Fridays

(This post originally appeared in full on my LinkedIn 8/8/2025)

All I’ve ever really wanted to do was tell stories. When I was in elementary school we made books out of folded copy paper with construction paper covers that the teacher laminated. I was so enthusiastic she let me make an extra one. I also recorded what was essentially stream of consciousness Narnia fanfiction onto cassette tapes in my bedroom. 

I wrote things out longhand, which was severely limiting given how fast my brain was moving. I never expected to have the patience to write a novel.  Getting a typewriter (yes I am that old) was life changing, a computer even more so.

I did end up writing several novel length stories, starting with my MFA thesis and then a rambling fantasy that never really came together.  

Like many writers, I also had bits and pieces of other ideas in various stages of development. One of them kept resurfacing, and when I finally picked it up again it took off. I finished it in less than a year.

This novel, More Today Than Yesterday, is out on submission right now. It’s about a pair of siblings who travel from New York to Maine to see if they are the only survivors of a mysterious cataclysm. 

I wrote most of this book in 2020, through lockdown and the chaotic mess that followed.   It’s not about the pandemic per se, but rather the ferocious love these children discover when all they have left is each other.

I started querying right away and in 2023 I signed with Sydney DeTellis at Word Link. 

That makes it sound inevitable, but the manuscript was rejected around 100 times.  

Every time I speak with the agency it’s a delicate emotional dance between staying positive and tempering expectations. I’ve made it through an important gate, I remind myself. These folks are advocating for my work.

I’ve had to put that all into a mental box to give my brain space to do work and mom stuff, while also trying to find time to work on new projects. 

I hit 10k on the latest story this week, and I might start implementing Holly Lisle’s Busman’s Holiday method of switching between two stories to keep from getting stuck in either of them.

So while I’m posting about all the newsy stuff I’m doing please remind me to also take time to be creative.  And I’ll remind you to take time to be creative too.