The view from my desk {1.21.25}

Gearing up for THE SHADOW BRIDE publication and writing something new ✨

Hello! Welcome! This Substack is my latest attempt at keeping in contact with you, my lovely readers, because Instagram and other platforms feel so stressful to use lately (see: the last five years, but especially since the election). I’ve already spoken in depth on how my relationship with social media has changed since Serpent & Dove, so I won’t waste characters repeating myself here—or maybe I will, later, when I have the mental bandwidth to articulate myself properly. 🥲 For now, a simple Substack with no curation, no reels, and no oligarchs is wildly appealing to me. I’m hoping this longer format platform will feel right for you too, and we’ll be able to carve out a relaxed space together. My plans for this newsletter include writing and publishing updates, yes, but also more casual content like pictures of my cats. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in!

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The Shadow Bride updates 🦋

First and foremost, The Shadow Bride is publishing in just nine weeks! Nine. {You can preorder the standard edition here, or the frostier Barnes & Noble edition here. The deluxe limited edition of The Scarlet Veil can also be purchased here.} This book really has been a labor of love, and at my lowest moments on deadline, it felt like Célie’s and Michal’s conclusion would never make it into the world. Yet here we are, a couple short months away! I’ve been busy making promo graphics with excerpts, brainstorming ideas for reels, and commissioning artwork for my personalized preorder campaign with Wild Geese Bookshop.

Just for fun, here’s a peek at one of those excerpt graphics:

Eyes still closed, I seize Michal’s wrist just as the bite marks begin to heal. I cannot stand to look at them. I cannot stand to look at him—not as my lips close around his skin, not as my teeth sink deep where his have just been. His forearm falls away from my chest at the first pull of my mouth. It snakes around my waist at the second, steadying me when my knees give way. “Easy,” he murmurs, bearing us gently to the cobblestones.

I just said Substack is appealing because I don’t need to post graphics, didn’t I? Ah, well. I really do love making pretty things on Photoshop. 🫠

PERSONALIZED PREORDER CAMPAIGN:

I can’t announce the personalized campaign yet—still waiting on said artwork!—but it’ll be much the same as years past. All preorders through Wild Geese will receive a signed and personalized copy of TSB, along with an art print of Célie and Michal from @hachandraws. I’ve seen sketches of the artwork, and it is going to be gorgeous. I cannot wait to share it with you guys. Hafsa has already drawn a couple of mind-blowing pieces from TSV, which you can find here and here. Aren’t they so beautiful?

U.S. PREORDER CAMPAIGN:

Separate from the personalized preorder campaign, the standard U.S. preorder campaign is still in full swing! Just submit proof of your preorder receipt by 11:59pm EST on March 24, 2025, and we’ll mail you this gorgeous rose charm to match the fang charm you received for TSV.

SPECIAL EDITIONS:

I’ve been asked a couple of times about special editions, and while I can say there’s one special edition of TSB I haven’t yet announced (🧚🏻), it isn’t from Waterstones. I’m so sorry to disappoint those UK readers who bought the Waterstones’ special edition of TSV—it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a matching edition of TSB. If that changes, I’ll post on IG, but as we’re just a couple months from publication, I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. That said, the standard edition from Farshore is stunning, with all the butterflies and flowers and Corpse Bride vibes. I really love the way it turned out.

U.S. TOUR:

We’re hammering out the details for a tour at the end of March, and while I can’t officially announce anything yet, I’m expecting to visit Missouri, Texas, Georgia, and California. More information on this is coming soon, so stay tuned to my IG! 🫶🏻

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Writing updates ✍🏻

I am sooo excited to be working on something completely new and unrelated to the Serpent & Dove universe—and also adult! It’s been wonderful and stimulating and challenging to meet these characters and develop this world. I’m madly in love with the project, which is only ~18k words at the moment. So smol. 🥹 I can’t reveal much else as I’m still working on the submission packet, with hopes of sending it out to publishers in the next few months. I cannot wait to talk about this book, however, so please send all the magic pixie dust my way! In the meantime, I thought it’d be fun to track my progress here:

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WORKING TITLE: FAIRY

CURRENT WORD COUNT: 17,964

CURRENT CHAPTER: 5

SONG ON REPEAT: PARIS, TEXAS (FEAT. SYML) | LANA DEL REY, SYML

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Originally, I aimed to write a fifty page sample for the submission packet, but after discussing things with my agent, I realized a longer sample would be stronger. So! I’m going to keep writing until the first on the page meeting between my protagonist and her love interest, which will hopefully happen…soon? 😭 PLEASE LET IT HAPPEN SOON. I AM ON MY HANDS AND KNEES BEGGING TO WRITE THIS SCENE.

After that, I’ll send the sample pages to my agent, who will read and provide feedback while I put together a synopsis and tweak the project’s pitch deck. {A pitch deck is essentially a presentation of the project’s premise, hook, comps, and vibes. ✨} Both of these things will be going out with the sample pages in Fairy’s submission packet.

Hopefully more on this soon! 🤞🏻

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Life updates 🎭

I took my mom to see Moulin Rouge in Indianapolis for her birthday last weekend, and while I cherished sharing that experience with her, the play itself…disappointed me? 😭 It feels blasphemous to admit as I love the movie with my entire being—my husband and I even danced to Your Song at our wedding, with Come What May as our second choice—but I just wasn’t feeling the stage production. A real bummer because I wanted to love it. I still might be able to talk myself into loving it eventually, but for now, it left me decidedly meh. Maybe I’m just a little too loyal to the original songs, scenes, etc. That said, I did enjoy the Backstage Romance addition to the beginning of Act II. Freakin’ love Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, and Toxic is one of my all-time favs.

In other news, my hair is growing! Still nowhere close to where we were pre-chop, but it’s officially in that annoying shoulder length territory where I can’t keep the ends from flipping out. Looking back at pictures from last summer, I can’t believe how short I actually cut it. 😱

And now, photos of Gus {the bulldog 🐶} and Peter {the orange kitten 🐱}, two out of my three writing companions. {Finna is here too, but she loathes when I take her picture—and I can’t persuade the other two kittens, Blue and Fig, to come upstairs during the workday. Probably because of Gus, who I love very much but the other animals simply tolerate.}

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📖 CURRENTLY READING: SOULBOUND (THE DARKEST LONDON SERIES #6) BY KRISTIN CALLIHAN

🎧 CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING) 🤡

📺 CURRENTLY WATCHING: BLINDSPOT

🩵 CURRENTLY LOVING: ULYSSES WRITING APP, FILM GRAIN ON PHOTOS, MERIT PERFUME, KITTEN CUDDLES, KOREAN SUNSCREEN, 2025 FAIRIES CALENDAR BY LAVERNA GRACE

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