The Biggest, Bestest, Fangirliest News Ever: I'm Working on a Future Project for Smartypants Romance!!!
The headline says it all! The three exclamation points at the end show you how unbelievably excited I am. And it is thrilling to finally let the cat out of the bag. I have the extreme honor of working on a project with Smartypants Romance!
Yes, that Smartypants Romance. The publishing entity run by one of my favorite authors of all time, Penny Reid. Through Smartypants, a formidable handful of authors has joined on to a collaborative to write novels in Penny’s universes!
I can’t say too much (so don’t ask me to say too more now. In due time, all will be revealed). But I wanted to say that I’m unspeakably excited. Apart from the fact that I love Penny’s books and that Green Valley is my favorite fictional town, ever, there’s another really big reason why this opportunity is so special to me.
The Story Behind the Story
Fair warning: this is a sad sort of story—one that you won’t be sure will end well: once upon a time, I stopped writing. Not writing is a big deal for writers like me. Even when I’m not publishing, I’m writing. I’ve written constantly since I was a tween. Writing is part of who I am.
The year was 2010. I was going through a high-risk pregnancy. My hormones were ragey and my inspiration was flighty at best. Things did not get better when I gave birth to the most life-changing, beautiful, treasured and definitely the fussiest little bundle of cuteness that you would ever want to meet.
So much did all of this change me, that I took a break from writing as a sheer act of self-preservation. I thought that, one day, I would get back on the horse—that it would just be a matter of “catching up”—you know, when the baby started sleeping through the night.
Only, I never caught up. I have never—not for one single day—have I been well-rested since becoming a mom. Then, when I went back to my day job, I wanted to “catch up” on all that I’d missed. Then, I wanted to “catch up” on reconnecting with my husband since Cuteness had taken up so much of our energy. Mr. Blades and I did such a great job catching up, I ended up pregnant. Again.
Fast-forward to 2015. I’m finally starting to feel like a human person again—at least marginally so. Time to dust off all those stories I wrote and finish them, right? Wrong. Not only was I majorly blocked from writing, I was also majorly salty. I felt like there was a huge bus that I had missed. In 2010, I had been a popular fan fiction author with hundreds of thousands of reads and a ton of dedicated followers. During my absence, fans were clamoring for stories I simply hadn’t finished. By 2015, the authors who were writing at the same time in the same fandom as me had become huge, bestselling authors. Not only could I not write—I had been left behind.
I really thought it was over for me. The writing part, at least. But I missed stories, so I figured I could at least read. And, what was the first book I picked up? Penny Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human. I devoured it. Then the next. And the next. Then I got funneled into the Winston Brothers series. It became my favorite fictional place to live
Even today, I have vivid memories of where I was as I read various memorable scenes. I listened to all of them as audiobooks, so, often I was in the car. I remember laughing like a maniac and my small-at-the-time kids looking at me from the backseat like I was crazy. But Penny’s books made me giddy. They still do.
More About Smartypants Romance and Forrest for the Trees
Smartypants Romance is a publishing entity that assembles a collaborative of authors who write novels for various worlds created by and originally written by Penny herself. If you hang around smart, fun Contemporary Romance, you’re likely to see familiar authors on the list (seriously, check out the list). From time to time, Smartypants accepts submissions. Last November, I applied and am underway on a project. Like I said, it is still too early for me to say more!!
So that’s my news. I can’t tell you more other than to look out for more news. In the meantime, why not busy yourself checking out all the other amazing Smartypants books right here? Also, join my mailing list if you haven’t. You can be certain that when new information comes available, folks on my list will be the first to know!