The Slowest Burn is HERE!

WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! *pops champagne, blows party horn*

On November 1, 2020, I opened a new Scrivener project and started writing about a chaotic chef named Kieran and a meticulous ghostwriter named Ellie. It was my first time attempting NaNoWriMo, the third book I’d started in the last two years, and I was hoping it’d be the second one I’d finish.

This was bold thinking on my part — I only had a basic idea and some hastily drawn character profiles, because I’d only decided to write a whole new novel four days before NaNoWriMo began. It wasn’t full on pantsing (as in, flying by the seat of one’s), but definitely in the same neighborhood.

1,423 days later, that book is being published across the English-speaking world.

My book comes out today. My book comes out today.

I signed off the final changes to my manuscript back in March, and I’ve been seeing reviews from early readers on NetGalley and Goodreads for around the same amount of time. So my book has had a life in the world without me for a long time…but I still yelped an obscenity when a fellow author posted a picture of my book on a big table at a Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

It’s out in the wild! For people to BUY. With MONEY. We’re at the top of the roller coaster, and I suspect I’m going to be bewildered and shocked and sugared up and generally IN MY FEELINGS the whole way down.

But, but, but: one of the biggest emotions I’m experiencing right now is gratitude. I have a whole section packed with acknowledgments in the back of the book, so I’ll spare you the repetition. I’ll just say one thing: I am so, so lucky that I had tons of time to dedicate to this project, and good-enough mental and physical health to persist for the weeks and months it took to write a novel, during a once-in-a-century pandemic, no less. We throw around words like “resilience” and “grit” and “perseverance”, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to persevere with a grand artistic project when the rest of your life is ticking along well enough.

So today I’m not going to think about Book 2, or Book 3, or marketing or sales or anything. I’m going to take my gratitude and go look at gorgeous paintings, buy some cookbooks, and drink a cocktail or three with my best friend.

Here’s to the good ship The Slowest Burn, off to see the world!

P.S. I wrote a personal essay about the link between romance novels and powerlifting.

P.P.S. I haven’t forgotten about Part 3 of my publishing journey, I promise! I really want to share it with you, given that the publishing industry can be as secretive as any spy agency and as obscure as a conference of theoretical mathematicians, and I’ve been trying to draft it, but… *flails her arms at her schedule, her book coming out, and LIFE in general*. All things being well I’ll send it out to you in the next few weeks.