The chaos of summer has passed so we can slide into a cozy fall of author events and addictive books

Starting with family illnesses & migraine attacks, summer has allowed me to transition into my favorite season with a gorgeous wedding under my belt and the debut of my first YA psychological thriller

I’m married!!! After a year of planning, which started to become insanely brutal toward the end, I am now someone’s wife and continuing with my next novel (just in time for my very first author expo, becausing wedding excitement still hasn’t taken over the excitement of living out my dream as an author)

Not book related; but wedding first!

After getting engaged last October, I spent the last 11 months planning the absolute biggest day of my life (and it ended up absolutely perfect). It only got more and more chaotic all the way up to the last day!

We started out with our rehearsal dinner at the venue and had a great dinner with our entire family on both sides and bridal party. It was the BEST! Then my husband (OMG) and I went back to our bed & breakfast just a few minutes away from the venue. They had amazing spreads for breakfast and were so accommodating the morning of for my family, makeup artist, photographer, and the tons of people that had to go in and out all day.

After the wedding we returned to the bed & breakfast at a crisp (thank gawd) 9:30 and were able to crash in bed. The next day we woke up and had breakfast in our room on the deck right outside the bedroom.

The vibe of the b&b was just so wonderful. It’s a giant brick house that’s been in Phelps for ages, and once upon a time it was a restaurant and bar. I found out after booking it for the get-ready and sleep there before and after spot that my grandparents had their wedding dinner there after they were married! It made it that much more special. The couple who owns it has two very precious and adorable dogs that visited us, jumped into bed to hang out while we got our hair and makeup done, and a sweet Bengal cat that liked to drop in at night. Our room was the Rose Room and had a second bedroom attached so a family would fit in there comfortably, and right next to the bed were big beautiful French doors that opened up to a patio table on the deck. The shower had benches and was so hot and wonderful. I had a 10/10 experience!

Summer time

The summer was busy, hot, insane, and finally over.

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder and medications that help with it, and what I’ve noticed since being diagnosed is that I actually genuinely hate summer and the heat. I have zero desire to live somewhere with bugs, snakes, spiders, reptiles, and humidity so high I’d drop in a second. I have a hard enough time with humidity in Upstate NY and I’m aware it’s not even that bad.

So, shockingly, summer has really become the season I hate that makes me feel depressed. Fall is my absolute favorite and my peak period for happiness. By August I can start enjoying Spooky Season since that’s when they fill the stores, and then we get to start prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which I’m also obsessed with. January and February are always cold and snowy, and while I despise snow, I love the cold and the feeling of a “fresh start” that the New Year Brings. By March I’m sick of it though, but that’s when Spring starts anyway and the temps are great around that time.

Then it’s back to hating summer.

I spent the summer enjoying my favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and time with my family. I suffered from numerous migraine attacks, exasperated by the heat no doubt, and watched my grandmother fight her way through a bout of pneumonia so bad I truly worried about her making it to the wedding. She pulled through only to have another emergency right before the wedding, but she was happy, healthy, and very present at the wedding!

Now the book stuff

I recently opened an application up for ARC readers to get copies of Mean Girls & Small Town Murders! I submitted the (hopefully) final edits TODAY and will have the proof in hand Tuesday!

If all is good, it will be published immediately. I just need to get the Kindle copy ready to go and then I can publish both the same day. (This is only if I get the book, hold it in my hand, read it, and decide every little thing from the gloss on the cover to each period or comma is perfect)

I’m so looking forward to getting this book off my plate. Writing this book was for some reason so much more difficult than my other two books. Molding the plot to come out exactly how I wanted it to was beyond stressful. I could not get it to come out the way I wanted it to and found myself going over it day after day for hours finding issues with the plot and the twists, trying to make my characters have more depth, trying not to be repetitive, and I just can’t give anymore to this book than I already have at this point.

I’m very hopeful that it’s good enough, that it’s accepted enough, and that it makes at least one person happy.

I also published my poetry collection on Kindle today!

Find everything on where to find which books HERE!