It’s been five years since I’ve written a blog post. Whoops.

I’ve just updated my website to a new format that allowed me to ingest my prior blog posts from Blogger into my site, so now it will be easier for me to share updates, especially now, when there are lots to share. I’ve been at least semi-active on social media so it’s not as if these last years have been shrouded in mystery, but still, I thought it would be useful to document what I’ve been up to creatively, and any fun headlines, for the last five years. Here goes:

Since I last posted, I:

1. Wrote a Mystery / Thriller / Romance thingy and decided not to publish it, yet. It needs something. I’ll find it. I adore this piece.
2. Became a New York Times Bestselling author during the pandemic when LOVELY WAR hit the list. A small silver lining to a painful season that left lots of people with extra time to read.
3. Saw LOVELY WAR sell in more countries, including, most recently, Brazil and France.
4. Published WISHES AND WELLINGTONS as a physical book with Sourcebooks, followed by the other two titles in the trilogy, CRIME AND CARPETBAGS, and BURGLARS AND BLUESTOCKINGS. (Cover art by Chloe Bristol.) This middle grade fantasy series got its start ages ago on a plane ride and now has publishing homes around the world. I adore Maeve, Alice, Tommy, and Mermeros and the shenanigans they get up to together. Fun fact: BURGLARS takes place at Cambridge University on the fateful day that a) the discovery of the electron by Cambridge scientists was announced in a scientific journal, and b) the university voted to deny women the right to obtain degrees. I had a heyday with both ideas, and brought a young and exuberant Ernest Rutherford, father of atomic and nuclear physics, into the story.
5. Released two new mindfulness-themed picture books with Sounds True: HAPPY RIGHT NOW and CRANKY RIGHT NOW. (My memoir.) (Haha.) (But only sort of haha.) Holly Hatam is the illustrator and adore the family of characters she created. I may devote another post to these books.
6. This one is pre-2020 but I never blogged about it, so: I released a picture book written in partnership with the Getty Library and Museum in Los Angeles, highlighting their special exhibit about illuminated manuscripts and medieval bestiaries. It’s called DON’T LET THE BEASTIES ESCAPE THIS BOOK. It’s illustrated by April Lee.
7. Published THE NIGHT FROLIC, illustrated by Jaime Zollars, and published by Little, Brown & Co. Jaime’s illustration work is stunning in this project and was recognized by the Society of Illustrators.
8. Wrote picture book manuscripts, of which more hereafter.
9. Co-wrote the first book in a middle-grade series with my husband, Phil, which was really fun and very much a new for me. Stay tuned on that one.
10. Researched, wrote, and finished IF LOOKS COULD KILL, my next YA novel, coming out this September from Simon and Schuster. Much more on that to follow shortly.
11. Moved across the continent, saw kids graduate from high school and college and make all those life milestone transitions in between. Ran a bunch of 10K Road Races. Ate far too many cookies. Etc.
12. BOUGHT A BOOKSTORE. If anyone is unaware, I bought the independent bookstore in my hometown of Medina, NY and did a full renovation to become Author’s Note, where it had formerly been The Book Shoppe. We’ve run it for 4.5 years now. This project brings me so much joy. And a lot of work. It’s nothing like the rosy,

    romantic, Hallmark-movie notion people have of what owning a bookstore would be like. It’s better than that. Harder, and a lot more work, but definitely better.  More on that soon as well.

And that’s the recap in brief. In the coming weeks I’ll try to flesh out these headlines a bit more and, more importantly, resume a pattern of regular blogging about my reading, writing, and now, bookselling life. Stay tuned.