September Newsletter

The one where Sara promises to actually update this more regularly...

You know that feeling where you have SO FREAKING MUCH TO DO that you… do none of it? Welcome to being an author in the summer with little kids.

But now that the kids are back in school, and I’m NOT for the first time ever, well… actually, this is even more terrifying some days. It’s funny. I’ve been wanting to be a full-time author for as long as I can remember. And I’m an introvert, so it’s not like I’m craving social interaction. And not having to do all of my writing when the kids go to bed (or don’t, as the case currently is) when I’m exhausted from teaching is lovely. But now I have to make money from the crazy stories in my brain, which is… daunting, to say the least.

Publishing Updates

Behind Every Good Man launched August 6! And while I had a few days of panic when Amazon was glitching and rankings weren’t updating, we came roaring back to life with a bestseller flag in Historical Romances (slightly a stretch calling it that, IMO, as the romance is secondary to the main character’s arc at best). This was actually HUGE because the previous bestseller flags that I’ve earned came from Amazon First Reads. So while they stayed bestsellers once the books were no longer free, that push got them there. I earned this flag entirely on my own, and that’s INSANE.

In good news, book 5, tentatively titled Good Grief, is written and turned in to my lovely new editor. (Fun fact: we met over Zoom and I adored her. Then she emails me a week later and asks if I’m related to my first cousin. Turns out her husband is best friends with my cousin’s fiancee and we’ll both be at their wedding in February! I’m so excited!) My mom and the two beta readers who have finished it so far said that they loved it—I was worried it was a flaming dumpster fire (I saw a dumpster fire stuffy the other day. I kinda want it TBH), but my husband pointed out that I say that about everything I write until other people read it and tell me it’s good. (Yes, even Don’t Forget to Write!) And I am currently starting my next (absolutely top secret unless you talk to me in person for thirty seconds, in which case I’ll tell you the whole story because I have no filter) project.

Random life updates:

I made it to two Springsteen shows in the last two weeks, and brought my author bestie Jean Meltzer to the one in DC. She’s from Jersey and had never seen the man live. Safe to say, she’s now a fan. We didn’t make it onstage, but we had a blast dancing!

We also booked our next Disney World trip—my husband is NOT a Disney person, but I am. My grandmother had a condo in Pompano Beach when I was a kid, and we drove down most years for spring break and would drive to Disney. With two teacher parents, I became the master of doing Disney for cheap and I LOVE getting to share that magic with my kids. Granted, they’re totally spoiled because we also went to Disneyland in July—my brother lives twenty minutes from there. How are you going to be twenty minutes from Disneyland and NOT go? (Hence why I cannot live in SoCal… I’d be like, “Treat yo self…” daily.) But I got this pic with the mouse himself, so it’s fine.

And our goldfish, who we got largely to teach our kids about death, is now two years old. The girl at the fish store literally said she’d see us later that week, and this fish REFUSES to die. Then someone told me there was a goldfish that lived 43 years. Watch this fish be with me in the retirement home…

What I’m reading/watching

Remember how I said I got so overwhelmed that I did nothing? That goes for alllll the ARCs I was supposed to get through. My brain was MUSH until I finished the draft of book 5. Like the burnout was there on a level I have never experienced before. But my Kindle is on its charger right now, and we’re going to fix that tonight when/if the kids go to bed.

The last two books that I read and loved were Please Come to Boston by Gary Goldstein, and Until Next Summer by Ali Brady.

Please Come to Boston was a fantastic coming of age story set in the mid 1970s, with INCREDIBLE historical LGBGT representation (and a Springsteen show to boot! SWOON!). It’s out now, and you want to read this one especially if you lived the era, but also especially if you didn’t. While my most recent novels focus on women’s rights and (I hope) serve as a reminder of how much we don’t want to backslide, this does the same for the LGBTQ experience in America in the last 50 years. Highly recommend.

Now, I’m not a camp person. Honestly, I’m not an outdoors person if it’s not the beach. Dirt and bugs? No thanks. But I LOVED this story of friendship through the years. I think many of us have had friend relationships that were SO significant to us that when they fell apart, it hurt more than any romantic relationship falling apart ever could. Definitely pick this one up and then share it with your bestie!

Because my brain just needed a reset before bed to turn it off instead of trying to think up witty dialogue, I’ve been watching tv at night for the first time in a while. I just finished Kaos on Netflix and they BETTER put out another season because I am OBSESSED. I totally went back and looked up some of the original myths and I LOVE how they updated and fixed some problematic storylines. Euridyce has such a strong voice, when she never did, and Caneus? *Chef’s kiss* It’s crazy and messy and SO WELL DONE. Jeff Goldblum as an ego maniacal Zeus? YES, PLEASE

And finally, Emily in Paris. This show is empirically terrible and I hope it runs for 50 seasons. No one creates a toxic love triangle like Darren Star. Am I dumber for having watched it? Probably. Do I want to be Sylvie when I grow up? Absolutely. Hot men, couture, and bad decisions without the guilt of watching reality tv. Pure candy and I am happy to binge on it.

Tour dates—Coming Soon

I hit the road starting at the end of October, but I’ll update before that with a full list.

Signed copies of my books

Signed copies of all four of my books are available from Jurisdiction Clothing and Park Books. I don’t sell copies myself, so if you want them signed, please go through one of these two retailers!

And that’s it for today! If you’ve read Behind Every Good Man, drop me a comment and let me know what you thought!