Books

Don’t feed the demons.

If I’m reading the room correctly, we are, collectively, having a moment of anxiety. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it is. This is pretty common in periods of transition, even if it’s a good transition, and we are most definitely transitioning right now.

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Books

Writing Pumpkin to Talk About was good for my soul

Surprise-releasing a novella that was written pretty quickly was so good for my mental health. You’d think it’d be the opposite, right? So I thought I’d talk about that a little today. But first…

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Books

“Just Write” and other really simple advice that annoyingly works

On Threads a little while ago, someone’s post went unintentionally viral—as often happens over there. It was a post bemoaning the “just write” advice as not possible for someone who has a day job, kids, life responsibilities, and other things taking up one’s time. And, while I think the spirit of the thread was lost in the discourse—as often happens over there—writers gave an interesting look into their writing lives and what it means to them to “just write.” So, of course I have to weigh in.

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News

Common Grounds TEASER

Hannah Bird posted a teaser in her newsletter, and I thought, What a great idea? I should do that. But then, I couldn’t decide what teaser to post, so I put it to Instagram. Waffles and coffee were neck-and-neck for a while there. But in the end, coffee pulled through as the clear winner. I tried to pick a teaser that wasn’t too spoiler-y (which wasn’t terribly hard because there’s coffee EVERYWHERE in this book), but this is at just before the mid-point, so, you know, if you like to be totally surprised, CLICK AWAY NOW.

by Allie Samberts

How I got the perfect book cover

I love the cover of Common Grounds. It’s perfect. It encapsulates the city background—even though Baker’s Grove feels more like a small town in that way of midsized Midwestern cities—as well as Emery and Trevor in a passionate embrace on the front. The colors evoke coffee and dusk and romance. The characters are perfectly representative of the couple in the book, down to Emery’s red heels and blue-black hair, and Trevor’s yellow slouchy hat and cuffed chinos.

I’ve never been happier with a cover, honestly.

by Allie Samberts

Indie Romance Feature Friday: Kelsey Painter

Kelsey and I connected because we both read ARCs of each other’s debuts, and they released at about the same time last year! I feel so fortunate to have connected with Kelsey as a colleague and a friend, and I’m so excited to feature her today because she has a new book coming out! So, now, she has THREE books out, and they’re all awesome. I’ll let her tell you all about it.

by Allie Samberts

I’m starting to understand the tortured writer stereotype

Is it the constant mainlining of caffeine that makes writers tortured? Maybe. When I picture a tortured writer, I envision someone bent over a typewriter grabbing at their hair, a cigarette dangling between the first two fingers on their right hand and three or four half-finished and now-cold cups of coffee littered around their desk. Notes are, of course, strewn everywhere. The room is probably dark, too. It’s hard to be tortured in broad daylight.

by Allie Samberts
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