Newsletter, January 2025
Hello! It has been far, far too long since I've sent out a newsletter, but you can expect regular emails once or twice a month from now on (unless I’m on a deadline, in which case, I apologize in advance). I'd like this newsletter to be a place where I can share thoughts and musings too long to post on social media, as well as a place to talk a little more about my books and WIPs in depth. So without further ado, let's get into it!
Project SOLH
If you don't know, SOLH is my romantic fantasy novel that I'm publishing sometime this summer or fall (when I decide a release date, you'll be the first to know). Street team sign ups are open until Jan 26, so if you're interested, you can find the application here.
My cover reveal is going to happen on Feb 24! I'm so happy with how the cover turned out on this one; the colors are dreamy, and there's so many symbolic easter eggs hidden in the art. There's also a unique under-dust-jacket cover for the hard copies, which is a fun little surprise.
I'll be showing you the cover of SOLH here before the official reveal on social media so I hope you're excited for next month's newsletter.
Project FOS
Since November, I've been slowly chipping away at my fourth book (second novel), and I just recently hit 50,000 words in my first draft. Project FOS (title reveal to come much, much later) is another standalone fantasy novel, but this one will have very little romance, if any. This story is a complete 180 from SOLH in terms of vibes. SOLH is whimsical and bright and poetic and romantic; Project FOS, while still poetic, is wistful and dark and tragic. It's harrowingly sad and it channels some major Edgar Allan Poe unreliable narrator vibes, complete with a slow descent to madness.
At its heart, this story is about a boy who doesn't know how to properly confront his grief and the damage that his refusal to accept death causes.
I wish I could share more, but this book is still in very early stages, so that's it for now!
What I'm Reading
I got a Kindle for Christmas, and while I've never been a fan of ebooks before now—let me tell you, this thing has done wonders for my TBR. I've read more in the past month and a half than I did in six months last year.
Some of my recent favorite reads have been:
• Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
• More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built
• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
• Blood over Bright Haven
• Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
I don't think I've ever had so many 5-star reads in a row! These are all books I plan on annotating and talking about in the future (maybe even considering starting a book blog?), so I won't gush too much about them for now. But let me just say that Blood over Bright Haven absolutely mangled my heart, and it may be one of my favorite books of all time. If you liked Babel (which was my previous favorite book of all time), you'd love this book (but please check the content warnings first)! Right now I’m reading The Midnight Library, and so far I don’t like it quite as much as the other books I’ve read recently, but I’m not very far into it yet, so that may change.
Wrap-Up
Thank you for hanging out with me and listening to my effusive ramblings for a while!
The last thing I want to leave you with is something that's been on my mind lately. Is perfection worth it if you're unhappy? Is it worth it to sacrifice your joy and peace of mind for the sake of trying to be the best?
Lately, I've realized that my constant desire to do better and be more—to compete with everyone else and myself—has exhausted me. Chasing after a constantly moving cloud in the sky has sucked the joy out of pursuing my dreams. So I took a breath, and I stopped.
I stopped waiting for the day my dreams were complete to be happy. There are a lot of long term dreams I have as a writer—to be traditionally published, to write full-time, to hit a bestseller list. But at the heart of all those dreams is one thing: writing. It’s obvious, of course, but none of those dreams can happen without me sitting down and writing. So in some way, every time I sit down at my desk, I am living my dream. I may not be writing full-time yet, but I am writing now. I may not be a bestselling author yet, but I’m writing the book that could be a bestseller now. In every moment that I pull words out of my heart, I am living my dream. Instead of frustrating myself by thinking of where I’m not yet, I want to find joy now. To find happiness in the seeds that are being planted instead of waiting for the flower.
Maybe there's something in your life—maybe even the person in the mirror--you can try looking at this way?
This year, I hope you can find gentle enjoyment in something for what it is, rather than looking for what you want it to be.
See you next month!