Updates! Some good, some meh, some downright crappy

Hello friends

It’s been a minute. I haven’t posted here since February (which is wild) when I announced that The Other March Sisters was out in the world! I’m proud of this book that I wrote with my co-authors Linda Epstein and Liz Parker.

And we wound up being a #1 bestseller! Baby’s first orange banner

It even spurred on my first ever book tour, which was fun, but stressful for an introvert like me. I hope to have the chance to do one again some day and at least then I’ll know what to expect (i.e. very little downtime and social anxiety lol)

Since then, S’More Spooky Stories: A National Parks Anthology came out! This was my first anthology and I loved being a part of the collection – also it has inspired an upcoming Lost in the Woods horror story I want to write.

But the best thing about it is that proceeds from the book go to help our National Parks and considering our current political climate and government, our parks could use all the help they can get. I’m definitely a city girl but I was raised in a small town and value how important our park system is. If the powers that be had it their way, everything would be paved into non-existence.

Next up is Broken Dolls which is out September 30, 2025. I feel like I have been waiting for this book to come out forever – even more so after Stephen King slapped his stamp of approval on it with a blurb that blew my mind.

And for as wonderful as that blurb is (and it is wonderful) the best thing is a small one line email that I have hanging over my desk from earlier this year when he was reading it.

I see that and I think if he was reading Broken Dolls and took the time to send me that….well anything is possible.

And I guess that’s what I wanted to talk about today. Because when anything is possible that means wonderful things can happen. But it also means hard things can happen.

I don’t really want to dance around this so I’ll just come right out and say it: I have cancer again.

That was weirdly harder to type than I thought it was going to be.

In March I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. The best thing about that is that it requires a lot of down time and man did I catch up on some horror movies. Speaking of, if you haven’t seen Hell House LLC get on that. It was good.

Anyway, after surgery we found out that unlike last time the cancer was ductal not lobular. This is not a recurrence. This is a whole new cancer. And then, in my doctors office with my husband holding my hand my oncologist said the word that I have feared the most since 2014 and my first go round with this stupid disease: Chemotherapy

Don’t get me wrong. I know that chemotherapy saves lives. I’m not stupid but there are just certain things in this world that scare people and for me it was this. You see in 2014 I didn’t need chemo. Just radiation and while my life was incredibly altered, it wasnt altered like THAT.

And now here I was staring down chemo. As of this writing I’m having my third treatment on Thursday. Not to go into too many details but I had an allergic reaction to the first treatment (anaphylactic shock) that shook me to my core. But my doctor changed the chemo and last week went fine. And I have every reason to believe this week will be fine. And the week after that. And the week after that.

Here’s me last week after week 2

So I’ll be going every week for 12 weeks. I’ve got my own weird countdown going. For instance, after Thursday, only 9 left.

Single digits, baby!

I’m not going to lie and say this has been easy or that there hasn’t been a lot of crying. Because there has. And I’m not going to ask “why me” because we all know that sometimes the universe says why not?

So is this my summer? Yes but also no.

Did I miss Stokercon? Yes. Was I very sad? Yes.

Did Tanya Pell (buy her books) organize a massive card signing at Stokercon so that my horror family could send me love?

Yes, yes she did. And I am eternally grateful.

Because, you see, my summer is also this. Its being reminded that I am loved, that this is temporary and that when it’s done, life will keep chugging along.

Because my summer is finishing the Witch book and going on submission.

My summer is seeing movies and buying books and getting ice cream

My summer is plotting out the Monsters in the Woods book.

My summer is going to my sister’s wedding.

And my fall? My fall will be even better.

Because the fact is, this – treatment – is something I am doing.

It is not something I am.

So to all my friends out there, that may feel defined by one singular thing – an illness, a break up, grief – whatever it is, remember as our friend Walt Whitman said: