a few different approaches. If I can get my ducks in a row, I might send out a quick poll to subscribers. You can always share your newsletter feedback or suggestions by hitting reply or dropping a comment below.
Odds & Ends
Behind the Publishing Curtain: Most authors self-fund their book tours. While publishers will occasionally arrange and pay for book tours, it’s the exception, not the rule. If buying the book is financially feasible for you, this is why it’s support important to buy the author’s book from the bookstore hosting them if you attend an author event. You’re supporting an author and a local business, plus ensuring a sustainable and thriving literary culture. A win/win for everyone!
A Favorite Book Tour Moment: When reader in the signing line at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA said, “I know I shouldn’t because she’s such a b*tch, but I loved Ada May.” (Ada May is my Queen bee mean girl character and foil for my protagonist.) An utter delight to hear!
For authors (or just the curious): This must-read independent bookseller roundtable discussion—especially the parts about events. Bookstores operate on thin margins, and booksellers have to make business (not personal) decisions about events.2
You Gotta Keep Going
I’m knee-deep in revisions for my second book, Fall of the House of Graystone. My writing process for this book is different than the approach I used while writing The Belles, but what hasn’t changed is how the story is developed and refined in layers: plenty of iteration on ideas, scenes, chapters; reading novels and nonfiction to fill my well of inspiration; and conducting research.
Graystone is Tim Burtons meets Grey Gardens and centers on two sisters, the only survivors of a mass murder in their household, and the grifter whose appearance upends their lives. Set during September and October 1994, I’ve been interviewing various friends and chatting with folks generally about their early-90s memories, and I’ve had a ton of fun walking down nostalgia lane with people, seeing what sticks out. Not surprisingly, the O.J. Simpson white Bronco chase comes up every time. These conversations also lead me into additional research in the form of films to watch and music to listen to.
The moment of creative spark is one of synergy and sponginess, at least for me. Everything I’m reading, listening to, or watching is feeding into my novel, whether I intended it or not, and it’s a pleasure to sit inside a space of creative possibility. It feels good to sink into a new creative project free of worries about sales numbers and the tyranny of the social media algorithm.
“You either love the work or you love the rewards” the author Jane Smiley wrote. Publishing is a business of rewards: the book contract, the lead title designation, the literary award, the bestseller list. But nothing is guaranteed. Success doesn’t breed more success, not in this business.
You have to love the work. And right now, I’m in that special place where the work—writing my next book—is happening on overdrive. I’m still exhausted. After a long day, my brain sometimes like lukewarm soup heated in the microwave then left forgotten for hours. But there truly is no joy comparable to the joy of making up a story.
A reminder to you and me: Always come back to the love of creativity. Let it feed you when nothing else can.
If you aren’t familiar with these authors, GIVE THEM A READ! I will happily give recommendations if you need guidance about where to start.
I’ve been privy to way too much griping from authors who seem to have a vendetta against bookstores who decline to host an event with them, and all I can say is that they’re making an enemy out of a friend.
See! I told you librarians would love your book!