Gather ’round, friends. It’s June. It’s hot out. Come enjoy the A.C. for a minute, and let’s catch up.

If you know me in my “real life,” outside the pages and the cons and the social media posts, you know what summer means to me. It’s a happy, meaningful, transformative time, and it’s a very busy time! Last year, summer had a rocky start when I went to table at Phoenix Fan Fusion and came back with a positive COVID test. I missed a week of training my staff, leaving them scrambling to execute “Plan B”. I fell deeply behind on a massive to-do list, personally and professionally. Writing didn’t happen at all. The brain fog, the guilt, and the fatigue gnawed at me all summer long while I tried to facilitate a perfect summer in every way.

And I finally learned what I should’ve learned a long time ago: perfect is simply not going to happen. This was a difficult place for me to get to as an “Achiever”/Type-A personality, and I’m not going to pretend I’ve fully let go of perfectionism. But my outlook right now has been kind of liberating. “If I pour 150% into X, I will drain myself. X might fail anyway, and then there will not be enough of myself to show up and revise it. But if I pour 100% into me, X will be as awesome as it can be, and I’ll be a stronger and healthier leader when I do need to revise it.” This is just an epiphany that I wanted to share with you.

I did make a few sacrifices at the start of this summer, including Fan Fusion. I can’t pretend it didn’t make my heart sore, but it was a great opportunity to practice pouring 100% into my wellness when I couldn’t be everywhere at once. So here are some of the things I’m thinking about this summer:

I’m beginning to release Godfather Death, M.D. on Kindle Vella. This is my first serial, and because it’s not even 100% finished yet, I really have to lean into this “it won’t be perfect” thing. The comfort I take is that it’s still malleable while it’s a serial, and it’s a story that I love deeply. It’s challenged my emotions more than once by now… I cried in a Barnes and Noble writing a particular scene. I cried again writing a graveyard scene, and then I cried again editing both those scenes. Rest assured that every reaction was cathartic and healing. I hope they’ll resonate in beautiful ways whenever you get there. And I thank my friend Avon Van Hassel for her beta reads and work on the Vella cover! (Also shout-out to Silva Curry, who is editing this thing piece by piece and putting the icing on top.)

I made a summer reading list! I know very well that I won’t get through the whole thing, and “getting through it” isn’t the goal. Enjoying it is the goal. I have a growing stack of unread comic books from Heroes and Villains, including a few volumes of Saga, and Superman: Son of Kal-El (who is an LGBTQ+ icon, making it a perfect Pride Month read!) I’m following V.E. Schwab’s read-along of her Darker Shade of Magic series, and I’m excited to continue learning from her prose, her world-building, and her insights. I’m finding that these books are even better the second time around. If I manage to finish re-reading those, I can’t wait to dive into In The Lives of Puppets and Tress of the Emerald Sea. Sometimes on a long day, it’s comforting just to have a book in the backpack or next to the bed, ready to portal me into a new world for just a few minutes.

I also have a watch list… Around this time of year, it’s tradition for me to rewatch 500 Days of Summer, and I think I’ll gather a few other movies worth another go… I am also shamelessly enjoying Perfect Match right now. After watching Love is Blind and The Circle, seeing these reality stars come together is like watching a petty, low-stakes MCU, and I’m fascinated.

OH! I wanted to show you these stickers:

This has been a fun representation of the characters in my head: A badass pirate, a dashing adventurer, a gay pumpkin prince, and Death himself, M.D. I didn’t print very many of these to start, but I will start giving one to anyone who orders a book from me directly, and I will bring them to events as well. I hope my characters can “stick” with you the way they always stick with me!

Ok: Life calls. I’m wishing you all a wonderful Pride Month, and I hope you’ll join me later in June for the Vella launch of Godfather Death, M.D. I can’t wait for y’all to meet Danny Grimm, his coffee shop auntie, and his mysterious godfather!

What are you reading, watching, or doing for your wellness this summer?

Happy Reading,