Pinch me. CatholicMom.com has chosen In Pieces as its Fall 2023 Book Club selection.
This is a huge honor. My editors and I will be discussing the book with the CatholicMom.com team over four sessions. I’m eager to see what everyone brings to the table. Also: I probably should reread my own book before discussing it. 😅
Click here for the schedule. I hope you can join us!
Adrift has a cover! Ready to see it?
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Ta-da!
Isn’t she lovely…
A little about the cover. The pencil and watercolor piece is by illustrator Xoe White, daughter of David and Roseanna White, owners of Chrism Press and its parent company, WhiteFire Publishing. Back when we were throwing around concepts for In Pieces, I made one request: that the cover artwork be something other than photography. Photography is great in of itself, but I’m not fond of the way 18th century historical costume translates to that medium. Plus, Molly Chase is artistic and an artsier, somewhat atypical cover suits her. After some twists and turns and dead ends, we eventually commissioned Xoe to do the series’s artwork. Many advantages to keeping things literally in the family!
While passing In Pieces drafts back and forth with Xoe, I was struck by the unerased pencil marks beneath an unfinished watercolor of Molly. Beautiful, but roughed-in. Incomplete. Finer details still unarticulated. I thought the “art in progress” idea worked thematically for Molly, so I told Xoe to leave the pencil. Thus we proceeded with In Pieces, and thus we’ve continued with Adrift.
For signed paperbacks, purchase directly from my store. Note: I can ship anywhere, but I’m in the US and international postage rates are 😬.
For paperbacks and .epub (e-book), pre-order from my publisher, Chrism Press.
For Amazon Kindle pre-order, click here. You can also upload the .epub file from Chrism, if you know how to do it.
International customers who want paperback copies: Wait until release day and order it from your local bookstore or Amazon. The book will be distributed worldwide through Ingram distribution.
I took Molly to the beach.
I’ve been avoiding a full reread of the first book. For many writers, myself included, reading one’s past publications can be emotional, weird, cringe inducing, depressing…you get the idea.
However…
However.
“When is the next book coming out?” is a question I hear at least once a week. It’s flattering and encouraging—that readers like Molly and Josiah makes me happy. But the question has yet to shake me from my writing malaise and frustration with the several times revised but still not solidified Book 2 manuscript.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday I called my grandma. It had been a while since we’ve spoken. She and Grandpa are in their mid/late eighties, and her health is not great. I should call more often.
Grandma told me she loved my book. She said it kept her engaged and wanting more. And then she asked me the question:
“When is the next book coming out?”
After nearly a year and several frustrating revisions, it’s time to be brave and face my own writing. Get my bearings on the story, and get it done. My grandma is waiting on me.
