When you give a writer a pumpkin, she avoids her looming (scary) deadline and takes a break from her massive editing, but does she stop thinking about her book? Um, NO!
Unable to stop thinking about Every Good Thing, I created Lena and Ben’s first pumpkin. What do you think? Not too shabby for someone who isn’t a pumpkin artist.
Other Good News…
🤩 Thanks to all the buzz created by my friends on TikTok and Instagram, a funny thing happened. An incredibly awesome USA Today Bestselling author, Tarah DeWitt, came across Yes No Maybe and has raved about it ever since. You might know Tarah for her “perfectly imperfect love stories” like Savor It, Funny Feelings, The Co-Op (releasing Nov. 12; it earned a Kirkus Starred Review!), and Left of Forever (coming in May). Go buy her beautiful books, ya’ll! Here’s what she said about Yes No Maybe:
Awww! I can’t stop crying. 🥹 Thank you, Tarah! Read her full review here.
And a wildly enthusiastic THANK YOU goes to everyone talking up my books!
Speaking of… you might ask, “Where’s that book you promised us this month, Jessica?”
☔️ Every Good Thing, the sequel to One Thing Better, is very, very close to landing in my ARCs’ inboxes. The manuscript has undergone rigorous editing (from my husband, best friend, and professional editor), and I’ve been getting fiddly with it ever since. With their help, I’ve made the book sooooo much better (and it was pretty good to begin with). So, I’m in that obsessive writing stage, analyzing every word, action, comma, and kiss to get it right and get it to YOU! That’ll happen soon for ARCs and in weeks for everyone else.
🆓 In the meantime, are you all caught up? One Thing Better is free for subscribers and available on Kindle Unlimited (along with Yes No Maybe). One Thing Better’s deleted scenes may offer some fun insights and BONUS CONTENT—Dot’s Soulmate Recipe—creates a nice segue into the next book. Besides, don’t you want to know what Dot’s Soulmate Recipe is?
Yes No Maybe’s BONUS EPILOGUE also ties into Every Good Thing, so I highly recommend checking that out for a sneak peek. Lena, Ben, Jack, and Rowan were all so fun to write that it was inevitable that they’d meet and mingle.
If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here. Click on BONUS CONTENT or ONE THING BETTER. It’s totally worth it!
So, to get back to editing ASAP, here’s a quick catch up on what I’m reading, watching, and doing.
📚 Reading: Funny Feelings by Tarah DeWitt (so good) & Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren.
👁️ Watching: The new season of What We Do In The Shadows, The Great British Baking Show (always), & Coroner (a recent find that’s good so far because I need my mystery stories–cue Stanley from The Office).
🪴Doing (aside from edits): Visiting the Carnivorous Plant Garden 3 miles from my house that I never knew it was there! It features the Venus Flytrap, a spiky-mouthed carnivore that only grows in one place in the world—Wilmington, NC! Thanks to my bookish bestie, Jenny, I not only visited this cool place, but I’m aflutter with ideas for a book based on it and a STEM main character with a unique perspective on life (and especially men). Thanks for getting the wheels turning, Jenny!
💓 Here’s the most romantic thing Joe said to me this week: “Hey, why don’t we go to the beach this weekend? You can bring your notebook, and we can talk book stuff.”
SWOON!
I hope you hear something swoon-worthy this week! (If you do, share it with me! I’m always hunting for romantic ideas!)
Until next time, here are some posts from the archives to get you in a fall/Thanksgiving mood (and you can see some of our other pumpkins over the years): 25 Thanksgiving Writing Prompts, Writing Inspiration and Pumpkin Carving, 40+ Hauntingly Good Story Ideas, & Writing About Holidays: How to (Pumpkin) Spice Up Your Story.
Bookishly Yours,
Jessica
