I’m thrilled to share that I have another project in the pipeline. Where We Used to Roam, my fourth middle grade novel, will be published in spring 2021 by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.
On the outside, it probably looks like, wow, she has two books coming out in two years (2020 and 2021), she’s so speedy!
Oh, how things look in hindsight. 😉
Prior to these two projects, my most recently published book, 14 Hollow Road, came out in 2017. Since then, on my metaphorical writing stove, I’d been juggling pots on and off the front burner, with these two middle grade projects (Things You Can’t Say and Where We Used to Roam) fighting for the prime spot, and a YA novel I wrote and revised only to entirely abandon. One project would seem like it was fully cooked, but then I’d taste it and realize, ick, nope, needs more time still. At one point I felt like I would never finish or figure out Things You Can’t Say. Perhaps it was like that time I tried making vegan macaroni and cheese and had to throw the whole thing out–it just was not coming together as I had imagined it.
But it turns out an important part of the writing (cooking?) process is patience. And it takes time to cultivate patience. It’s never easy to wait. Especially when you see your fellow writers zoom ahead, announcing deals for their zillionth books while you’re juggling multiple pots on the stove, wondering if maybe you should just call in a takeout order.
But sometimes, with enough patience and persistence, you end up with a multiple course meal, a few splatter on the backsplash, just in the nick of time as your friends ring the doorbell.
That’s sort of how I feel now, on the other side of it all: grateful that things came together. And ready for a dinner party.
