A million thanks to all who have pre-ordered Craving London, out on November 17th.

Apparently I did a smart thing putting it in the England travel category on Amazon, because it has stayed as a #1 new release in the US in that category. In case you don’t know (I didn’t), when you publish a book on Amazon, you can only choose two categories. But…then you can email Amazon and ask to be included in a total of 10. Well, actually 20—because it’s 10 each for the eBook AND paperback. This required several hours of research into all the various categories, where comparable books sit, and where my book stands the best chance. To complicate matters, Amazon stores (or “marketplaces”) in different countries have different categories.

​As this becomes all too real, and the book is highly personal, I have several fears. Let me count the ways…

​1. Fear that I’ll be exposed as totally bonkers in the romance department (“No wonder this woman is single!”)

2. Fear that I haven’t caught all the typos and redundancies, even though I’ve been through the book countless times

3. Fear that after all this work, the book will fall into oblivion

4. Fear that I will offend people, or forget them, or not do them justice

​Many of these fears have dissipated throughout this process, specifically the fear of “being found out” as weird, eccentric, perhaps even undatable. Fear that I’d be romantically ruined forevermore. But at nearly 46, this really doesn’t bother me as much. I mean, how much worse can it get? And if someone wants to go on a date with me, I can just hand him the book and say, “Here, read this first. Then decide if you still want to take me to dinner.” That should weed out a lot of them.

​But with a five-year old, a book, and needing to make a living in the process (I’m still doing my copywriting/ghostwriting freelance), who has time to date anyway?

​In other news, my London friend and fellow first-time author Kathryn arranged a spontaneous Zoom call with me and her filmmaker boyfriend Graham, so that he could guide me in setting up an audiobook recording space in my closet:

(That’s my bedroom vanity that I moved into the closet, and it happens to be perfect for housing all the equipment. Peppa the cat has no idea what’s coming.)

​You can order Kathryn’s domestic noir thriller here (spoiler alert: it’s a sexy one!) and watch Graham’s haunting film here, which is also set in London, and which got so creepy, I had to turn on the light during one scene.

​Until next time…stay tuned!