Which I absolutely, positively did not expect.

Cross-posted to Substack.

This was a really busy week for me. My son turned five (FIVE!!) on Monday, and my husband and I celebrated our fourteenth (FOURTEENTH!!) wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Couple that with chaos surprise-releasing a novella last week, and I’m feeling overwhelmed in every sense of the word.

But, here’s the thing. 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…

We’re officially in the I-need-to-mainline-caffeine season now, folks. I kind of care what it tastes like, but also not really. If it’s going to pick me up, I’ll take it. Though, much to my dismay, the weather hasn’t felt very fall-like in the Chicagoland area lately, so I’m having a hard time getting into the fall coffee spirit. Hopefully, it gets a little cooler soon, and I’m able to fully embrace my hot, pumpkin spice goodness.

This summer, I had a bit of a crisis of faith when it came to writing. After publishing Common Grounds, I had to ask myself if I could keep doing this thing long-term. I love writing, but there are lots of things about the publishing side of things that I’m not a fan of. But I’ve worked a lot of jobs long enough to know two things: 1) No job is ever perfect, and there will be lots of things you don’t like. 2) You have to set boundaries around the things you don’t like to protect the things you do.

So, as you know if you’ve been around for a while, I went about setting some boundaries. ARCs, for example, are going to look different from here on out because they are a major source of anxiety for me. Release dates might be a bit more sporadic, as holding myself to a rigid schedule isn’t fun. And this is supposed to be fun.

The result of that boundary-setting was an incredible surge in my enjoyment of this gig. Seriously. The return on that investment has already been exponential. (As returns on investments in yourself often are.) I was able to finish Christmas by Design and get it ready for publication quickly, and that resulted in two translation deals and an audio deal on that book and has also opened the door for one of those translation houses (in Brazil!) to purchase my entire backlist. On top of that, I was able to finish a draft of Love Out Loud, and it was a faster and smoother process than any of my books to date. It’s also my favorite book I’ve ever written, and not just because it’s the most recent. Because it was the most fun.

But it did leave me with a bit of a writing hangover. I was done with Christmas by Design. I had a while for my beta readers to get feedback to me on Love Out Loud. What’s a girl to do when she’s between projects with a long time before her next deadline?

If you answered “write and publish a Halloween novella in nine days,” then you’d be out of your mind. But also correct.

When Taiko Bennett suggested I do this during one of our write-ins, I absolutely thought she was kidding. (Maybe she was, but I like a challenge.) But then things started lining up. My husband unironically said, “Obviously, yes.” Lorissa had a premade cover ready to go (that she then redid because she’s brilliant and talented and wonderful). My betas were on board. My street team was maybe more excited about this than they have been about any of my other books.

The stars aligned. I started to think… I not only can do this, but maybe I should. Which, you might remember, is the exact same thought I had before I started writing The Write Place. (We love a full-circle moment.)

From a business perspective, releasing books close together is always a good idea. It’s why you see so many authors rapid-release series. Knowing Christmas by Design would come on the heels of Pumpkin to Talk About was attractive from that perspective, to be sure.

But screw business. Yeah, I’m in this to make a little money. I’m not going to lie about that. And yet… if I’m honoring my boundaries from this summer, I’m mostly in it to have fun. All that excitement from my team of brilliant, creative, wonderful people? That was fun.

So I figured, why not? The worst that could happen is I buy the cover, don’t get it written in time, and have to use it for something else next year. I set a deadline of mid-October, then went about doing some research and outlining, and got writing.

The funniest thing happened when I started writing. I just… kept going. I had a goal of 2,000 words per day, which is just about what I can usually do, and I far surpassed it, every day. I was invested in these characters. Their banter was amusing. The nosy side characters made me laugh. They all actually stuck to their outline, which never happens.

The best part was that there just wasn’t time or space for imposter syndrome to creep in. With a longer deadline and a lengthier book, there’s more of a chance to second guess myself. When I write slower or take breaks (which we all need to do from time to time!), I inevitably start to think everything I wrote previously is garbage, and I should throw it away. It’s part of the process! But not with this book. If I was going to publish this in time for it to do anything before Halloween, there wasn’t room for that nonsense. I needed to move.

And move, I did.

I blew my deadline of mid-October out of the water. Lorissa finished the cover in record time. My betas read and commented as I was writing. I finished it, we gave it a quick edit, I formatted it, and it was ready to go.

There was something so freeing about not worrying too much about this little book. My brain didn’t have the space or time to stress, but even when the book was done and out in the world, I only had time to feel good about it. People somehow found it before I announced it was available—that’s how excited they are about anything I’ve written. Which, as you might expect, is incredibly validating. The reviews started coming in, and they were overwhelmingly positive—even from people I don’t know! Which is also validating! Maybe I do know what I’m doing, after all.

It’s not just about this book, either. It’s about all my books, past and future. I felt good about Love Out Loud (and all my other books, but those are published so they have less space for my own internal critique) before I did this, but now I feel even better. Pumpkin to Talk About was the confidence boost I didn’t know I needed. A little light in a continually darkening world. This book was truly good for my soul.

So, long story short, if you liked this surprise book, there’s probably going to be more where that came from.

I am taking proceeds from sales of all of my books this week and donating them to hurricane relief. This includes any e-book or physical copies purchased from Amazon (because I can see that in real time), and signed copies and pre-orders from my website. If you’ve been waiting to buy yourself or someone you love a little treat, now is a great time to get some awesome books and do a little good while you’re at it.

You can still apply for an electronic ARC of Christmas by Design! Fill out the form here if you’re interested.

I’m now offering pre-orders of signed copies of my two holiday novellas! (And yes, you will most likely get Christmas by Design well before its release if you order from me.) You can get Pumpkin to Talk About, Christmas by Design, or bundle the two! My first shipment of books should come in this weekend, so get in there fast if you want to get one of those in your hands!

I was looking for witchy reads, and Hannah Bird recommended this one, so I picked it up! The Accidental Kingslayer is a fantasy novel involving witches, fae, angels, shifters, and so much more. It’s not your typical fantasy, though. Knight has a way of writing with such an irreverent tone that you can’t help but laugh along with the characters as they discover more and more things about the world they thought they knew. It’s on Kindle Unlimited, so definitely check it out!

I hope you check out Pumpkin to Talk About if you haven’t already. And if you have, please leave a review! They mean so much!

Until next time,
Allie