What I’m Writing: The Private Life of Jane Maxwell, OMG I SWEAR I AM ALMOST DONE.
What I’m Reading: The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters From Comic Book History by Hope Nicholson
What I’m Loving: Hidden Figures, a movie I FINALLY FINALLY got to see!

WIP Excerpt:

Cal’s heavy hand settled on Jane’s shoulder. “Hey. You doing all right?”

“No!” Jane didn’t mean to shout. It came out anyway, a single shrill word piercing the hallway.

And Cal just chuckled. Chuckled! Like Jane was being cute or something: oh look, precious little neophyte superhero, baby fresh in her ass-kicking boots.

The Private Life of Jane Maxwell, if she was produced by DC vs Marvel

Let the record state that this month was awesome.

Seriously. Between seeing Wonder Woman and Hidden Figures (shut up, yes I know I’m way behind), between the gorgeous weather, between attending a discussion series on the women’s movement, between hearing Sarah Prager speak about her new book on LGBTQ+ history, between a really fun meeting of my local writers group, between a simply perfect day last Friday, between getting so much editing done… I don’t know if I could have crafted a more enjoyable month for myself if I had tried.

Still, I have reached the point where I am so ready for this book to be done. The last week(ish) have been nothing but pulling teeth, to get myself to sit down and tie off the last few things that need doing. Thankfully, the end is within reach. The Private Life of Jane Maxwell will be out in July, so make sure that you’re signed up for my mailing list to get the news as soon as it goes live!

Heads up, folks!

This month, my Beacon Campaigns books are going to be part of Smashword’s 9th annual Summer/Winter sale! For the entire month of July, at Smashwords, you can get The Lady of Souls for free, and both Fixing Fate and Heart’s Blood at half-off each. That’s three books for the price of one, so really, how can you say no? Simply click the links below, and enter the appropriate promo codes. Then download, and enjoy!

The Lady of Souls — Promo Code SW100

Fixing Fate — Promo Code SSW50

Heart’s Blood — Promo Code SSW50

P.S. If you buy the books this month (or even if you’ve already read them!), please consider taking the time to leave a review on your favorite retailer—not just Smashwords, whatever you like! Reviews are super-important for getting visibility on a book, and the more people see my books, the more I can afford to write for you all. Reviews don’t have to be long, even a single line saying whether or not you enjoyed it is a big help. Thanks!

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! Without further ado, Jane Maxwell is making her debut in the world!

As the creator of a popular new comics franchise, Jane Maxwell knows a thing or two about heroes, but has no illusions of being one herself. All of that is shattered, however, when she finds herself swept into a parallel world—one where her characters are real, and her parallel self is their leader.

There’s just one problem: that Jane is missing.

Under the growing danger of a deadly new villain named UltraViolet, the team has no choice but to ask Jane to do the impossible: step into the suit left behind by her double, become the hero that they need her to be. But with budding powers that threaten to overwhelm her, a family she only half-recognizes, and the parallel version of her dead wife staring her in the face, navigating her alternate life proves harder than she ever imagined…

Available now in ebook format for the introductory price of only $0.99! (Paperbacks will come over the next few days/weeks, as the approval process filters through the systems.)

Read the first chapter here, or head straight to your favorite retailer to nab your copy today:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• iBooks
• Google Play
• Kobo
• Smashwords

Enjoy! And, as always, don’t forget to leave a review once you’re finished reading.

What I’m Writing: Everything! And nothing. (Honestly, it’s been more nothing than everything, and it is lovely.)
What I’m Reading: Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life, edited by Liesa Mignogna / The Last of August, by Brittany Cavallaro
What I’m Loving: Catastrophe, which is the perfect blend of funny and weird and tragic and funny, and exactly what this writer needs when she’s on break between major projects.

WIP Excerpt

Uh… Here, have a random snippet from a random side project:

She blows in by a tempest.

It was the usual way, back when such things happened. Back when the island was bright, and laughter rang freely through the house. Gods and heroes riding high on the backs of angry storm clouds, thundering through the heavens like a pack of wild dogs. Or floating by on gentle breezes, whispering sweet nothings to the mortals down below. Slipping through the crack of a door, a snowdrift spread across the packed dirt. Sola remembers when the island was awash in shifting weather patterns, as her aunts and uncles and half-cousins ran free through the doorways. Roving bands of bastard children flitted in and out of sight, flashes of their naked backsides dipping into the waves like seals.

But the weather has been stable for so long now. A flat gray sea, a paler gray sky. Once or twice a year, perhaps, a ripple will grace the sands of the island. Sola runs down to the beach, gray water against gray sand. She stands tall along the shore, waiting to see if something will happen, but it never does.

They’re here!

First off: THANK YOU to everyone who’s bought the new book so far!! This has been my strongest launch yet, and it’s super exciting!

As you might have guessed, I’ve been on a temporary vacation from writing to rest and recharge after my latest book release. Don’t worry—I’m back at it in August, which is disturbingly close as far as I’m concerned. I’ve spent my time reading and watching TV and swimming (seriously, just so much swimming), and focusing on getting sufficiently mellowed out so that when I dive back into work full-time again, I can make some hardcore progress. First up: finishing book four of The Beacon Campaigns (Whispers of the Ice). It’s already halfway there, so I’m good shape to start, but the complication is going to be that now I need to nail down exactly how the second half of the series plays out. These books are so big and interwoven that I really need to know where I am going with all of the books that follow, so I don’t inadvertently write myself into a corner in the future.

Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to it. It’s just… been nice, to take it easy. I’m going to miss it.

Meanwhile, a couple of fun things have been keeping me busy:

• I cut my hair! Which, if you know me in person, you understand that this is a serious bit of news, but for those of you who are staring at your screen going, yeah, AND?, let me explain: When I was in my early twenties, I decided to grow my hair out, on a lark. And I spent the next decade+ not cutting it, and eventually it got down to my ankles, and then I hacked it way back, and then it grew down to my knees again while I was deciding what I wanted to do with it next. And when I say that I cut it, I mean that I seriously cut it all off. As in, the breeze blows across the back of my neck now. To say that I love it is kind of an understatement.
• I am finally getting official Author Photos! This had to wait until after the big chop, because the last thing I wanted was to end up with a photo that would represent me for all of two months or whatever. So this afternoon I met up with a friend who is a fantastic photographer, and we had a blast snapping pictures. I’ll be getting those in a few days, probably, and then the only difficulty will be choosing between them.
• I may be doing my first author event sometime in the next few months. Probably (almost certainly). Details are still being determined, but eeeeee!

Seriously, did I say how excited I am about the response this book has gotten? Because holy Batman, this is amazing!

What I’m Writing: Whispers of the Ice (Beacon Campaigns 4), AND Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair? (Hopefuls 2)
What I’m Reading: Any Other Love by Elizabeth Barone
What I’m Loving: Lucy Bellwood’s 100 Demon Dialogues PLUS: Sarah’s Scribbles! A two-fer this month, because everyone needs a little honesty and a lot of humor.

Skipping the WIP excerpt this time. Because Reasons.

Photo by Corie Kelley

Got my author photos back! I’m absolutely thrilled. Thanks a million to Corie Kelley, who also took the time to throw in a few “couples” shots of Graeme and me. Above is the “official” portrait, though there were a number that I really liked, so it was a tough choice.

In writing news, I continue to be blown away by the reception that The Private Life of Jane Maxwell is receiving. So much, that I really cannot in good conscience work on JUST the Beacon Campaigns for a while. So… I’m trying something new, balancing working on TWO different books/series at once. Not that I haven’t ever had two books in production at the same time, but I’ve always kept one as my primary focus, and the rest were things I played with if I needed a break… Trying to draft two different universes at once is interesting, but I’m determined to make it work. Even if yesterday I realized I need to rip out a huge section of Whispers of the Ice and rework my plan, siiiigh.

Also, apparently I took an unofficial break from social media this month? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. THINGS just kept coming up, I guess, and sometimes Shy Author needs to bury herself under the blankets and user her spare time to re-watch Downton Abbey and Arrow. I’m feeling better now, so hopefully I’ll be more chatty in September.

While the most common forms of superhero storytelling have always, of course, been visual (comics, movies, TV), there has been an uptick in superhero novels in the last decade or so, as well. And though it can be tricky to pull off, there are a number of them that I think have done an astounding job. Below are some of the books that fueled and inspired me while I was working on The Private Life of Jane Maxwell.

Superhero Novels

Dreadnought and Sovereign by April Daniels

One of the most recent superhero fiction that I’ve tried, and also hands-down a masterpiece of the genre. Dreadnought captured an elusive but indelible superheroness that I kept chasing when I was working on my own book. This story manages to be happy and sad, real and fun, light and dark and hopeful all at the same time. It’s a glorious encapsulation of everything that makes superheroes great. Plus, it features a transgender lesbian as the main character, and who doesn’t want more of THAT?

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Would any list of superhero fiction be complete without this title? My favorite V.E. Schwab book by far, this book breaks and subverts so many expectations, and delivers it all with a flare that delighted me to no end. I love everything about it: the nonlinear narrative, the characters, the prose, the world. Normally, I’m all for lightness in my superheroes, but if all “dark and gritty” superhero stories were like Vicious, I’d be seriously tempted by the dark side.

After the Golden Age and Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

If there’s anyone that I look to as my go-to How To Write Superheroes author, it’s Carrie Vaughn. These books capture the exact same delight that I experience while watching any of the bigscreen counterparts. Fun and big and splashy, these are solid superhero books. You’ll get exactly what you expect when reading these.

Soon I Will be Invincible by Austin Grossman

I admit that I haven’t read this one in a while, but the enjoyment of it still shines bright in my mind. This one, like Carrie Vaughn’s work, was among my introduction to superhero prose. I loved the exploration of the villain in this one, and the backstory that’s woven in.

Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond

While I’m primarily a Marvel girl, Superman will forever hold a soft spot in my heart. So when I heard about a book from Lois Lane’s perspective, updated to be YA in the modern world, I knew I had to read it. Fallout does not disappoint, and it’s fun to see a superhero story where the primary characters are those normally left outside the main focus. Looking forward to reading the sequels.

Nonfiction about Comics and Superheroes

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

Not only is this a wonderful and fascinating history of an iconic character, it’s a delightful lens through which to explore the history of the women’s movement throughout the 20th century. This book enriched my appreciation of Wonder Woman tenfold, and entertained me as much as if it was a novel.

The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters from Comic Book History by Hope Nicholson

This one is an enjoyable reference book of female comics characters, broken down by decade. It explores the history of comics in relation to their female characters, and provides an interesting overview of how women superheroes got treated throughout the years.

Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life: Neil Gaiman, Jodi Picoul, Brad Meltzer and an All-Star Roster on the Caped Crusaders That Changed Their Lives Edited by Leisa Mignogna

As with any collection of essays, some of these I enjoyed more than others, but on the whole this book was fantastic. I loved how it showed the impact that superheroes can and do have, not just on society as a whole, but the way that they shape and inspire individual lives. If anyone ever doubts the importance of superheroes as an archetype, just hand them this book.

Novels about Comics, and the People Who Make Them

Draw the Line by Laurent Linn

When I first picked up this book, I actually thought that it was going to be a straight-up superhero novel, playing with similar threads that I was exploring in The Private Life of Jane Maxwell. Instead, and to my relief (because I’d hate to be rehashing things that have already been done), this was an exploration of the importance of superheroes as inspiration, and what it means to stand up for yourself and your own beliefs in a world that doesn’t always want you to. And if I have one weakness, it’s everyday heroes. I loved this one.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Not actually about superheroes at all, but rather webcomics, this was still such an amazing and important novel that I had to include it. It’s hard to describe without giving it away, but this novel explores identity and artistic pressures and inner monsters with such grace and skill that it took my breath away. Just read it.

Bonus: Books on my Radar

The following are books that I haven’t read yet, but look like they’re going to be amazing.

• Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
• Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
• Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Collect Them All by Corinne Duyvis
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
• Behind the Mask: An Anthology of Epic Propotions Edited by Tricia Reeks & Kyle Richardson
• The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente

What I’m Writing: Whispers of the Ice (The Beacon Campaigns, Book 4)
What I’m Reading: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo—and it is just so, so good.
What I’m Loving: Several YouTube channels, which I’ll talk briefly about below.

WIP Excerpt

He expected the girl to panic, and plead for her life. Most of them did. It didn’t save them one way or another, but most of them did. And this one, so young, so girlish, so very very naive—if anyone was going to fall to their knees and blubber and beg, surely it would be her.

She didn’t, though. Oh, she was afraid, certainly she was afraid. She had paled underneath her lady’s tan, her heart fluttering so fast that Tol could see it thundering in her breast. Her eyes were wide and wet. When she spoke, her voice was small as a sparrow. But she did not beg.

“What did I do wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Tol said.

“There must be something.”

“No.”

“Then why?”

Tol shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“It does to me.”

“It won’t for long.”

First, a writing update:

September was the breakout month for my work-in-progress.

By this, I mean that I had finally wailed and gnashed my teeth enough that I was willing to admit that I needed help; so I stitched together everything I’d written for Whispers of the Ice, put in placeholder notes for everything that still needed to be added (spoiler: it was a lot), and gave the document to my husband.

A lot of writers choose to keep their first drafts to themselves—and hey, you do you, whatever makes you happy—but I don’t. Graeme sees the story in a linear progression, while I jump all over and write whatever I can get out of my head, whenever I can get it out of my head. This is great, except: well, sometimes the problems that I am trying to solve are way too spoilery for me to discuss with him, and though he tries his best, there’s just no way for him to offer practical solutions if he doesn’t know where I am going. So eventually I hand him a Frankenbook. Now I am back on track, with plans and goals and enthusiasm that comes crashing in one day and then disappears in the middle of the night but hey, at this point I’ll take it. Forward progress is forward progress is forward progress, no matter how it happens.

And yes, if you pay close attention you will see that I have jumped back to focusing on just the one book, rather than trying to juggle both series at literally the same time. Turns out that trying to hold two disparate universes in the forefront of my head at once is detrimental to the quality of my work (such a shocker, I know). On the other hand, with the breakthrough I’ve had on my WIP, this means that I am back to my usual power-writing method, so it really won’t be that long before I’m able to return to my superheroes.

Recently, I’ve gotten really sucked into watching YouTube videos that break down the techniques of visual storytelling through film and comics: Every Frame a Painting, Channel Criswell, Now You See It, Strip Panel Naked.

You guys, I cannot even begin to tell you how beneficial these have been to my writing. I realize that it may sound nonsensical—trying to apply visual storytelling methods to the written word—but studying a different form of storytelling has gotten me to think about stories in ways that I’d never considered before. Plus, it turns out that there’s actually a lot of tricks and tips that can easily be applied to prose as well as movies and comics, and I’m trying to craft some blog posts that delve into that in greater detail, but for now, if you’re a writer, just… do yourself a favor, and check these channels out. And if you’re not a writer, check these channels out anyway, because this stuff is seriously just so cool, and you’d never realize the kinds of things that are happening in your favorite movies. Art, in all its forms, is the closest thing that we will ever get to magic. So, yeah. Watch the videos, and be dazzled.

So, the long-and-short of this post is that I am temporarily removing the pressure of having to update my blog at least once a month, for the rest of the year.

Basically, although I don’t update my blog a lot, the updates that I do make take up a surprising amount of mental space for someone who isn’t A Blogger, and right now (between gearing up for the holiday season, local elections, family events and birthdays, busier work at the part-time job, etc), I really want to devote the rest of my attention toward getting my next two books written. I’m not saying I won’t post anything before the year is out, just that I don’t have to. This year was an experiment in finding a blogging schedule that works for me, and for the most part, I’ve been happy with it. In 2018, I hope to build on what I’ve learned, and update even more. But for now, yeah. I need the space, I need the focus.

In the meantime, know that I’ll be working hard on both Beacon Campaigns 4, and Hopefuls 2. I’d like to have News to share before the year is out, though we’ll see how busy this season makes me.

See you all soon!

So I hope that everyone had a great end to 2017, and that the start of this new year is treating you well. For me, well, 2017 was something of a mixed bag all around. It had some amazing highs in my personal and professional life, all stemming from the release of The Private Life of Jane Maxwell–which was just recently discussed/reviewed on Tor.com, and can I just take a second to say that I have literally no idea how to process this? I mean, if you had asked me beforehand to put aside all expectations and questions of realistic and practical, and said to pick one website for my book to appear on–like, go ahead and shoot for the stars, girl, it’s just a game–I may well have picked Tor.com.

Yeah, so that was a nice start to 2018.

Life and my part-time job have released me from their clutches now, and I have been back to my usual schedule for about a week. I started off feeling really light and refreshed, full of optimism for how easy it would be to jump back into drafting my novels at full speed. That… has not happened yet. Which isn’t to say that I’m not working on them, I am, it’s just that The Beacon Campaigns 4 is a tangled mess of emotions to work on, and it turns out that Hopefuls 2 is going through about as many iterations as The Lady of Souls did. Which is to say: A LOT. My motto from the beginning of this book has been that I need to work out everything this story ISN’T before I can find what it IS. The good news is that (a) I am feeling more confident about the direction it’s taking, and (b) I have since learned to plan out everything in my notes rather than committing to drafting tens of thousands of words without really KNOWING where I’m going, so all of this effort of figuring out a story and then throwing it away repeatedly is being done in the conceptualization phase, and it’s SO MUCH EASIER/FASTER, you have no idea.

I’m chipping away at it, little by little, and in the space between I am consuming Helpful Media, the kind of books and TV shows and movies that get my brain spinning in all the right directions. It’s all part of the work. Art is messy.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to get back to my blogging schedule from last year. I still have a list of topics I’d like to discuss, but I think I am going to ease back in first off by discussing some of the fantastic stories that I’ve discovered in 2017, and some of the ones I am most looking forward to in 2018. So look out for that, soon.

Also, I really don’t make formal New Years resolutions, but if you’re curious, here are some of the non-work-related things that I am trying to focus on in these first few months of 2018:

• Finally getting through some of the unread books on my bookcase
• Improving my drawing skills by playing with comics, because why not
• Continuing to learn more about poetry and short stories
• Try out several of the graphic novel series that I’ve been eyeing forever, hello
• Get back to learning the piano

2018 is going to be about balance, I think. Wish me luck.

(Shush, it’s still technically January, I can still do year-end retrospectives!)

Let’s be honest: 2017 was a hard year. I had a number of personal highs, sure, but on the whole I will not be looking back on it with any great fondness. So it was important for me to find books and movies and TV series that lifted up my experience, and while I didn’t set any records for quantity of new media consumed, I was overall quite satisfied with my reading/watching choices. Let’s just dive straight in, then, a roundup of my favorite new-to-me fictional worlds.

Books

One thing of note from this past year: I ended up reading a lot less genre fiction than I have in… a long long time. This wasn’t a conscious choice, not really, although I was eventually aware of the fact that I was craving literary fiction. As a genre author myself, I obviously adore a lot of science fiction and fantasy novels, but… I don’t know, sometimes I just need a break from all of the excessive world-building and high-stakes plots and fake political upheavals, in favor of slow-burn, introspective glimpses into the human psyche. Not to mention the heavy emphasis on the beauty of language for it’s own sake that literary fiction often provides. With that in mind, here are the books that I enjoyed the most in 2017.

The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill

If we’re breaking things down by category, then this book wins “most beautiful prose” for the year. That is… honestly the only thing I really remember about it? Which makes it sound like the book itself wasn’t very good beyond that, but it was–it’s just that the writing itself was so gorgeous that it kind of overrides everything else. Listen, I read a lot of beautiful books, okay, but I don’t remember the last time I was this blown away by the craftsmanship. Heather O’Neill’s metaphors and similes, especially, took my breath away with their ability to be so unique and imaginative and yet so spot-on that it made me wonder how I’d never drawn the connection before. It’s been a while since I was outright jealous of someone’s writing, but this one did it for me.

No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal

I made an effort in 2017 to consume more #OwnVoices media, and I have to say, the experience did not disappoint. No One Can Pronounce My Name was gorgeous. It was also the first book I’d read in more than a year that was written by a man, and it was the perfect title to break my girl-power streak on. I adored these characters, and I adored the slow unfolding of the past, and the way they grew and moved toward their futures. Also, as someone that had recently joined a writer’s group, every scene from that setting made me want to laugh out loud.

Dreadnought by April Daniels

I already talked about this one in my post on quality superhero fiction, but it was so great that it easily deserves a spot on my year-end roundup as well. I loved this book so much. Not only was it a fantastic superhero story, I loved the #OwnVoices capture of the trans lesbian experience. From an outsiders perspective, I’d say this was easily the best book about a transgender individual that I’ve read yet. Gorgeous book, heartbreaking and hopeful and funny and empowering.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Sometimes you need a book that just makes you feel good. When Dimple Met Rishi is the perfect romcom: nerdy, adorable, just the right amount of drama, ultimately satisfying. I loved everything about this #OwnVoices novel, but from a personal perspective, having the plot that so heavily involved both programming and drawing (especially drawing superheroes) made this a book that was basically tailor-made to win me over.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Also mentioned in my superhero and comics fiction post, but… I’m calling it, this was my favorite book of 2017.

Unlike some of my other favorites, this was not a light or easy book by any means. The subject matter gets really intense, and the protagonist has a lot of anxiety issues that were a little too close to home, at times. That said, this book left me breathless. SUCH an amazing look at life as a creator, as an outsider, as a person trying to find their place in the world. I loved everything about this book, but I especially loved the moment when I realized that the monsters in the title were not, in fact, a reference to her webcomic universe at all. I’m not going to say anything more on that, but… it’s beautiful. Seriously, jut go read it.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Another top-notch, #OwnVoices romcom, but this time featuring two equally adorable romances playing out simultaneously. I mean, there’s no way I am not going to love a romance set at a con, okay? That alone just checks for many boxes for me that it’s not even funny. Throw in a diverse cast, shyness, cute YouTubers, and a positive look at fandom? My heart was doomed from the start.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko

This is one of those books were, the whole time I was reading it, I wouldn’t have necessarily jumped up and down and professed my love for it, but… As soon as it was over and I had some time to reflect, I found my thoughts circling back to this #OwnVoices book over and over again. I guess you could say that this book was impactful, more than anything else. So many things end up reminding me of it, that even now, a few months later, it’s trailing with me like an imaginary friend.

Movies

Wonder Woman

What more needs to be said? I already wrote about how much this movie meant to me, and every bit of that original post stands up upon multiple rewatchings. Favorite movie of the year, most important movie to me of the year.

Thor: Ragnarok

And then, of course, there’s Thor.

OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE WAS WAY TOO MUCH FUN. I mean, I’m a fan of the Thor movies anyway (second only to Captain America), but this? This is the best parts of Thor, filtered out and then amplified a hundred times and thrown in splashy, amazing colors at the biggest of big screens. All I can say to the powers that be behind the Avengers franchise is: MORE OF THIS, PLEASE.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Yup, it’s on my list. While I admit that my first viewing of this movie did not fill me with the same pumped-up amazement that I felt upon leaving The Force Awakens, the longer I sit with it, and the more I read about all of the implications and storytelling decisions that this movie made, the more I like and appreciate everything that it was saying. Easily the most… complex Star Wars movie of the franchise. I admit, I didn’t think the world of Star Wars had it in it, to tell a story this layered.

TV

Elementary

Listen, I’ve watched/read a lot of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, okay? Sherlock Holmes, like Pride and Prejudice, is almost guaranteed to get me to tune in. Modern day re-imaginings, old timey retelling, descendants of Holmes and Watson stories… doesn’t matter, I’m there. A lot of them–a lot of them–I think are really, really good, even if they have slightly different “takes” on the Holmes character. But this one? This one became my absolute favorite almost instantly.

On the surface, there were a lot of changes. Holmes is living in current-day New York, and Watson is an ex-doctor turned sober companion–not to mention a Chinese-American woman. And I admit, I held off on this show for a long time, in part because I thought the sheer number of changes to canon would weaken the story.

Oh my god, I was so wrong. This adaptation feels the most true-to-canon of anything I’ve ever watched. I love the way that they had to adapt Sherlock’s personality to fit and make sense within the 21st century, and it really revealed to me just how much of what we typically associate with “Sherlock Holmes” is, in fact, just the way that his character reacts to, and reflects, the Victorian, male-dominated society that he was raised in. Not to mention how fantastic it is to see the Watson character treated with such respect, by both by writing and Sherlock himself. Not just the best Sherlock story, but easily my favorite new-to-me show of the year.

That said, 2017 primarily was my year of comedy. With everything going on in the world and a few recurring issues in my personal life, I needed escapism more than ever. In that light, I fell in love with…

Powerless

I don’t care if it wasn’t popular, I loved this tragically short-lived series. The combination of a superhero-filled world, but decidedly unremarkable characters, made it an instant hit with me. Were parts of it a little clunky? Sure. But I adored all of the easter eggs that the show was filled with, and the primary cast made me laugh so hard that I just couldn’t care about the rough edges. This show was a bright spot in an otherwise fairly dark few months for me, and I will always be grateful for it.

The Orville

I grew up on Star Trek: TNG. Every week, sprawled on my parents’ living room floor, eyes wide in wonder as the crew of the Enterprise raced around on campy adventures and rose above the petty impulses that plague our human nature. Listen, there is a time and a place for science fiction that plunges deep into the complexities of moral gray areas, and I am all for that, I guess? But mostly what I like from sci-fi is hope and optimism about the future. Old-school Star Trek series still deliver that, and The Orville delivers that. The Orville makes me feel the way I did when I was ten, watching TNG, when the world still seemed good, and the future looked like nothing but gleaming ships and social progress. Especially now, I need a show like this. I think maybe we all do.

Fresh off the Boat

This has become my go-to pick-me-up show. Like I said above, I’ve tried to diversify my media consumption lately. I’ve loved reading about experiences outside of the WASP-y upbringing I had, and immigrant/first generation stories especially have found a special place in my heart. It helps that this series is set in the ’90s, and that I was almost exactly the same age as the oldest child at the time. But I adore how endearing this series is, how much heart is has. It’s sweet and funny, and it somehow manages to capture both what it’s like to be an outsider, and what it was like to be an American in the ’90s middle-class, all at the same time. Don’t even ask me to pick a favorite character, because they are all fantastic.

So there you have it, finally, a glimpse into the stories that sustained me last year. What about you, what were your new favorites in 2017? Did you try any of the ones I did? Let me know in the comments!

So, the last three novels that I read are, in order: Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng; and the only reason that Everything I Never Told You hasn’t been read twice (yet) is because I had to send back the library copy I read the first time.

This immediate repetition serves to highlight, first and foremost, just how utterly and amazingly fantastic Celeste Ng’s books are, oh my god, why aren’t you reading them literally right this second? But also, it got me thinking about the nature of re-reading books, and the many benefits that I’ve gotten from the practice over the years.

Let me start by saying that not everyone does this. Which, if you’re anything like me, I know, is a “wait, WHAT?” moment, because seriously—wait, WHAT? It’s true, I’m afraid, it’s true. I have, in point of fact, seen more than one person espouse about how they make it a policy to never re-read a book at all. Ever.

This choice they make seems to come down to basic math. X number of years left of your life, Y number of books currently in your TBR, with Z new releases coming out each month = you will never have time to read everything you want to read. The idea, then, is that by re-reading a book you’ve already read, you’re not spending that time reading a new book, and this is, theoretically, one less total book that you’ll be able to read in your lifetime.

Which, ignoring the fact that these same people who make this argument can usually quote entire episodes of their favorite TV show from memory because they’ve binge-watched the whole series eighteen times in a row on Netflix and don’t you dare try to tell me that it takes longer to read a book than to cram in twelve seasons of whatever… I don’t know, that seems like a pretty unsatisfying way to live your life. I mean, I guess, technically the math holds up? Assuming that I’m going to decide to read during this same time block if all I have to read are new books versus a really good old book, and that’s no guarantee that I’ll make that choice, but FINE, let’s play your game. Technically, you’re right. Of course you’re right. But once you start down that road, where does it end? If I read a book, I am also not taking piano lessons, working on my next novel, cooking a healthy dinner, or spending time talking to a loved one. And if I do any of those activities, I am not reading a new book. For me, that leads to nothing but a circular mess of anxiety and indecision, and who is to determine the relative value of each activity anyway; and what if you read a new book, congrats, but it sucks, THEN WHAT?

Putting all of that aside, there are also just so many reasons why re-reading books is a great idea, the first and arguably most important being that it’s fun. (And where, exactly, does fun factor into this grand equation of reading New versus Old, hmm?) Maybe you don’t enjoy it, and that’s fine–you do you–but there is a lot of pleasure to be gained from reading a story that you already know. The first time that you read a book, the main question you’re asking of the novel is what’s going to happen next?, whereas the second time you read a book, it’s about the joy of watching what you already know is happening, unfold. You can luxuriate in the fictional world that you’re inhabiting without needing to always rushrushrush to the next scene.

This comes down to the fact that—and I cannot stress this enough—your experience of reading a book the second time through is going to be different than your experience of reading it the first time. Always. It has to be, because when you read a book that you’ve already read, you have a deeper understanding of the characters and situation than you did when it was all still new. Revelations that didn’t happen until halfway through the plot will shape how you relate to the choices the characters make in chapter one. Not even necessarily huge, sucker-punch moments that change the way you look at everything that’s come before (insert Jenn side-eyeing Everything I Never Told You), just the little everyday understanding that comes from spending time with a person, aka a character, and how you learn to know them better with each passing day.

I feel like this part is especially important for writers, and for this reason I kind of worry about writers who don’t re-read books. How can you possibly learn how to weave in those moments that readers will look back on and realize they meant something completely different than they thought, if you don’t go back and see how other writers play this game out? I know that in my own work, I plant little throwaway lines that don’t necessarily seem to mean anything the first time you read them—or mean something fairly unimportant—but that, maybe even four or five books later, once you get to the relevant part, if you go back and re-read the first novel, you’ll realize that was actually a hint about what was to come. Are a lot of readers going to miss this? Sure. And that’s fine, and the story holds up if you don’t take the time to spot these “easter egg” foreshadows, but they’re presents to the readers that do put in the effort.

Additionally, I mean, your experience reading a book is going to change every time you read it, in fact, simply because you change. Read a book once at 20, once at 25, once at 30, you’re going to pick up on different things, different themes will resonate with you more than others; characters that once seemed awesome will now seem like assholes, or maybe the stodgy old fart now actually makes perfect sense to you. And this perspective can shift your entire understanding of the book—or not! It depends on you, it depends on the book. But you’ll never know unless you revisit it.

I don’t know, it’s just… books are huge, glorious, detailed works of art, filled to the bursting point with things that you can discover and probe and unpack, and no matter how hard you read it through the first time, you will never find every piece of it in one go. For writers, you will never understand the art and craft of how it was done, all in one go, and for readers, there is still just so much to learn about and enjoy and revel in. Books are made to be appreciated, not just checked off a list. And I think that flat-out refusing to give them that due, is a disservice not just to the book, but to yourself.

Plus, you know… it’s really just so much fun. It is seriously the ability to keep your cake, and have it too.

What I’m Writing: Whispers of the Ice, The Beacon Campaigns #4
What I’m Reading: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
What I’m Loving: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and do I EVEN need to explain why?

WIP Excerpt

There were eight Fellows children. In a large family especially, every child has their role. So it was with the sons and daughters of Prawl and Prestina.

There was Prewish, the oldest. His job was to always be right. It was a heavy burden, and one that he did not shirk, even when lesser men might cave under pressure.

So in late January, I did something that I’ve never done before: I read one of my already-published books.

For people outside of a creative industry, this might seem like a strange—even absurd!—statement for me to make, but hear me out. Writers, well… we spend a lot of time working on/obsessing over our books before they’re published, and then once they are out the door, it becomes a whole game of marketing, and reviews, and marketing, and your friends and coworkers all buying a copy and swearing they’re going to read it, and more marketing, and there’s all these opinions flying around about the final product, and you’re trying to focus on the sequels but you’ve still got skin invested in the first one because we need readers in order for the sequels to sell, and… it all gets up in your head, is what I’m saying. I wrote The Lady of Souls more than three years ago. I forgot a lot of what happened in it. I even kind of forgot what level of quality the book is—I mean, I know it was the best I could write at the time, or else I wouldn’t have published it, but I also know that I’ve grown a lot as a writer since then; so does that mean that if I look back on it now, I’ll cringe and think it’s terrible? This is the fear that has been holding me back. I write a book, and then (creatively speaking) I run away from it as fast as possible, out of fear that it’ll disappoint me.

But. I mean, 2017 kicked my ass, and January was a month of recovery and reflection and spinning my wheels. Book four of The Beacon Campaigns has been a work-in-progress for a looooooong time, longer than anything since I first released The Lady of Souls. It was the Beacon book that I was half-working on when the election of 2016 hit, and it was also the book that I had the least clear vision of what it should look like, at the point that I started writing it. I knew what function it needed to serve in the larger narrative of the series, but not what shape it should fill on its own. All this combined to give me some major mental blocks to work through, and I ended up putting off finishing it far longer than I should have. To my Beacon fans: I’m sorry, you deserved better.

Soooo, like I said, I re-read The Lady of Souls. And then I read Fixing Fate. And then Heart’s Blood. And then everything that I had written so far on Whispers of the Ice, which was frankly like 3/4 of the book if I’m being honest. And what I found, far from being the outgrown mess that I had feared, was a series of books that I really really like.

This is all my long-winded way of explaining that I am back into full production mode, hard at work on The Beacon Campaigns 4, Whispers of the Ice. That’s going to be my next release, sometime in the first half of this year. It feels really good to be working this much, and it feels really good to be back in this universe, sharing space with these characters.

(If you’re a fan of the Hopefuls series instead, don’t worry, there’s plenty more planned for you, too. In the meantime, though, have you looked into the Beacons books? We’ve got girl heroes, a slow-burn f/f romance, and lots of snark and sass. )

Anyway, that’s where it all stands. Cover reveal is coming soon, and subscribers to my mailing list will get it sooner, so be sure to sign up for that. In the meantime, I’m going back to work. I’ve only gotten one writing session in today, and I’ve still got at least three more to go, so it’s onward and upward.

Aaaaaaaaaand we’re off!

The last thing that Praxis Fellows expected was to ever return to her family’s home, but when Pon Lanali seizes control of Durland and danger looms behind every corner, there is no other choice. While Yandosia may not be Praxis’s favorite place, only the Fellows can provide a safe haven for her and Kaedrich Mannly.

Except that things at home aren’t quite what Praxis planned on. With the fate of the family company hanging in the balance, rivalries and betrayals become common ground—and now something darker is lurking, unburied from the deepest depths of the mine. How long can Praxis and Kaedrich resist being drawn into the quagmire of family politics? And just how much damage is Lanali doing to Kaedrich’s own home up north while the two of them are stuck under the ice?

For real, thank you for being so patient with this book. I know that it’s been a long wait, and I hope that you all will love it once it’s finally out in the world. I finally love it (and believe me, that’s not a sentence I was sure I was ever going to reach). I’m hoping for a late spring/early summer release date, so stay tuned!

Uh, so yeah. This is, technically,  April. In my defense, I spent the end of March wrapping up a draft of Whispers of the Ice, and I make no apologies about missing this Check-In deadline because of it.

What I’m Writing: Beacon Campaigns 4, 5, and 6, in various stages of production. Because yeah.
What I’m Reading: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
What I’m Loving: AJR’s album “The Click”

WIP Excerpt

They moved at a sedate pace, but steady, like the ticking of a metronome. Every step of this act had been scripted, every breath accounted for. Twice over, in fact. He knew that she knew that he knew. She probably suspected. The only thing left in play was which one of them had out-maneuvered the other, out-anticipated the other. Which of their traps were meant to be traps, and which were meant to be seen and avoided, thus leading to further traps? In his mind—and no doubt hers—there were plans layered upon plans, contingencies for every conceivable outcome. If she struck first, if he attacked from the left; if it happened in the courtyards, or the kitchens, or his bedroom; if he went with magic, if she went with bullets. The only thing neither of them considered was to let the matter lie. Concealed on Tol’s person, right at that moment, he had: three knives, two pistols, one rope (coiled around his leg), an old-fashioned water skein filled with lamp oil, a vial of poison, and a dead rat.

Early proof for color testing and eeeee, look at how pretty it is!

I’m going to keep this short and simple. March was super-insane-productive, and April is off to a start that is going to kick March’s ass. As mentioned, I wrapped up the most recent draft of Whispers of the Ice on… whatever last Tuesday was. The 27th. My goal was to finish that by the end of March, so I managed several days early on that one. I’m reworking four last scenes during the beginning of this week, as I chip away at my easiest edit notes. Then it’ll get another re-read, and the heavy lifting of structural edits gets into full swing.

MEANWHILE, Books 5 and 6 are taking shape. This series is heavily interwoven, so I’ve always juggled two books at a time. 6 got an early start just because it’s the end of the series, and therefore more important to make sure that the groundwork is laid early.

I do not yet have words to describe what it’s like to actually be crafting the final book—mostly because I just started it yesterday, with a 6,000 word burst of enthusiasm. Give me a while to sort myself out, and maybe I’ll start having Feels about it, but for now I am just itching to get to all of the really good, rip-your-heart out scenes. Which, if I am productive again today, should start as early as tomorrow, so… if you’ll excuse me, it’s back to work for this author.

It’s here, it’s here, it’s HERE! Finally, friends, I am happy to announce that my newest book is out in the world!

The last thing that Praxis Fellows expected was to ever return to her family’s home, but when Pon Lanali seizes control of Durland and danger looms behind every corner, there is no other choice. While Yandosia may not be Praxis’s favorite place, only the Fellows can provide a safe haven for her and Kaedrich Mannly.

Except that things at home aren’t quite what Praxis planned on. With the fate of the family company hanging in the balance, rivalries and betrayals become common ground—and now something darker is lurking, unburied from the deepest depths of the mine. How long can Praxis and Kaedrich resist being drawn into the quagmire of family politics? And just how much damage is Lanali doing to Kaedrich’s own home up north while the two of them are stuck under the ice?

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(As usual, paperbacks might take slightly longer to show up in stores, but the files have all been approved, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the computer systems to catch up.)

Oh man, where do I even start, talking about this book? This book has been in the works for so long, I can’t believe it’s really done. This is the Beacons book I was working on when the election of 2016 hit, and this is the Beacons book I was working on when one of my family members had a stroke, and this is the Beacons book I was working on while I wrote Jane Maxwell, and this the Beacons book I was working on when my superhero book launched me to a new level as an author, and this is the Beacons book I was working on when I started to reclaim my life for myself, and this is the Beacons book I was working on when another relative passed away. My world, the world, does not look the same as it did when I started writing it. I am not the same person that I was when I started writing it. As a result, this was the single hardest thing I’ve ever written, and I appreciate your patience, waiting for me to finish. There were times I really did not think I would ever finish.

But I did, and in the end this is one of my favorite books of the series. Of course I think I say that every time a book is released, but oh well. I hope you’ll find it worth the wait. I hope you’ll love it as much I finally do. Buy it up, tell your friends, leave a review! And then watch this space, because the next chapters of our journey together are only getting more exciting…

I approach poetry much like I do a Jackson Pollock painting: that is, while I fully appreciate the value and artistry of the work—and even, depending on the piece, can quite like looking at it—I do not, at my core, understand it. I know this. I know this, because if I am being honest, I cannot fully differentiate what makes his work Art, while the paint that accrues along the drop cloth on an artist’s floor is not. And this is on me, because I know there are people who do understand it. I know there is something there to be understood.

Similarly, I do not entirely “get” poetry, even when I like it. And I do like it. Sarah Kay’s No Matter the Wreckage is gorgeous, and the novel-in-verse Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough left me shaken for days. So of course I try to write some myself. I have some skill with words, after all. I understand metaphor, imagery, symbolism. I can take my pen and dip it into the well of my thoughts, fling some words onto the page. But I cannot tell, in the end, if I have in fact written a poem, or merely splattered paint on the walls.

Or, to put this question in meme form:

This week, I attended a poetry workshop.

I want to preface this by saying that the presenter is a lovely person who is genuinely enthusiastic about her craft. And she does a good job leading you through how to take a starting spark, and dig deeper, and create something that could, in the end, be a poem. It was a solid workshop. Assuming that you understood what a poem was in the first place, and roughly how to craft one.

Again, this is on me. I went into the experience thinking it was slightly more introductory than it was, and confident that my writing skills would be up to the task even if I was wrong. And there were a lot of factors that particular day that led to a dry creative well: I had just come off my day job, which already saps my energies; I don’t really do well creating in groups on command anyway; I was out late, by my standards, and tired, and worried about getting to bed on time considering I had to wake up at ass-o’clock to get back to work the next morning.

So I didn’t get too much out the workshop itself, but then the presenter offered to let me stay and chat with her for a while about my struggles with the form. She listened to me try and fail to explain what I didn’t understand, and to my questions that were both inanely basic, and oddly existential at the same time. What is poetry? How does it differ from prose? Are these poems, or just random thoughts with line breaks? She tried to answer these questions as best as she could, offered permission/encouragement to just jump in and play with it even if I didn’t quite get it, and suggested several books to read, both poetry itself and how-to books that might explain what I am missing. She really is very nice, and it’s always enjoyable to connect with another writer, even if our styles and genres are wildly different.

In the end, I went home jazzed. And as I tried to fall asleep that night, fragments of poems were floating around in my mind. I lay there feeling like something had finally clicked, like the “voice” of poetry made sense to me. I had visions of awaking a new writer, of churning out a half a dozen poems my first day. Of making poetry a warm-up routine before I tried to work on my novels, a refreshing pleasure that would get me keyed up to work with words all day.

Five hours later, zombie-shuffling into the shower, that voice was gone, and I was forced to wonder if it had ever really been there in the first place.

It still has not come back to me.

The truth is, I don’t know if I will ever really understand poetry, and that’s fine. Not all forms of art need to be for all people. But I know I will keep trying anyway, if for no other reason than the effort costs me nothing.

P.S. Here is a really good list of poetry books, if you are interested in that sort of thing: 42 Poetry Books By Women To Read For Women’s History Month. Don’t let the time of year put you off—be a rebel, read women always. Also: Poetry Rx is both a fantastic concept and a phenomenal read, please and thank you.

What I’m Writing: Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair? (Hopefuls #2)
What I’m Reading: The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
What I’m Loving: Right now, nothing competes with the glory of an open lap lane at the pool.

No WIP excerpt this month because, I’m sorry, but literally every paragraph in this second book is a spoiler for the first one.

If I had written this update a few days ago, I would have still been whining and moping about my enteral struggles to find my footing with Hopefuls #2. Because, let’s be honest, it’s been kind of a mess. It’s an open secret that the success of The Private Life of Jane Maxwell caused me to freeze up and freak out about what to make this book, and it went through about fifty different iterations before I finally settled on the one that I am drafting now.

Buuuuut, now it is a few days later, and it is amazing what a difference a few days can make. Now when I am writing this update, I am full of enthusiasm and drive, and I feel like, for the first time, I really know what this book is supposed to look and feel like, and I feel like I can Get Shit Done. It helps that I had two writing days in a row where I hit a 2,500 word goal—which is, admittedly, kind of a low goal for me during the heart of writing a book, but so much better than I’ve been doing lately, that I will not knock it, and instead will embrace the boost it gives to my confidence. I… admittedly am not sure if I will manage to repeat that level of success today, but that is only because I have actually caught up on all the scenes I was writing at once, and now I need to start a bunch more. (And yes: I write like 3-5 scenes at the same time, so I can bounce around between them whenever I get stuck on a sentence.)

I have also now emailed a sneak peak of the cover and blurb for Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair? to two writing friends, and am waiting to hear back on what they think of it, so I am both excited and nervous for that, but mostly excited just because YAY COVERS and that’s always a thrill. Not going public with it yet, just because I want to make sure that the book continues to go the way I think it will, before releasing a cover that includes reference to a thing in the book.

In the meantime, it is Glorious Summer, and I am wringing every last bit of enjoyment out of that fact as I can. There is something magical and intoxicating about this time of year for me, where even now, in my thirties, the combination of warm air and sunshine and the feeling of pool water drying on my skin still makes me feel like I am a kid on summer vacation and everything is absolutely perfect. I had, hands-down, the best summers when I was growing up, and it set the stage for every summer of the rest of my life, I think. It’s this feeling I am trying to carry with me, as I write this book. That writing isn’t work, but playtime. That expectations do not exist. That for a few months, anyway, whatever problems might be in my real life are so far out of reach that they may as well not exist at all. Right now, in this bubble of summer, everything is absolutely perfect.

It’s a good way to get stuff done.

What I’m Writing: Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair? (Hopefuls #2)
What I’m Reading: Next Year, For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson
What I’m Loving: CoversSellBooks, a site that makes it easy for authors to create promotional images/ads/3D renders for their products. I made the ad below using them, as well as one for BookBub that is proving more effective than any previous ones I’ve used. If you’re an author, especially an indie author, I think it’s a great resource (and no, I am not being paid to say this).

First off: The Private Life of Jane Maxwell is part of Kobo’s Labour Day Sale, so from Aug 30–Sept 4, you can get the ebook from them for only $1.99. Click here to purchase—no coupon codes required. Don’t have Kobo? They have a free reading app for your phone or tablet, as well as offering a variety of ereaders in their store.

So.

The biggest lesson this book is trying to teach me, I think, is that I should never make declarative statements about what this book is or how it’s going. Because as soon as I do, the whole thing flips itself on its head again, and a statement I made five hours ago is now completely false.

Case in point: within days of my sparkles-and-rainbows check in last month, I hit a wall with my writing. Just, a complete dead stop in productivity. Which did not seem to make sense, because outwardly everything was going fine—I had an outline that was like 90% complete, I had energy and enthusiasm for the project, I was putting time into sitting at my computer with my word processor open, I had every intention of writing—but still, the words were not happening.

Now, here’s the thing. If something like this had happened to me years ago, I would have completely freaked out. But I’ve been at this gig for decades, and publishing professionally for almost four years now, and the truth is I have learned to trust my block. If I run down my checklist and everything easy or surface-level is cleared away and the path is free to write, and I am not writing, then there is something wrong with the story. At this point, it’s my job to stop what I am doing, and just sit and soul-search for a while to figure out what.

So that’s what I did, and it turns out there were two core problems with the way I was writing this book, and both of those problems were so deep that the only recourse was to throw away what I had done, and start over.

Again, this might have been devastating to me as a younger writer. But after more than 70,000 scrapped words and I think five complete overhauls on The Lady of Souls alone, I’m really not afraid of restarting projects anymore. The truth is that I am a fast writer if I know where the story is going, and in all honesty it takes more time to stubbornly cling to a failed attempt, than to just throw it away and begin again.

That’s where we are, then. My new outline is almost complete, and now I have entered the phase of manic typing while blasting opera to sing me through to the end. Not gonna lie: it’s a good way to spend the weekend.

A lot of little things go into the process of writing a book, even one that came together as relatively easy this one, so I thought it would be fun to invite you back to see what’s behind the curtain. Below, I’ve compiled a list of trivia surrounding The Private Life of Jane Maxwell. Hope you enjoy it!

• Jane’s first name came from the very first note I ever wrote down about the book, where I described the protagonist as “a normal Jane Schmane”.
• Her last name is from James Clerk Maxwell, the scientist who first published about the electromagnetic spectrum, and (quoting Wikipedia here) “bringing together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon”. I really hope that he didn’t steal his research from a woman, because that would just suck.
• A lot of the other names in the book are tiny Easter Egg nods to women who’ve worked in comics, both past and present. Not the main cast of heroes, but side characters, street names, etc. You’ll have my mad respect forever if you find them all.
• “UltraViolet” came from the fact that in my notes I was using the placeholder name “superV” for Doctor Demotion, and “ultraV” for her. I started calling her UltraViolet almost by accident after that.
• For the longest time, I actually had no idea what Jane’s job would be. I knew a wanted a normal Jane Schmane to end up on a parallel world, I knew I wanted her to be told she had to pose as her double who’s the head of a team of superheroes, I knew who the villain was, and… that was it. The book was completely stalled at that early stage of development, because I just could not get a handle on the characters. I went through a bunch of different options: scientist, student, doctor, tech support, etc., etc., and nothing worked until one day I just thought, wait, HA, wouldn’t it be funny if she draws superheroes for a comic book? After that, the rest fell together naturally.
• Despite a general love of superheroes and comics, and despite having read a lot of serialized webcomics over a years, I hadn’t read more than a handful of completed graphic novels before I started this book. Suffice it to say, I have long since remedied that.
• A big inspiration as I was writing this book was The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore. Nothing about it directly applied to my work, exactly, but just learning the background of such an iconic female superhero as I was writing about female superheroes really made me ponder what it means to step into these shoes, and what kind of voice I was adding to the conversation. The Wonder Woman movie then came out about a month before my book was released, while I was deep in edits, and it instantly meant so much to me, I honestly cannot even express the depth of how this movie hit me.

That’s it! Did you guess any of them? What else about the characters, creation process, or history are you curious about? Feel free to comment with any questions! And, of course, let me know if you spotted any of the easter eggs I mentioned.

Haven’t read the book yet? The Private Life of Jane Maxwell is available on all major ebook platforms, as well as in paperback.

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Already read it? Please leave a review on your favorite retailer!

What I’m Writing: Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair? (Hopefuls #2)
What I’m Reading: Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
What I’m Loving: Toss-up between The Good Place, and the newest season of Doctor Who, both of which are giving me life in these trying times.

WIP Excerpt

“Doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it,” Jane said. “Bryson resigned and, last I checked, this was a free election. [REDACTED] can run if he wants to.”

“And that’s all well and good, but since when did you and your friends ever care about technicalities like whether or not something was legal?”

Jane bristled. “Hey. We’re not criminals.”

“You’re not ‘bad guys’,” Allison said. She literally raised her hands, hooking her fingers for the air quotes. “Last I checked, vigilantism was against the law.”

Writing is finally fun again.

I mean, let’s be real, no matter how much you love something, it’s going to sometimes give you grief. Writing is no different. This book has had something of an identity-crisis for a while, that’s been compounded by expectation and my own insecurities. But I am finally back on track, finally drafting at the kind of speed I should be drafting on. Shout-out to my friend and fellow author Stefani Chaney for helping keep me sane throughout this whole sequel-writing business, ha. (Also, fans of The Private Life of Jane Maxwell should totally check out her book, Midnight: The Opposition for more superhero fun.)

This boost in productivity has also inspired me to make some improvements in the rest of my life, the result of which is that I am kinda on a whole big self-improvement kick right now. I completely rearranged a corner of my living room to make a permanent space for my keyboard so I can get back to learning to play the piano, and I’ve checked out several instructional drawing books from the library to brush up on my art skills. I feel happier and more stable and more confident than I have for a long time, and I plan to ride this high for as long as I possibly can. Hopefully, it carries me all the way through the rest of Who’s Afraid of Amy Sinclair?, but at the very least I will take the progress I’ve already made.

I also have a lot of fun plans brewing, for everything from blog posts and social media content, to upcoming books, to cover reveals, to a few things I cannot really talk about yet. Suffice to say, 2019 is shaping up to be quite the year. Stay tuned!