Writing Update: July 2025

Buckle up, buddies.

Very, very soon, information about my forthcoming debut novel will feed out directly from my publisher’s system to online retailers. This means that—at long last!—I’ll be able to share links to Too Blessed to Stress that will lead to pages where you can a.) confirm it’s an actual book that’s actually being published, b.) learn more about it, and c.) pre-order it.

It also means that I’m probably about to get a liiiiiittle annoying.

I will, of course, do my best to keep things in check. I don’t take for granted that all of you generously welcome me into your inboxes or social media feeds, and I intend to continue respecting that open invitation as much as possible. The fact remains, though, that a big part of the work of being an author in 2025 is promoting your books—and I’m setting up this writing update in this way at least in part as a fair warning. I also want to illuminate the reasons why you see authors doing this so you can (hopefully) be patient with all of us… and maybe even give us permission to annoy the you-know-what out of you.

Before I get into the current state of my writing life, here’s a quick refresher from a couple of weeks ago:

Writing Update: May 2025

As promised above, I also want to share a few words on the importance of supporting authors (not just me!) in all their (possibly grating) promotion efforts prior to the publication of their book(s):

• Pre-orders are one of the only tangible tools an author—especially a debut author—has to demonstrate to their publisher that there is real excitement building for their work.

• Even if you set the actual writing of the book aside, the publishing process is a longgggg journey. In my case, for example, two years (almost exactly) will have gone by between the day I signed a contract with my editor and the novel being on shelves. By the time you get to this point, you’re tired… and not totally convinced that your dream is actually about to be a reality. But then pre-orders open! And it’s a real opportunity for you to see the dream in front of you and to show your publisher that the months of work you’ve put in together have been worthwhile. Readers and book lovers have a very cool opportunity to be part of that moment.

• While we’re talking about the funky time warp of publishing: many writers (myself included) are starting the process of selling their next book before the book they’ve already written is even out in the world. A lot of strategic decisions need to be made to determine when exactly that happens, but pre-orders can be helpful as part of the package that an agent brings to the table. Pre-ordering from authors you support can help empower them to keep writing books… and to (hopefully) publish them with a little less lag time.

• It’s not just about pre-orders, either! If you keep to a strict budget, prefer to borrow books, or don’t actually read that much, you can still be part of building this very important buzz by sharing anything you see authors posting on social media to your own accounts. It’s all about generating that excitement and connecting an author to their potential readers.

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Have you (literally) heard? There are *three* episodes of the Is This A Thing? podcast available wherever you listen to your fave shows—and another one drops next week!

Check out the latest episode below…

… and please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. so you don’t miss any of our future chats! You can get to know my co-host Abby more over at Sounds About Write.

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If the updates I’ve shared here about my journey to becoming a published author have shown you anything, I hope it’s that a book is a true labor of love and the product of years of work. In 2025, authors have so many new tools to communicate directly with readers, but with that comes extra responsibility… and maybe even a little bit of pressure. It’s for all of these reasons that we might have a tendency to be annoying now and then. And I hope you’ll embrace it with us!

With that out of the way, here’s what I can report from the trenches of Author Land:

TIMESTAMP: we are currently 250 days out from the publication of Too Blessed to Stress. Eek!

• MY BOOK HAS A COVER! Yes, friends, it’s true. I now know exactly the pretty package that my book will be wrapped in when it makes it’s big debut into the world. And yeah, it’s pretty. I’m almost positive that I’ll get to reveal it next week! Stay tuned here and on Instagram if you want to see it—and a pre-order a copy, too.