Sam is writing more books

The update you didn't know you needed

Hey all!

It’s been a while since I sent an update. Errands came out in August. Since then I’ve visited a ton of bookstores, drafted Errands and Espionage 2 (name TBD), and revised half of Undead and Unwed. The second half of the revision assignment is supposed to land in my inbox any minute. It’s been A LOT of writing in a short amount of time. Does it make sense? Some of it. Are the wheels falling off ? Yes.

I should have covers and firm release dates to share by the next newsletter. I’m very excited for these shiny presents in my inbox, but we’re not there yet.

My update for the last three months is mostly balls I’ve dropped:

Laundry.

I missed the national dog show.

I made an iced chicken stock latte. Terrell was rightfully upset.

I haven’t called my friend Heather. Has she been working out without me? Did she go to Florida in a hurricane? Heather, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. I also never managed to have a glass of wine with my daughter’s violin teacher before she moved to Italy, Ewa, we’re thinking of you!

Balls I haven’t dropped:

Dental care. You gotta stay on top of that.

I put a Christmas tree in the living room next to the laundry.

I visited a lot of delightful book stores: Content Books in Northfield, the Bookstore at Fingers in Duluth, Once Upon a Crime in Minneapolis, Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis, Magers and Quinn in Minneapolis, plus the Minnesota Library Conference and the Twin Cities Book Festival.

I took Fabio to the Minnesota Library Conference.

Unfortunately, this brings us full circle. I have now dropped the ball on Fabio.

I haven’t put him away and it’s been a month.

He is training my dogs.

That’s a pretty complete update, and well beyond what anyone ever recommended for a newsletter. I probably should retitle this newsletter, “In Which Sam Overshares.” As you might have noticed, I named it “In Hot Pursuit,” a nod to the fact that I write romcom mysteries. I also like how open-ended it is. You can be in hot pursuit of anything: romance, nonsense, fulfillment, a quality dentist.

Onto something that I am supposed to include in an author newsletter: book recommendations.

1. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

I’ve been reading this to my son every night. After the first couple of chapters I asked him if he liked it. He said, “I was thinking about ants the whole time.” Since then, he’s had me re-read two of the chapters because he loved them so much. It’s a great book.

2. I listened to this on audiobook. It was FABULOUS. Hats off to Isabel Canas

3. Hot Hex Boyfriend by Carly Bloom. Entertainment Weekly and the Washington Post wrote it up and said it was fabulous because it is. And look how cute Carly is! The Washington Post also wrote up Errands and Espionage. I bet I never mentioned that. You should get both of them and leave reviews.

Here is a TikTok of my trip to Nowhere Books in San Antonio to celebrate Carly’s release. My kid is ready to move there and has declared Texas to be his favorite state. He mostly only saw Carly’s house, which shows what a great hostess she is, and how many ants she has on her property. Write another book already, Carly, so we can repeat this experience.

Hope you enjoyed this overshare. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see in these newsletters: interviews with other authors, pictures of my dog, books I’ve read, toothpaste recs.

Until next time,

Sam