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Sorry it's late, but we had 2 hurricanes!
Hello, everyone! First of all, my family and I are all okay after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton rocketed through Florida. We had no damage, and our chickens are still alive. I was actually up in North Carolina on a writer retreat (which I’ll talk about later) during Hurricane Milton and got stuck up there until yesterday, which is why this newsletter is late. But first I want to start with a FREE Sweet Reads promo for you that, due to my lateness, ends tomorrow. My short story, TRUST FALL, is in there, too, in case you missed it. So please click the image below and subscribe to the ones you like before it’s too late!
Writer retreat in Edenton…
Okay, let me tell you about my writer retreat in Edenton, North Carolina! My writer/editor friend, the amazing Emily Colin (she’s also a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author—buy her books, they are seriously amazing) invited me to come up to NC and house-sit/dog-sit with her at a gorgeous property right on the Sound in the Inner Banks so that we could plan a contemporary romcom series together. Between brainstorming, plotting, and building our characters, we were able to tour downtown Edenton. A great time was had by all (including the dogs)!
Then, Milton hit Florida the night before I was supposed to fly home. It was unnerving being away while my family was in the path of a monster hurricane. Luckily, they weren’t going to receive the full brunt of landfall; however, the multiple surprise tornadoes that Milton spawned were very scary. In the end, though, all my loved ones were okay. My heart goes out to those who were impacted, and we will join in with hurricane clean-ups efforts over the next weeks.
Because of Milton, I did end up stuck in North Carolina for a few more days. Despite the weirdness of being away and the added weirdness of not sweating every minute of every day, I had a great time with Emily. We did some sightseeing, had coffee with another writer friend, John Klekamp, and I bonded with her animals (pictured here: Logan the extroverted introvert cat and the turtle in her koi pond, which I was a weirdo and felt I had to catch. Not pictured: Kaia Rose the spunky black lab puppy.) We also watched a lot of Virgin River.
What will come of this retreat? Hopefully a 5-book (or more) contemporary romcom series. I’ll be sure to keep you posted! Also, I’m working on a reel of my trip. If you want to see it, follow me on Instagram. I should have that up in a day or so.
Celebrity Crush news…
Celebrity Crush is up on Netgalley for Bookstagrammers and early reviewers to find. So far, the reviews are good! I’m so excited to have this book out in the world. It’s such an odd feeling to have the masses reading your stuff. Is this what being an author is? Here’s the very first review I received from someone I didn’t know personally. Thank you to this reviewer! You made my day!
If you want to keep up with the day-to-day Celebrity Crush news and talk all things romcom, I invite you to join my Facebook Reader Group. It’s brand-new, and you’ll be one of the inaugural members. We’re up to 66 members, and once we hit 100, I’ll be doing a drawing for a free print ARC of Celebrity Crush!
Celebrity stuff…
I can’t send off a newsletter without some fun celebrity tidbit, so why don’t we wish Sting a Happy Birthday? He was my first celebrity crush ever, and his b-day is October 2nd. Happy birthday, Sting!
My birthday is actually coming up on the 27th, and I share it with another early celebrity crush of mine… Simon LeBon, lead singer of Duran Duran. (Spoiler alert: Duran Duran music is a big part of Celebrity Crush). Happy birthday, Simon!
Thank you for reading! Next month I’ll have some awards news for you (for good or bad). Have a great spooky season! And, for those of us in the south, let’s all say it together… NO MORE HURRICANES, PLEASE!