I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I do New Year’s plans. I pick a theme for the year and use that to guide my decisions and goals. I also like to spend the last day of the year reflecting on what I’ve done – not just professional accomplishments, but the things that made me happy, the friendship and love that carried me through the year, what I’m proud of when I look back.

2023 should have been a terrible year, and instead it was freaking amazing.

It’s now late March, a little late to be playing this “reflecting on the year” game. (Don’t worry! I did it on the 31st, and my theme for 2024 is to love with abandon.) But I’m doing it again, here, because I needed to update this website. I’ve been taking things at my own pace lately. I didn’t have a book come out in 2023, and I won’t have a solo-authored publication in 2024 either. It’s hard not to feel that’s a failure somehow, given the breakneck speed of romance publishing. But when I look at the press coverage, interviews, and public appearances I’ve done in the last year, I’ve been more than active!

I’ve also written my first short story, “The Other Shoe Drops,” which is published in an anthology of romance of all heat levels and sexualities as a fundraiser for the Greater Detroit Romance Writers organization, of which I’m a member. This was my first time writing a short story since I was a kid, and it was fun to figure out the different pacing and plot structure. When I first started writing it, the introduction to each character took up 3,000 words, before they even met each other. My word limit was only 10k, so that clearly wasn’t going to work! The finished product is something I’m really proud of. The two romance leads are both women in their fifties, and I’m excited to write older love interests who don’t generally get as much attention in romance.

I’m still working on my millennium pop star novel, thanks to my fabulous crit partner Maggie Eliot, who pushes me along. We’ll be doing a joint event together in a few weeks. Maggie also just helped me finalize the outline to a new novel with a fake-dating plot that you’ll love. So there is plenty more writing on the horizon.

While you’re waiting for a new book from me, check out Maggie’s new release, Humor Me. Pal is a stand-up comedian who is completely irreverent, seemingly the worst kind of person for a US senator who has to watch every word and every step to get involved with. It’s an opposites-attract straight romance – which my readers might not go for, I know, but I’m recommending it because Maggie has a fantastic sense of comedy. If you laughed at The Holiday Detour, I think you’ll like this book, too. Maggie is a native Michigander, and she writes specifically about folks in Detroit falling in love. Check out here.