Happy Full Moon!

This could be a bumpy one, with some disrupted sleep and grumpy moods, but the good news is that I drew The Star for our full moon reading.

It's one of my favorite cards in the tarot because it reminds us that we get to participate in the process of healing. We get to move at our own pace. We get to care for ourselves the way we wish others would care for us.

There's a lot of emotional and energetic clearing going on. It's a good time to think about what would make space for an abundance of good things in our lives. The impulse to cling to old ways of doing things is normal. Our brains prefer the familiar. But it's in clearing out stagnant habits and energy that we make space for better things ahead. The Star is a card that reminds us that we have done that before and we contain the power to heal.

Despite the chaos of the world right now, I have lots to celebrate today. It's the one-year birthday of THE STORM KING. I wrote a post about it on Instagram.

It also happens to be my ten year anniversary with Mr. ReadsAndWrites. Happy Tinfity Anniversary, Mike 😘

Quick activism: I highly recommend https://5calls.org/ to contact your representatives about the relentless onslaught of unconstitutional legislation coming up for consideration. I know we all hate to be on the phone, but 5calls makes reaching out very easy and provides scripts if you're nervous about what to say.

What you'll find in the rest of this email:

• A Pick a Card reading
• A DIY Tarot Reading
• SONG OF THE DARK WOOD audio preorder & snippet
• A LEGACY OF STARS Preorder goal art reveal
• THE LOST GOD SERIES audiobook sale
• A Writing Update
• A Reading update
• A LOCAL EVENT featuring me and some other amazing fantasy authors
• Villains and Vixens Preorders

Full Moon in Virgo - This full moon asks us to embrace our connection to our bodies, to note the aches, tension and tenderness. This is our chance to take inventory and notice what signals our bodies are sending us and learn to honor them by listening. Our bodies have wisdom if only we can slow down enough to feel it.
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Take a breath and choose the card you feel most drawn to. The card you choose represents how you can best embrace your connection to your body.

REVEAL - The card you chose represents how you can best embrace your connection to your body.

The Chariot - This is a time for movement. Embracing the connection to your body means moving in a way that feels good. This is about joy more than weight loss of fitness. Any fitness or strength benefits are purely a bonus. The Chariot is a call to FEEL joy in your body. To celebrate every small victory with your own personal movement (happy dance welcome).

The Knight of Wands Rx - Slow down. This card is a reminder that the most heartfelt and value-driven causes often drive you forward at an unsustainable pace. This is a moment to pause and reevaluate. Are you even enjoying the things you used to be excited about, or are you racing through in the hope of being finished? When it comes to following heart-driven motivations, the journey is part of the experience. Slow down and scan your body for tension, joy, and frustration. Allow those feelings to be a guide.

8 of Cups Rx - Whatever physical limitations are coming up now are doing so for your own good. This is your body sending you a message that you cannot continue in the way you have been. Whether it's due to age or stress or some old injury flaring up, your body is sending you a clear message to stop trying to force things that no longer work. Instead of focusing on the perceived shortfall of your abilities, shift your attention to find compassion for your body as it is now.

ONE WEEK until the Song of the Dark Wood Audiobook Release!!!

I finally got to listen to the advance listener copy of this book this week and OH MY GOODNESS! It is sooooo good. Aoife McMahon is perfect as Rowan (listen to a snippet here) and Dermot Magennis has captured Conor so well. The preorder is up now on Audible, LibroFm, and at all of your favorite audio retailers. You can also presave it on Spotify here.

Preorders are really helpful because they let the publisher know that they should continue to buy my work, so if you are planning on ordering this one, I would be so grateful if you would order early to signal to them that they made a good investment.

THE LOST GOD SERIES Audio is on sale on Chrip!

The entire series is on sale on chirp through April 3. If you're not caught up, this is a great way to catch up on the original series before we jump ahead twenty-two years for ALOS. And this is a stellar deal!

A quick reminder that the entire LOST GOD series is available on libro.fm, audible, and wherever you get audiobooks. You can also request it at your local library as it will also be available on Libby and Hoopla.

A Legacy of Stars Preorder Art Reveal:

We hit our first preorder goal of 50, so without further ado here is an amazing piece art of Stella and Teddy by Joey.

GAH! I can't wait for you to meet these two oldest children who can't stand each other, and for everyone to get to see how much TLG world has changed since the final book. My babies' babies are so near and dear to my heart and I can't believe this book is out in the world in less than a month.

The ebook and hardcover preorders are up now. Paperback won't be up until much closer to release.

A reminder that if you preorder you get instant access to the first two chapters of ALOS, the playlist, and a glimpse at the updated map.

Our next goal is 75 preorders and if we get there, I'll give away two paperback copies. A reminder that preorders are so valuable because they help my books rank on release day. That is what helped SONG OF THE DARK WOOD have such a successful launch that it stayed at the top of its categories for three months.

You can also add it on Goodreads.

ARCs are open for a couple more weeks. If you would like to join the advance reader team, sign up here.

I'm hoping to be able to share even more exciting news in my next newsletter about this book but for now, I have to be a tease 👀👀👀

What I'm Writing:

Today marks the switch back to THE POISON DAUGHTER. Truthfully this past month was rough trying to get started on BALLAD OF THE HEARTLESS. I think I was burned out from pushing so hard to finish the TPD draft in January and that combined with five audio releases in as many months has me feeling spread a little bit thin.

I was afraid that might happen, so I took most of this month to catch up on a truly insane amount of admin work and read a ton of books. I did some plotting for Ballad, but generally, my attention was really divided.

I think it's important to mention that I am not someone who does a good job of compartmentalizing in the current political climate. I wrote THE LOST GOD series during covid, but, as bad as things were then, there was a sense of steadiness to that time. The constant churn of chaos has been difficult to adjust to. I'm frustrated by that but not totally surprised, and one of my goals for this year was to slow down and be more intentional. This is forcing that at a time when I'd rather not, but I suppose there's a lesson in that.

THE POISON DAUGHTER - Current Stage: 1st Developmental Edit

Developmental Edits bring about lots of complicated feelings: dread, angst, sulking, excitement. I have my notes back from Liz and Tanya and both are overwhelmingly positive, which is excellent news because I would have had a small menty B if this gigantic book had to be completely rewritten. I'm so in love with this story and these characters.

So where does one even begin? Well, let me start by talking about what I mean by a developmental edit. This is the kind of edit that looks at the larger plot arc of the story. I look for issues with pacing, twists, reveals, and character arcs. Generally, I deal in the big picture issues that require more substantial rewrites.

I take stock of my notes from my two critique partners and see which pieces of feedback resonate with me. Liz and Tanya are really good at what they do, so to be honest, they are usually right about everything (Shut up, Liz. I can hear you gloating from here in the past).

I go through all their notes and highlight the "MUST URGENTLY FIX" items in one color, the "less urgent fixes" in a second color, and the "nice to have but not at this editing stage fixes" in a third color.

Next, I make a list of the MUST URGENTLY fixes. These are the biggest issues in the story, so I usually start with addressing them, not just because they're critical to the larger plot cohesion, but also because fixing them makes me feel like I'm gaining momentum with edits.

This part usually requires a healthy dose of sulking and whining to Liz or Tanya or Liz AND Tanya, about how sad I am that I am not, in fact, the first writer to write a perfect first draft. Then, I propose some solutions to the issues they found or talk through anything I'm unsure about.

Finally, it's time to get to work. I start with the Big Fixes, then move on to the medium ones, and if I still have time before betas, I move on to the smallest issues.

This book is so very long I can almost guarantee I'm going to have to reread it at least once in the process because editing requires so much zooming in and out that I can lose track of what I'm doing as I go.

My hope is that I can have this edit complete and the manuscript ready for Betas by ALOS release weekend (sometime between 4/11-4/13). That will keep me on track for the rest of the plans I have this year.

What I'm Reading:

Grace of Dragons by Maggie Hoopis - If you caught my IG live with Maggie (and Whit Stanfield) on Tuesday night you got to hear all about this book (as well as my theory about everyone in ACOTAR being Thumbalina-sized) but for those of you who weren't, Grace of Dragons is a western meets romantasy about cowboys riding dragons and a sassy woman who flees an arranged marriage. When her jilted lover casts a cold curse on her, Grace must continually find sources of heat to remain alive. To combat the curse, she becomes a prostitute, a steady source of inner heat, and learns to embrace the value of independence she never experienced as a society woman. SIGN ME UP! To check it out on KU or buy a copy, click the cover below.

Notable recent reads: Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver and City of Ruin by Charissa Weaks

Look out, someone's giving me a microphone:

I am thrilled and not at all freaking out to be on a panel with the lovely and talented Katrina Lewis, Frankie Diane Mallis, and Victoria Mier on Friday, April 4 from 7-9 PM at Capricorn Books in Jenkintown. I'm so humbled and excited to get to be part of this event.

Along with the fantasy panel, there will be drinks and snacks and a costume contest so please come in your fantasy finest.

​You can get tickets here. The cost is $10 and the proceeds go to The Attic Youth Center for Philadelphia's LGBTQIA Youth.

*If you can't make this one. Keep an eye out for another event with me, Victoria, and another author friend next month.*

Villains & Vixens Event Preorder:

My preorder for Villains and Vixens is finally up. You can click the image above to access it. I will have hardcovers and paperbacks of all of my books. Sadly, I will not have any event special editions for REASONS. But, I am trying to come up with some other fun goodies to offer. If you are planning to purchase books from the event I BEG you to preorder. It's really hard to estimate demand for events and I'm always guessing, so the only way to guarantee you get what you want is to preorder.

You do not have to buy books there if you are bringing your own with you. I will sign any of my books you bring from home.

This preorder is open ONLY to those attending Villains and Vixens and will be open through June 30th. I can't wait to see you there.