Hi!
Thanks so much for joining me on this wild and exciting journey!
A little about me: I’m a former indie bookstore owner (Red Fox Books, RIP) who now lives in Upstate New York, by way of New York City and Colorado, and a few other stops in-between. My first novel, Charlotte Cane, will be out February 9, 2027.
So, yes, Charlotte Cane will be officially out in the world in just six months! Sometimes that feels too soon and other times it feels like an eternity. But six months is nothing compared to the time it took me to write the novel. How long? Don’t make me count! If I take it back to the first, tiny inkling, I would have to jump back to 2017 when I was at a writers’ retreat working on a short story about a woman who moves to New York City in the early 90’s to study with a famous artist. The story kept getting longer, and I knew it was too much for a short story, so I let it grow and soon I had what I thought might be the skeleton of a novel. I kept trying to add more to the skeleton (250 pages worth!), but I still didn’t feel that it was the story I wanted to tell. What was that story? Who knew! I certainly didn’t. So I put that novel aside and started working on something else.
Just a small sampling of the many drafts I’ve still got in my closet.
And then it was 2021 (because that’s how fast time moves), and I found myself thinking about that skeleton-manuscript in my closet. I was working on a writing exercise I’ve always found helpful: choose a secondary character, particularly one who either confounds you or feels one-sided, and tell the story from their point of view.
And that’s how my main character Charlotte was born. I knew as soon as I started writing in her perspective that hers was the story that interested me most, and that it was through her that I could find my way all the questions I’d been thinking about. How true are the stories we tell ourselves about our past? And what if someone from your past, someone you don’t even remember, comes forward with a different version of one of those stories? Or worse, with a different version of one of your darkest secrets?
In the following years, there were many revisions, a few workshops, and feedback from my writers’ groups (I can never thank them enough). As I slogged my way through revising and editing my novel, there were many times--and I have the emails to prove it!-where I questioned whether I really wanted to, or had the resilience to, finish this project, especially given the sacrifices required to balance writing with a full-time job and everything else in life. But whenever I thought about stepping away, I found myself pulled back in. Writing fulfills me and gives me purpose, and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself without it! With each revision, I was growing and challenging myself as a writer, and that was what was most important to me.
So, I guess if I add all those years together, it will be a solid decade from tiny glimmer to published book. One of the many things I’ve learned over this past decade is that novels, like nearly everything else in life, take the time they take.
BOOK NEWS
Advanced reader editions are here!
What are these? They are sample books my publisher has printed to use for promotional purposes and to spread the word. This is the first time I’m seeing Charlotte Cane in book form and it’s hard to describe the experience! It was a long path to publication (see above!) while I reimagined and rewrote this novel before I decided it was time to send it into the world. Hello!
You can preorder Charlotte Cane from the retailer of your choice. I’m also offering signed copies through my local bookstore, The Northshire Thank you, thank you, thank you!
MID-SUMMER BOOK RECS
Summerwater by Sarah Moss
If you prefer your summer reading to be on the chilling side: A rainy week on the shore of a Scottish loch, and a group of vacationers stuck at a cabin park. Each point of view is like a funnel sending you spiraling toward the tragic twist at the end. This is a beach read of an entirely different kind.
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner
If you want a moving story that breezes right along: Two sisters who hit stardom young and lose it all. A daughter who wants to unbury their secrets and follow their path. How do you forgive someone who has hurt you terribly? Plus really great music references from the 90’s and early aughts.
Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
If you’re looking for a haunting page-turner that will pull you into its world and not let you go: A woman falls in love with a mysterious man who lives in remote wilderness and moves with her daughter to live with him for the summer. Let’s just say his secret is a big one, and it will change all of their lives. Do not bring on your next camping trip, unless you want to be up all night (ask me how I know).
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
If you like a cozy mystery: Featuring the indefatigable Mrs. Blossom, a 60-something widow on a French river cruise. Romance and excitement ensue until people start to turn up dead, and Mrs. Blossom finds herself on the case and in the spotlight.
My definition of a perfect day: reading at Wiawaka on Lake George
May the rest of your summer bring you many great books to enjoy!
Cheers,
Susan