Fortune Cookies & Horoscopes
Seeking answers wherever I can find them
Hi Everyone! Welcome, new subscribers. Thanks for being here. I hope your summer is off to a great start!
In the school’s-out vacation spirit, I’ll try to keep this newsletter shorter than usual. That said, I’m asking for your help. (Don’t worry, I’m not requesting cash or cat-sitting services, though I certainly wouldn’t say no to either of those. Kidding, kidding. Your response to a short poll is what I’m after. Please see below.)
I’m at a bit of a creative crossroads. I had a thriller, You Shouldn’t Have Done That, come out in March, and a romcom/momcom, Claire Casey’s Had Enough, released in June. (It only seems like I’m in a state of continuous typing while I neglect my family, freelance work, and some might say personal hygiene. I actually started that romcom back in 2017, and I finished the thriller at the end of 2023. I’m linking to Amazon rather than Bookshop.org for an apples-to-apples comparison.)
Thriller vs MomCom
These two launching within a short span of time felt a bit like having two horses in the same race. Who’s winning? So far it seems a missing man and murder are beating a mom and her attempt at midlife reinvention by a landslide.
Now, of course, there are so many factors that contribute to a book thriving or flatlining:
Title
Cover
Price
Marketing
Premise/characters/the writing itself
Countless others I won’t list because I promised to keep this brief…
I’ve been at it long enough to have endured plenty of highs and lows so I’m now trying to think of all of this as one giant learning experience. I’m attempting to remain equanimous (a word I learned from a yoga video. Hat tip to Bryan Kest) and not feel like, “But wasn’t this the one that was supposed to take off, put me on the map, change my life etc. etc.”
That said, I’m also trying to figure out what to write next. As I’ve mentioned, I’m taking this “How to Write a Novel” Reedsy course and really enjoying it. When it began, I had an idea for a new suspense manuscript and wrote the opening chapters. While listening to the daily lessons, taught with humor and insight by novelist Tom Bromley (who I secretly pretend is Ed Sheeran’s brother, take a look and see for yourself) I became aware of all the things I was doing wrong. I wasn’t grounding the reader in time or setting. And just who was this somewhat-snarky narrator? (I knew but my reader wouldn’t — unless it was an actual book and they read the flap copy but still…)
So I started again and opened with the second chapter. The problem? I just didn’t like it as much. I switched it back. Meanwhile, this flip-flopping cost me time. I wasn’t writing any new pages while I floundered and debated. Then, it was my turn to have 1,000 words read and live-edited by Tom in a weekly lesson. He quickly pointed out everything I feared. So I changed it back again—and, again, liked it less that way. Also, I heard from two people taking the course that they liked it as it was. (This was unsolicited so you can’t ignore that, can you?)
Anyway, this indecision and doubt left me wondering if this was even the right project, and so I set it on the back-burner, wrote two humor lists, then started something else. This other manuscript, focusing on a widow attempting to find a date for her daughter’s wedding, would fall into the romcom category.
When I mentioned this idea to an editor last summer, she recoiled like I’d asked her to clean my cats’ litter box bare-handed. However, every week on Substack, I see readers and writers longing for characters of a certain age. I started it (keeping all of Tom’s advice in mind) and happily wrote three chapters, even as those messy suspense pages lingered like leftovers I still needed to put away, in the corner of my mind.
This brings me to my request:
I’m heading off to a writing residency in September and I had a goal of being in the thick of a project while there. I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that I need to make a decision so I don’t spend two weeks walking in circles talking to goats. Rather than offer advice, most people have asked, “Will there really be goats there?”
Yes! Here they are. (Do they look ready to puzzle out plot and character development with me? Let’s hope so!)
I’m desperate and not above searching for answers inside fortune cookies and horoscopes. But, ultimately, I know I should follow the advice I offered when
generously interviewed me for her wonderful Page by Page Substack. When asked what I’d suggest to others who write across genres, I said, “I think it’s important to be true to yourself and pursue that project that’s calling to you and won’t let you go.” So I feel like maybe that’s my answer?Also, am I just writing so I have an excuse to travel? Yes, I think so.
What else?
Short notice, I know, but I’m teaching a virtual query letter course tomorrow. Register here if you’re interested.
If you’re near Morris County, NJ and looking for a memoir workshop, I’m teaching in person starting Monday, Oct. 6. with The Writers Circle. This is such a fun, full-circle moment for me because The Writers Circle’s workshops spurred me to start my memoir in 2014. Register here.
I’d love to see you!
Time for my obligatory cat photo:
As always, thanks for making it this far! Full disclosure: the above Reedsy link is an affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Tell me: What’s on your summer reading list?
I'd love a rom-com with a middle-aged protagonist so I can live through her!
Revenge pickleball story, obviously! And enjoy your goats/writing!