Greetings friends! 

I hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. It hasn’t been exactly…easy. I would love to update all of you with my writing pursuits and happenings. Black Licorice is nearing the end of its revisions, kinda, sorta. Publishing is slow and steady and extended by nature. Most authors  who sign a contract don’t see the physical book in their hands for an average of two years. I am only at the 13 month mark, so I have no complaints. My editor and I are working hard. I am pouring every ounce of my guts and heart and wacky brain into this Young Adult debut.

Freddi Birdoni, Lorna Lieu, Gram Mistini, Court Bono, and the rest of my characters in BL can’t wait to be in the world. In your hands. In your mind. 

My middle grade novel in verse called Embolden Girls is in the hands of two small presses and an agent. Those answers should happen….soon-ish? Maybe a contract for that one soon? It will be out in the world in one way or another. That novel follows five friends and their lives as 11 year olds in a town they cherish. One has a secret. The others must band together to give February Marie a hand when she needs it. (While also figuring out their own inner battles). Parsley, Redd, Wain, and Keene are all of us. Feb too! 

As for staying safe during this pandemic. I believe it’s all of our duties to not just protect our own households, but everyone’s households. Doing things that stinklike canceling gatherings. It’s one small sacrifice, along with doing our best to support local businesses by ordering their goods and food. Even if you we think it’s overboard or having “fear,” That “fear” saves lives and allows healthcare professionals some room to breathe when we do the right thing. Everyone thinks the people they hang out with are safe. If that were true, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.

 I wish you and yours a great November/December. And if you have lost someone to Covid, I am so very sorry. If you watched someone suffer from it, I am sorry. Encourage friends to read about it daily from the correct sources and to act accordingly. 

Hope to have some more news next month. Love, E

I encourage you to buy books as gifts. Here are some of my favs for kids and one for the adult reader–

Every Missing Piece by Melanie Conklin 
Novemberly Lane by Elaina Battista-Parsons
Summer of A Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway
That’s What Friends Do by Cathleen Barnhardt
 And for the adults in your life: The First Stain, by Inked in Gray