I just sat here and tried to remember everything I've read so far in 2023 so I could log it!

I've made real efforts this year to be minimally online to help with some of my burnout issues - it's helping a lot, even if I feel a little out of it.

A fair amount of my reading lately has been genre fiction, but there's one literary standout: First Love by Gwendolyn Riley. It's just so spare and defies ideas about what "likability" means for a character. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.

This week the final proofreader touches are going on my next book, Kyra, Just for Today. I always find it very harrowing to know that e-arcs and even paper arcs are printed from the manuscript BEFORE it's proofread. Like, people are out there reading Kyra and I've got it on my desk with 100 post-it flags marking little changes, ugh! So if you're reading an arc, yes I know about they errors :)

I hope you're having a good summer of reading, writing, or whatever else you most want to do.

- SZ

P.S. I love the cover for Kyra! Do you?