I know you’re probably confused about why my newsletters have been so erratic lately, but life has been a little wild. Some good, some bad. My migraines were truly terrible at the end of August. Thank you for all of your kind words and suggestions. The wild shifts in barometric pressure have settled a little in the past week and I don’t want to jinx it, but my migraines have been better since. Not gone, but a lot better. That’s one of the really positive things. The other p

This time, my lake vacation was a solo one. I rented a small cottage on Lake Huron for a few days. On the first day, I drove a few hours north to a little town along Michigan’s thumb (if you don’t know, Michigan is shaped like a mitten!), checked into my cottage, and spent the evening settling in and relaxing. The second day was very rainy/stormy, so I did a little writing. I know that seems like work but really, the writing part is the easiest bit of being an author. I did

This has been a tough, tough week for me so I’m just sending a quick note. My migraines have been especially challenging, and I’ve spent more of the week recovering than working. I have doctor’s appointments coming up and we’ll keep trying to nail down treatments and preventatives that work for me. There’s no cure, I’ll spend my whole life managing this, but I am hopeful that I can find some new things to help do that. Much of what I’ve done so far HAS helped. The migraine at

I’m alive! Still battling periodic migraine attacks as the weather shifts back and forth but this week was much better than last week. I’ve been heavily prioritizing rest and gentle exercise. I got a super cute puzzle that is the front of a flower shop! The name of the shop is Wonder & Bloom, which of course reminded me of Seb’s shop, Twig & Bloom in Cheap Shot. I couldn’t resist buying the puzzle when I spotted it in Home Goods a few week ago. It’s only 500 pieces (about h

Thank you so much for all of the love you’ve already sent for Tanner & Leif’s book. I am so thrilled that you enjoyed it! I wish I could tell you that the week after the Game Misconduct release was all smooth sailing, but if I did, I’d be lying. On Monday I got walloped by a migraine. It didn’t really lift until late Wednesday and as I write this on Thursday, I am still very tired. It’s the worst one I’ve had in over a year and, unfortunately, it’s my own fault. Rather than

It’s officially August! If you read last week’s newsletter you know that there was a plumbing disaster. It has now been fixed knocks on wood, the bathroom’s clean again, and I was even able to take a nice relaxing candlelit bath in there the other night. Things did NOT go as smoothly when it comes to the cover image, so check out yesterday’s post for more on that. The important thing is, Game Misconduct is live and you can read the book readers are calling a “definite must-r

Can you believe it’s August?? My brain is still somewhere back in May … The good news is that my foot is looking MUCH better. It’s been a little over two weeks since I slipped and fell on the stairs. I am so grateful that it wasn’t anything more serious than a soft tissue injury because the swelling has all gone down and the wildly colored bruises are gone. It just looks like my normal foot now! The bad news is that there’s been a plumbing disaster. There’s currently a hole

On Monday, I drove a few hours north from where I live in Michigan to my best friend’s family cottage on a lake. We arrived in the afternoon, got unpacked/made the beds, then went straight out to the lake. We had a lovely evening, spent the entire day out on the water on Tuesday, and by that evening my eyes were extremely irritated (we weren’t yet aware of how bad the fires had gotten). By the time woke up Wednesday morning, the air was visibly smoky and there was fine ash fa

I am currently writing this almost a week ahead, because by the time you get this, I will be at the cottage! Not that cottage, but I am spending the week at my best friend’s family cottage with her, her kids, and her parents. It’s an annual tradition and I love it so much. It’s supposed to be HOT (hitting 100°F!) by mid-week and I am planning to pretty much roll out of bed and into the lake. As someone who loves the water and grew up on a lake, spending a huge amount of time

I survived the gauntlet of four days of extremely high heat and thunderstorms and came out alive! I even felt up to going to a 4th of July party at a friend’s house (even though I did not feel like celebrating where this country is currently at) and had a nice time. I got to play with a cute doggo, eat some delicious food, chat with friends, and play games. This week I’ve been putting the finishing touches on Game Misconduct and it’ll be off to edits while I am up north hang

I had a lovely time last week. I got a haircut, walked along the river, then went to the farmer’s market. I came home with black raspberries, asparagus, a little ceramic container, dill Havarti cheese, blue cheese stuff olives, and raspberry & vanilla macarons. I chatted with a few lovely people, enjoyed some dogs, then took myself out to dinner. It was exactly what I needed! This week has been a challenge. Michigan is in the midst of a heatwave and we have four days of storm

Thank you for all of your kind words about my migraines. I really appreciate it. This hasn’t been a particularly exciting week, although I did have a nice time on Father’s Day. My parents invited my second cousin (who is in college, doing research during the summer semester) to dinner and we ate out on the porch. For once, it was lovely weather and it was really nice to spend the time outside and actually enjoy it! I am writing this Wednesday but have plans to get my hair cut

Hockey season is officially over with the Hurricane’s Stanley Cup win. I don’t know if any of you are Vegas Golden Knight fans but I think we can all agree that seeing Carter Hart fall apart at the end was very satisfying after the league worked so hard to get a horrible person back on the ice. I wasn’t really rooting for Carolina either but I DID root for Seth Jarvis. He’s an absolute ball of chaos with a delightful friend group and although he wasn’t who I pictured when I c

Sadly, despite a valiant attempt, the Baby Pens lost the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s officially the end of hockey season for me, although I did catch the Stanley Pup the other night. As always, it was an adorable “hockey game” played by dogs to help rescue dogs find homes. If you want to watch, you can find it here on YouTube. I’ve been reviewing audio and am up to my eyeballs in Shop updates, illustrated paperbacks, and fun new merch. Keep reading to learn all about th

While I’d really love to be that super-organized author who always has my shit together, last summer’s migraines really set me back when it comes to bigger projects. This summer, the migraines are significantly better (but not completely gone) so I am trying to be careful not to overload myself. So although someday I hope to have illustrations and merch done before a book is finished that hasn’t been my reality lately. My more realistic goal was to get them out before the fin

Uhh, so if you didn’t already know by now, sometimes the ADHD strikes hard. I’ve been blathering on about James recording Flipping the Switch but, uh, that is in fact not the next book in the series! Kim finally pointed out that Made to Order comes next. Not sure how I forgot about my subby Army vet and his bossy chef, but well, somehow I managed it. It was no big deal. I hadn’t sent the files to James yet but it meant I needed to make a very quick pivot to get everything re

The Baby Pens are off to the Eastern Conference Finals, Sidney Crosby is doing Sidney Crosby things at Worlds, and Evgeni Malkin signed to play with Pittsburgh for one more year. throws confetti All is right in my hockey world. (I am disgusted and saddened by the situation with VGK going to the playoffs and their vile-excuse-for-a-human goalie and will not be watching any of the NHL playoffs.) I am having a great deal of fun in my fictional hockey world. Leif & Tanner are

The weather went full-on summer in the past week, and I went for a lovely (if ridiculously hot and humid) hike on Sunday. I got to enjoy nature (including seeing a relatively rare bird for this area –a pileated woodpecker!) and hang out with a friend I haven’t seen in months. We grabbed lunch and watched a movie after and it was a really nice way to spend the day. My Baby Pens are still doing very well in the Calder Cup playoffs so I’m having fun watching the newish prospec

Great news! The Baby Penguins are still in the playoffs, and I’ve had a very productive week! I stopped by the thrift store and bought a little metal organizer for under my bathroom sink. This led to a full sink re-organize (and required buying several more organizers at another store) but after years of it annoying me, now it looks and functions exactly like I hoped and I couldn’t be happier with it. On Wednesday, I had a meeting with my web designer, Pippa, about some si

As many of you know, the Pens got eliminated from the playoffs. I was very sad but honestly, making it to the playoffs at all was a gift. The entire season they had was a gift. Last fall, they were predicted to be the worst team in the league. Making it to the playoffs with Sid, Geno, and Tanger all there and healthy was impressive and I am so glad they got that again. I had to mourn for a bit and step away from hockey. While I did, I worked on puzzles, plus went hiking and s