Deck the halls with dark romance, hockey, and F1 Smash or Pass

Last newsletter of the year! Thanks for being on this journey with me this year, lovely subscribers.

Big news is that I was SO honored to be the first guest on the new podcast Margs and Manuscripts, hosted by Cait and Jenna. I met Cait at the WFWA retreat in Alexandria on 2023 and we’ve kept in touch over Insta since. Cait and Jenna met at the Albuquerque retreat this year and had the idea to start a podcast with real talk about what it’s like being a writer, especially for those of us in the pre-published, am-I-ever-going-to-make-it stage of our journeys. Every one of the first three episodes has been a delight to listen to (or watch) and I had SO much fun recording with them a few weeks ago. Listen to this week’s episode to hear the three of us being slightly unhinged about writing hacks, doing what everyone tells you not to do when pitching, and a special F1-themed Smash or Pass segment. Check it out on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

In the vein of being real, I’ll say I’m a little worried for when this drops because one of the things we discuss is Generative AI in writing. I know that it’s a really sensitive topic when it comes to writing and art especially and that some people have a very hard line that all uses of GenAI are unethical and inexcusable. And that’s valid. Myself, working in a tech company, I do end up using GenAI tools as a part of my work day and I don’t really have a choice in that. I agree that there’s no truly ethical use of GenAI — even if the stealing of IP works and unrestricted ability to create and perpetuate false media were resolved, the environmental impacts are still there — but I have a more nuanced view. It’s not going away. And I do think it can be a powerful organization and research tool for writers. But it’s a topic I’ve been kind of scared to talk about publicly. And now I’ve done it on a podcast for the world to listen to and potentially cancel me. At possibly the worst time, when I’m trying to get an agent to represent my work. Wish me luck. 🤞 

Reading

Something I’ve been trying to do this year (and into the next) is broaden my horizons when it comes to the romance genre. To an outsider, it might seem like — okay, romance is romance, how different can they be? Oh, sweet summer child. There’s a HUGE variety in the world of romance, including in the genre-expectations of each of the subgenres. What’s completely typical and expected in Mafia romance, for example, may not be welcome in a contemporary rom-com. I may do a piece in a future newsletter delving into the different subgenres and how expectations and conventions change in each. But for now, just consider this a little bit of a heads up that, if you’re used to picking books off my list to add to yours because they’ve been up your alley in the past, maybe do a little vetting going forward. For example, this month has three books where I would highly suggest reviewing the trigger warnings: the two Shantel Tessier novels (dark romance, which includes dubious consent among other triggers), and TOURIST SEASON (serial killer romance, including the things serial killers tend to do). You can also always reply to me if you want to know more about what I’m reading and if I think you might like it personally!

• ALICE RUE EVADES THE TRUTH by Emily Zipps

• THE SINNER by Shantel Tessier

• THE SACRIFICE by Shantel Tessier

• ✨ FEMALE FANTASY by Iman Hariri-Kia 🎧️ 

• TOURIST SEASON by Brynne Weaver 🎧️ 

• ✨ TWO TWISTED CROWNS by Rachel Gillig 🎧️ 

• NOT YOU AGAIN by Erin La Rosa 🎧️ 

Writing

A lot has happened in my little writing world this year, so I thought I’d do a nice little rundown.

• Wrote ~100k words including all the ones I later deleted or replaced with better words.

• Ran THE RACING LINE through my critique group, making it better every step of the way.

• Had 8 fellow writers/good critique friends read various drafts of THE RACING LINE.

• Finished the first draft of THE RACING LINE

• Edited the first draft of THE RACING LINE

  • … and the second draft

  • … and a third draft.

• Sent queries out to ~90 agents

  • Got ~50 rejections plus ~10 “consider no response by x weeks a rejection”

  • Got 10 full or partial requests from agents

  • … and five requests are still outstanding as of today 😬 

  • … along with ~16 queries still in the maybe limbo.

• Made even more edits to THE RACING LINE to resubmit it to 4 agents who suggested some changes and a resubmit.

• Outlined book two and started plotting book three in my F1 romance series.

• Applied to, was accepted for, and did my first class in the Stanford Online Novel Writing Certificate program.

• Started a standalone romance I’ll be working on through the program.

• Wrote and published a short story here on my website.

• Went to the Women in Motorsport Summit, where I got to tell amazing women about my book and get connected with another writer in the motorsport romance space (hey Becca!).

• Connected with some amazing fellow authors and readers in person, on discords, and through Instagram.

• Continued absorbing and learning from everyone I interact with and every book I read, and (hopefully) getting better and better every day.

… and Randomness

• Heated. Rivalry. I am OBSESSED. Anticipation was high all over Instagram Romancelandia and I totally get it. Produced for TV by Letterkenney co-creator Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reid’s bestselling GAME CHANGERS series, it’s dropping weekly on HBO Max in the US and I am a) so sad there’s only 6 episodes and b) DYING that I will be away for the last episode drop on Dec 26th. Because it’s not yet out in the UK 😭 Rude, UK streamers.

• I also attended my first NHL (Hockey) game in ages in November, to go to the Colorado Avalanche’s Fourth Wing night. Each ticket (which benefitted the Ehlers-Danlos Society) came with a custom jersey and custom edition of FOURTH WING, and Rebecca Yarros was in attendance. Trying to get tickets to this back in August was a nightmare, and I comiserated over Threads with another local author who invited me to join her and some other hockey gals for dinner before the game. It was a great experience, and definitely reminded me that I need to make a point to get out to the pro sporting events here more. Baseball and Hockey are checked off, now I need to go see the Nuggets (basketball), Broncos (football), and Rapids (Soccer).

Happy Holidays and festive season to you and all yours and I’ll see you in 2026!