structural edit turned into rewriting a couple chapters. major improvement, feels on target, the narrative is doing what it needs to instead of circling the point. the rewritten chapters feel confident and vital…regrettably it is taking actual work to make the story what I have envisioned

An unexpected benefit of reading Poe-themed baby books to my three-year-old is that when I ask her to take a bath (or do anything she doesn’t want to) I get to hear her scream NEVERMORE!!! and it’s the cutest defiance that’s ever been

the characters would have been so very justified in using those F words, but for the sake of the gentle reader I limited myself to the milder swears. My editor always told me that keeping the language mostly clean might help you sell a book one day and you know what? She was right

I think we could even say that inspiring polarized reviews is such an established quality of Wuthering Heights that no reaction or opinion could be controversial. This book has been making people mad since 1848. Almost nobody is indifferent to it. That’s a gift that transcends “good” or “bad”

Well but this is one of the many things to love about WH (in my little old opinion). It’s always been criticized. In a technical sense it is sprawling (maybe even a touch sloppy) and morally it will make a lot of us cringe. Then again, some of us don’t care, we love it just the way it is

such a surreal feeling to change a few plot points and then find that the emotional arc of the story makes perfect sense “should have listened to my characters the first time,” she said, for the millionth time

you know one thought that crosses my mind a few times a day? unadulterated gratitude to whatever is holy that i am happily married to one of the good ones after almost half a lifetime as a real magnet for the bad ones it feels like a continuously unfolding miracle. 10 years this fall 🙌

Sadie’s favorite place was the mountain valley where her best friend lived as a kid when an electric company built a hydroelectric dam that flooded the valley, it was buried under 300 feet of water insult to injury, it was her father’s electric company too! No spoilers, just had to answer this one

Things I consider inherently political that I always circle back to in writing: who we believe when they say something inconvenient the effect of power disparities on relationships solidarity between underdogs There’s more, but you get the idea

If you were determined to read my books in an apolitical way, you could probably manage Then again, it’s hard for me to understand my own experience without a political lens. There’s a part of me that will always feel like the teen girl who couldn’t afford new shoes and when I write, she’s loud

opening this #5amwritersclub morning by deleting the copilot app from microsoft word, feels like a fortuitous start to the day

I am happily not involved in any of the *discourse* about a particular film adaptation which I will not name here. But as a forever devotee of the book, LET HER IN!

sorry for being cringe I'm trying to enjoy being alive

“But will I be able to carry into another world what I forgot to dream?” — Fernando Pessoa, writing as Álvaro de Campos (trans. Costa and Ferrari)

I once really deliberated over a name for a cafe that was set in a fictionalized version of a real area. I thought about it for days before settling on one that felt just right, unique and local and just cute enough. Only later did I learn that a cafe of that very same name did already exist there

Februate [FEB-roo-ayt] (v.) - To purify, cleanse, or rejuvenate, esp. in a ritual or ceremonial context. Used in a sentence: “He simmered orange peel, cloves, and cedar needles on the stove to februate the home with a sweetness that felt almost like magic.”

A blue paint chip, picked out for a room she had to leave. A coin squished on a train track. In another of my books, a necklace. I love when ordinary objects have a special role in a story. In my current WIP, a doll with an unknown surprise past that’s special to Sadie. And of course her scissors ✂️

My two newest titles looking so pretty on display at my beloved local indie bookshop! 😍 I know most of you on here are far away from me, but obviously, everyone’s invited to my book signing on February 21.

When drafting, most of the time my characters have the wheel. During edits I guess it changes. Need to put on my director hat today and tell the main characters that they can’t just yearn and stare. Need them to snap out of it and make a promise they can’t keep, or have an argument about something.

I think about this post a lot.

I have not one but two acquaintances who mistakenly call me by names of characters from my books (one Sophie, the other Holly) and I will never ever correct them

The first time Sadie (I named her Sadie, everybody) runs away from home, she packs a library book, her teddy bear, and a pair of scissors. She’s not organized or practical, but you never know when she’ll have exactly the answer you’re looking for

progress update: my old messy purse is abandoned full of receipts and candy wrappers under my bed; my new small tidy purse that I used for exactly four days is right next to it; I’ve adopted a new even messier bag and tell myself daily that I’ll go back to using the good purse.

arguing with myself in the margin notes like

(I’m Marie, I need to hurry up in the kitchen, I’m off screen but there nonetheless)

the book shop has moved my book signing from May up to February, and since I don't have time to scheme together my Dream Outfit, I'm going to wear my Stevie Nicks dress from Halloween with a sweater and a shiny headband and the too-big western boots I wear every day because they make me happy.

It’s always a sad day when you have to tell your three-year-old that they’ll never get to see the dinosaurs

opened my manuscript to reread before final edits and damn if I didn’t add fifty words before finishing page one. Verily I remain my own worst enemy

how do I put together an outfit to wear to a book signing that somehow communicates my author brand, “women’s fiction for weird girls who talk about ghosts and trees too much” help I have until May 2

what if the seemingly abrupt choices you made in times of upheaval were not mistakes but overcorrections stemming from a gut knowledge that you were not where you needed to be. not making any sweeping statements, just open ended thoughts

snuggles with the sweetest cat on a chilly winter morning #caturday

my first finished hand embroidery project, a gift for a little girl named Rowan

typically by the time I finish a draft I know what a character needs to do but I don’t always really figure out the why until final edits. just bumbling through life and writing. really need to finish this book, I think I’ve lost faith a bit that I’m actually going to publish a book again

love the beach in winter. found this little huddle of sand friends whittled by the wind looking cozy. I wonder why that one little guy is off to the left all alone

Natural talent is nothing compared to the ability to keep making shit long after everyone else has given up

I can think of some words though.

update, found just the right hat

dead body on page one?! Get in loser, we’re reading gothic-flavored Victorian novels

next up in my Charles Dickens reading spree: Our Mutual Friend

me, reading Bleak House: “I can fix her no really I can”

Finished Bleak House. Cheers to Esther Summerson, the most self-effacing unreliable narrator. I read that even many Victorians found her too fawning and diffident, but, being that this is the 21st century and I know a thing or two about the fawn response, I think Esther and I would have been friends

rosy chilly sunrise

tonight I read Where The Wild Things Are to my three-year-old and was reminded of the anecdote about little Jim who loved a drawing so much he ate it

halfway through Bleak House I have many thoughts but my first impression is that if you read Dickens cooperatively rather than against the grain his style is more conversational and warm than verbose, which bears saying bc his name is almost synonymous with “he was paid a nickel a word!” etc etc

not in all, but in a few specific regards, I’ve begun to feel Dickens would have been better equipped to write about the age we live in than many more contemporary novelists. Sometimes a greedy sleazebag is just a greedy sleazebag and Dickens (I think) understood that

planning to welcome the new year by doing the same thing I do every night: embroidery until bedtime and then reading Bleak House until I’m sleepy. Here’s to all things cozy, rewarding of patience and presence, and quietly fascinating

Read a pop psych article about how having an oversized or disorganized purse is a sign that you have Baggage and are A Mess and I took that personally so now I’m planning to reverse-engineer myself into being an organized type of person by buying a tiny handbag and keeping it extremely tidy

winter wear inspired by Samantha. No, I have not found the perfect white fur hat

My eight-year-old and I are reading A Christmas Carol and occasionally I hand the book over and have her read a page or two. I didn’t need to be convinced to be a parent but if I had, the delight of sharing your favorite books with your children would be a strong argument in favor

the fairies decorated for the festive season ahead of the solstice