I am excited, honored, and humbled to announce that I have found a home for my book, A Home for Christmas, with Champagne Book Group! I signed the contract this weekend and have received the go ahead to share the news.

This is a dream come true for many reasons. I've wanted to be an author since I was a child, and I've always had a love of writing. But I lost sight of that goal many years ago when I lost my mother. I had promised her when I was little that I would write her one "kissing book" (what I called romance novels back then) and dedicate it to her when I was published. She passed away in 2002, and I put my dream and that promise on the back burner while I pursued a career in an entirely different area.

In 2019, I began to revisit that dream. I was doing well, both financially and professionally, and felt it was time to refocus on my writing. I started writing Home just before Christmas, got about 2 or 3 chapters in, and then set it aside. A few months later, I found inspiration in a Hallmark television show, of all places. For my fellow #hearties, Elizabeth's writing journey in When Calls the Heart was the inspiration I needed to truly pursue my writing. I applied to multiple MFA programs in the summer of 2020 and enrolled in one of them for the fall. Having deadlines for submitting work coupled with my first #NaNoWriMo was the kick in the pants I needed to finish the book. I spent 2021 revising and editing, as well as dipping a toe in the querying pool through Twitter pitch fests.

It was on my second #PitMad that my book was discovered by Cassie Knight at Champagne. She hearted one of my pitches and I sent my query package. About a month later, on the same day I received a rejection from an agent, she requested a full. I was in the throes of doing another major edit, so it took me about two weeks to send the full back to her. But I did, on my birthday, and my one wish was for a book deal. About a week later, my wish was granted and I received an email with an offer!

This offer comes at a very poignant time for me as I'm quickly approaching a milestone I've been dreading. My mother passed away when I was only 19 years old. This December 13th is the 19th anniversary of her passing, which means that I will have lived longer without her than I was able to with her. But at least now, I can say that I've finally kept my promise. While the book is not quite the steamy "bodice ripper" she enjoyed, it is a romance and there is a kiss, so as far as I'm concerned it counts!

I really want to thank so many people. My mom, first and foremost, for believing in my writing before I even hit double digits in age. My father and siblings, for supporting my goals and my chaotic path to getting here. My husband and my daughter, for putting up with me locking myself away to write, and my constant commentary on the process (both positive and negative). Thanks to my bffs Tabitha and Kate, who have supported me on this journey for decades. Huge thanks to my ride or die friends from my first master's degree at American University: Michaela and Liz, who are convinced I'm going to be famous. To my writing community at Pitch to Published, especially Craig who has also published with Champagne and was kind enough to share his experience with me, thank you. Thanks to the writing community on Twitter as well for retweeting and commenting on my pitches and just being generally awesome!

I'd also like to thank the amazing staff and faculty at Queens University of Charlotte, who accepted me into their MFA program and have helped to shape my writing. Really huge thanks to all of my English teachers over the years, from Mrs. Bryan who first saw my potential for writing in the second grade, to Mr. Santee, who made my papers bleed in the 10th grade, to Ms. Young who has supported my siblings and I throughout our path to adulthood. And finally, to all of my coworkers at CMS, thank you for believing in me.

I can't wait to get started on this process and make this book the best it can be. I'll keep everyone posted on the release date and maybe even do a cover reveal. I'm so excited!

I'm afraid my blog has fallen by the wayside as I spend much of my freetime trying to win #NaNoWriMo, but as the month is coming to an end, I hope to have more time to spend here.

Tonight, I want to talk about the power of birthday wishes. I know many people don't believe in wishing or miracles or good luck. I consider myself a fairly practical person, but I'm also the girl who makes a wish at 11:11, or when the clasp of my necklace kisses the charm. I'm also the type of person who works for something, but believes a little magic never hurts.

Four years ago, I spent my birthday working on the Presidential Management Fellowship application (better known as the PMF). I've wanted to work for the federal government for years and I thought this was my best shot. If I didn't make it in then, I would plan to just stay with the state government as I was almost to my ten year anniversary. I spent three hours working on the tests and application. By the end of it, I was exhausted. But I made a wish as I sent it in that I would be selected as a PMF finalist.

Almost two months later, I got the news: I'd been selected! Not only that, but I was offered the first position I applied to. At the time, I joked that my birthday wish came true. I didn't put a lot of stock in wishes, even if I wished for things all the time. After all, I'd worked hard for my first master's degree and I put a lot of thought and effort into that PMF application. 

This year for my birthday, I spent most of the day writing and editing a project that has become both dear to my heart and the bane of my existence (I think most writers feel that way at one point or another). I wanted to finish it on my birthday and I was successful. I sent it off, just like the PMF application, with a hopeful heart and a wish. That wish came true tonight.

I know this post is a little cryptic and very light on the details, but I hope to share all when I'm able. The point of I'm trying to make here is: after this experience, I will never doubt the power of birthday wishes again, especially when they're mixed with a lot of hard work and a sprinkle of good fortune.

The second manuscript I wrote centered around the myth of cardinals. Specifically, the saying goes "when cardinals appear, angels are near." The whole idea of the story is basically that the main character keeps seeing cardinals before important events in her life, and eventually realizes the visits are her mother, trying to guide her to the correct path.

I love this concept, and I'd really love to write future books about myths and legends. I'm not opposed to some famous myths, such as from the Greeks or other cultures, but the one thing I liked about the way the cardinal story came about was that the myth was woven into the story. It wasn't the main focus or a retelling, which I think would happen with a lot of the more famous myths and legends. I'm looking for more local folklore that I can weave into a broader story. For instance, in the town where I spent my first year of college, there are two trees that have grown within each other, called the "love tree." The legend says if you kiss someone under the tree, they will remain a part of your life forever. I could see incorporating that into a larger romance novel.

The problem I've found is that most of the legends I know about, particularly locally, are more appropriate for horror. Not far from my hometown, there's the legend of Moll Dyer, an accused witch who was chased out of the town and was found the next day frozen to death on a rock. The rock is said to be haunted or cursed. I mean, I might be able to turn that around into a romance or have a twist similar to the one in the Netflix Fear Street series (no spoilers, I promise) to give a slightly happier ending. My husband suggested I could have something like the ending to Wicked (this one has been out for a while, so if you haven't seen it, stop reading) where Elphaba doesn't actually "melt" at the end, everyone just thinks she does.

There is also the option to just create a myth in my story for the fictional town I create, and I have ideas for that as well, but what I loved about the cardinal story was that it was a fairly well known myth. I've seen various merchandise (pillows, blankets, art, ornaments, etc.) featuring cardinals with the quote above. I've love to find more myths like this one that I could incorporate into a story.

I had a plan. I'd even made a cute little inspiration board for the book I was going to write for National Novel Writing Month, better known as #NaNoWriMo. I'd been planning the book for months.

But last Friday, when I sat down to plot, much later than I intended, I was stuck. My outline sat blank before me. I wrote out a few ideas that I didn't love, and chocked up my lack of creativity to the migraine that was plaguing me. After sitting before my computer, wracking my brain for hours, I decided to take a nap. 

When I woke up, I had an entirely different story in my head, mapped out from start to finish with the main plot. I sat down and started putting it into words. There's still a lot about this book I don't know, but I have the basics, which is where I usually start. It combined so many aspects of a certain editor's #MSWL, I might as well be playing Bingo with it. It's a modern take on Sense and Sensibility, and loosely follows that plot. I plan to have the three siblings, but it's two sisters and a brother this time. Two of the siblings are LGBTQ+. It's set at Christmas in a tiny seaside fictional town in Maryland (all of my books are set in Maryland so far). Oh, and I'm planning to weave a bit of Love, Actually into the story as well as all three siblings will have their own romance.

By the time I had finished writing out a short plot summary, I was in love with the story. Truthfully, I had planned to write a modern take on Sense and Sensibility at some point, but for whatever reason, last week the characters demanded their story be told NOW. The original plan for NaNoWriMo will keep until next year, and maybe by then, I'll be able to come up with a compelling plot. For now, I'm enjoying diving in to this new idea.

Unfortunately, this year's first day of the month coincided with a migraine, but I did manage to get a little writing done. Yesterday, I was able to write more, though still not up to the 1667 words we're supposed to hit daily. That said, I knew I wasn't going to hit that goal daily, and plan to play catch up on words over the weekends and holidays. I work a 9.5 hour schedule, and have every other Friday off. I made sure my Fridays coincided with Veteran's day and Thanksgiving to give me more consecutive days to write. Hopefully, through those days, I can catch up on my weekly goals and hit the 50k by month's end. My books trend around 80k words, so I'll still be writing in December, but I love that Nano helps me push myself and jumpstarts the writing of a new book!

What are your goals for NaNoWriMo? Does it motivate you to write or do you find the deadline daunting?