spring awakening

hi, i've missed you!

What is it about oldests and advice? Is it that we have a captive audience from day one? Or is our helpfulness all just a projection? Oh, is life scary and confusing…for you? Here, I’ll explain it.

I’ve been deep in the world of my second book for just about two years, which for me means I’m living real quiet. No unnecessary distractions, no drama. I want to give myself synesthesia, I’m so bored. I want my pulse so low I could be mistaken for a corpse. Outside of work, everything good and new is going to this other world, to these flawed, fascinating, horny people in my head. And I…am not there. It’s sort of like the traveller in Star Trek—in order to get these people where they’re going, I need to disappear.

I turned in the latest revision last week. We’re not done yet, but the massive creative push is starting to taper—I can tell, because today on my walk, the voice in my head was actually my own. An advicey, oldest’s voice. Lots of shoulds. Should order probiotics. Should send in the taxes. Should pick up again with the newsletter.

So. Bossy.

If you subscribe to this, you’re probably a writer or a creative or a blood relative or we’ve seen each other cry or throw up or both. You might have taken one of my classes on query craft or editing. You might be an agent or author I work with. You might have read a book I edited or one I wrote. If so, hi—thank you for being here.

If you’re new or just curious, nice to meet you. I’m an Executive Editor at Clarkson Potter and a novelist. I live on Martha’s Vineyard year-round with my sweet husband and his slutty little glasses and our loud dog who barks at everyone but us.

Per above re: corpse pulse, there’s not always a lot of news, per se, but I do have thoughts. These past few years have been a real journey, creatively. My central question remains the same: how do we as artists keep on keeping on, but I have some new answers. Writing your second book is very different from writing your first —I want to talk about that. Selling it is a wild ride—I can talk about that, too.

I’ll also give updates on projects I’m working from both the editor and author sides of my desk. And probably updates on what I’m reading and watching.

And anything else you want to know about—see above re: oldests and advice.

So let’s do this. Once a month. Fun! Intriguing. Will this be the year I actually deal with our hydrangeas? Which books are going to end up doing well and why? Will Tower of Dawn ever get better? Will Nancy ever nail Ned in “Nancy x Ned,” my Nancy Drew fan fic (currently 11 pages long and her skirt has only just come off)?

Let’s find out.

xx

Emma

Updates

Weather: It is bitterly cold here, which I’m mostly dealing with by hoarding Newman’s Pineapple Salsa and Lime Tostitos. It’s a sense memory exercise that helps me remember what sun feels like.

Reading: I don’t read new work while I’m writing, so I’m basically on literary Rumspringa atm. I kicked off with DEEP END by Ali Hazelwood, which was just delightful. I’m now rereading all of Empyrean to refresh before ONYX STORM. From there, who knows! No recommendations allowed. No homework on Rumpsringa.

Watching: Midsommer Murders, the Tom years. I will actually go into sepsis if I reengage with high octane reading material and prestige television at the same time. Baby steps.

Editing: Two projects I worked on just published in Jan and they are both stunning—click on the photos to learn more <3