July jubilation

Hello friends! July’s newsletter is coming late in the month for several reasons—primarily because I was tired and have been on a fairly intense deadline and didn’t feel like I had much to say earlier in the month. But now I do! So it ended up being perfect that I waited to send this month’s newsletter, because now I have big news to share!

First, as a treat, I’m sharing the beautiful character art I commissioned of the “I want you on your knees” scene from Behooved. The artist is Odette Locke, and I absolutely adore the way she captured Aric and Bianca! The hand! The lighting! The shirt slipping off the shoulder! When I saw the initial sketch I actually gasped out loud, and the final is even better.

As mentioned below, usually I only commission character art when I sell a book. I commissioned this one just because I wanted to, to be honest, because I knew Odette’s style would be perfect for the book.

Here it is—feast your eyes!

News

I sold my first book for young adults!

My YA duology, This Treacherous Night and This Ruthless Day, sold to a US publisher! I’ll be working with Carina Licon at Holt BFYR to bring you the first part of the duology in early 2027!

I am truly so ecstatic that I get to not only write more books, but to write across age categories. I worked with young adults in an educational capacity for over a decade, and it means so much to me that now I get to write for them as well. There’s more amazing news coming about this duology too—I can’t wait to share it with you!

Here’s the full deal announcement from Publishers Weekly:

This Treacherous Night is a found family heist story with a crew of magical teens, a dash of romance, a seafaring adventure, and a magic system inspired by tarot cards. It has disability and LQBTQ+ representation and characters who are learning to love themselves and each other. If any of those things appeal to you, make sure you’re subscribed—I’m excited to share more news about it in future months!

Writing updates

June and July have been intensive writing months for me. I finished the first draft of my next adult fantasy rom com in early July! I don’t think I’ve ever drafted this fast before—I’ve been having a really good time with the book, which I think is a great sign.

After finishing the first draft, I gave myself a day off from writing, then organized my revision notes and jumped back in. I know the common advice is to take time off between drafts, but I’m always so eager to start revising when I finish a first draft; all the changes I need to make and the shape of the story are so clear in my head, and I’m excited to make it good enough to send out for feedback (no one sees my first drafts but me). So starting on the second draft very quickly works well for me.

I’m aiming to finish my first revision/second draft before I get my first editorial notes on my YA, and then send it to my agent so we can do another round of revisions before turning it in to my editor. July and August will continue to be busy!

Events and appearances

I have two upcoming events in August:

On August 10 at 2pm EDT, I am going to be on a virtual panel for Bookstore Romance Day talking about humor in paranormal romance and romantasy. I am incredibly excited to chat about a topic I have thought about SO MUCH. I don’t have an event link yet, but I do hope you’ll tune in!

On August 30, I am going to be at All My Friends Books in Cortland, NY from 1-3pm for a signing. Stop by if you’re in the area so I don’t feel super awkward sitting by myself!

Crafty Corner

This month I thought I’d talk a little bit about something I’m trying to get better at that’s writing-adjacent: celebrating my wins! Historically, I have really struggled to properly celebrate, which ends up making some of the big moments feel accompanied by a weird sort of guilt (This is important, my brain says, you should be celebrating more, and then I feel bad that I’m not doing enough to mark the occasion).

So since I’ve had a lot to celebrate recently (finishing drafts; exciting publishing milestones; selling books) I took some time to brainstorm a few ways to celebrate some of the bigger wins with new(ish) traditions I can carry forward into the future.

Here’s what I came up with:

Celebrating finishing a book: I started a hand drawn “bookshelf” with all my finished drafts (finished in this context means that a full first draft exists). Now when I finish a first draft, I can add it to the shelf! I left room to add imprint logos for the ones I’ve sold to publishers. I’m planning to hang this in my office—it really is quite impressive when I stop to look at how many books I’ve written, and I could use that reminder.

Celebrating book releases: I bought myself a charm bracelet and am planning to add a charm for each book I publish. I’m thinking I might add the charms on publication day as a little personal ritual and wear the bracelet to launch events.

I also definitely want to have an in person launch event, but the bracelet is an extra thing for me, one that can’t get canceled by factors outside my control.

Celebrating selling a book: I started this one when I sold Behooved, but this is when I let myself commission character art! I am SO excited for the art I’m getting for This Treacherous Night—I already have a sketch!

This is the art I commissioned when Behooved sold:

However, I also want to do something to celebrate on the day I get the news, and character art isn’t instantaneous. This part is a bit of a work in progress, but I’d like it to involve some sort of nice treat and a little more effort than I’d usually make. When I got the news about my YA, I went out for ice cream with friends, which was perfect. In the past, I’ve ordered takeout, which is something I almost never do otherwise.

I’m definitely still working on these, but I feel much happier having decided on some ways to celebrate my wins. One of the truths in publishing is that reasons to celebrate can be pretty few and far between, especially if you’re waiting for someone else to validate you, so I want to make sure I’m marking those moments when they do happen.

How do you celebrate your wins?

Is there a craft or publishing topic you’d like me to cover? Hit reply or leave a comment!

Book recommendation(s)

This month’s book recommendation is Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler. It’s a second chance romance where two childhood friends team up to hunt for a treasure, and it’s really charming and hilarious. I loved Sarah Adler’s two previous releases, and this one was just as excellent—probably my favorite of hers so far!

To see all my newsletter recommendations, visit the full list here!

See you in August or September!

As always, thank you so much for being here!

~Marina