Things are humming along with getting Christmas at O’Neill’s ready to release in early December and I have a nice little surprise for you! It’s a teaser from the story that I really think you’ll enjoy! It even features a couple of familiar faces. Check out yesterday’s post here if you’d like to read it. whispers I don’t want to get my hopes up that it’ll last but the good news is that the weather has finally stabilized enough for me to string together a few non-migraine da

Although I am sad I won’t be attending Hockey Romance Night with the Grand Rapids Griffins this coming weekend due to my migraines, it was the right choice. This has been a tough, tough week due to the erratic weather (30+ degree temperature shifts in a single day are BRUTAL for me). I did manage to squeeze in a really enjoyable afternoon out on Saturday but mostly I’m counting down the days to my upcoming doctor’s appointment in a few weeks and holding onto hope that we can

On Saturday, I woke up with a migraine attack but was able to take meds early and rest for a couple of hours until I felt good enough to go to a small art fair. I met my parents there and we browsed for a couple of hours. I got a cherry and ginger wine slushy (10/10 would recommend, although they had delicious sounding non-alcoholic ones as well) and sipped that while we wandered around. It was about 75 degrees out, which is about 10 degrees warmer than I personally enjoy, b

This week I made some tough choices AND had some good things happen, so let’s get into it! Migraines have been … not great and I made the incredibly tough decision to drop out of Hockey Romance Night with the Grand Rapids Griffins. That has nothing to do with the event or the organizers, they are wonderful! It’s simply that I don’t physically feel up to it. Because the migraines have been so debilitating for the past few months, I haven’t been able to adequately prepare for

Once again, life has been a little bonkers (just typed binkers, which made me giggle for some reason). There are still some migraines happening and I can’t WAIT until my appointment later this month. My keyboard randomly decided it no longer needed to work, so I had to wait for a new one to arrive. Last week, my PA, Kim, and the people in her household all had Covid, so Kim & I threw in the towel and said, “fuck it, we’re doing the bare minimum”. Usually that includes the new

I wish I could tell you that life has totally calmed down but, alas, it has not. You probably guess that when you didn’t get a message from me last week. I’ve had a few migraines (boo!) and my mom had to go to the emergency room via an ambulance after passing out and falling. She wasn’t hurt but given her age, they had to be thoroughly checked out to be sure it wasn’t a heart attack or stroke. She came home the next day but it took about a week to figure out the diagnosis. It

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