Big News Inside!

Hello Love and Laundry Readers,

Happy New Year! I am so excited to start 2025 by sharing some fantastic news.

Lake Union made me an offer for two more books, which I joyfully accepted. The contract is now signed, the ink is dry, and I am writing my heart out to meet my June 1 deadline.

July of 2026 is the tentative release date for the next book, with July of 2027 for the third book. Both books are women's book club fiction dealing with motherhood and friendship with a healthy dose of humor and suspense, just like Friends with Secrets. I'll share more details as I flesh them out, but right now The Next Book looks like this:

And like this:

In writer world, we have Pantsers, or people who write by the seat of their pants and have no idea what's going to happen until they write it, and we have Plotters, organized people who plot the whole book out before they write it.

I am a Pantser who is trying to become a Plotter, because when you sell your book to a publisher based on a synopsis and the first three chapters (which is called a proposal) you need to make sure the book you finish writing is actually the book you promised your publisher you would write.

And you need to do this on a deadline, so you don't have time to wander in the wilderness for 50,000 words and then scrap everything you've written because you suddenly realize you made a wrong turn. So I'm trying to plot this book out from start to finish to make sure the mystery and suspense are both mysterious and suspenseful.

I also have to admit that because Friends with Secrets was an Amazon bestseller, I feel a lot of pressure to make the next book as good as Friends. I want to give those of you who were kind enough to write a review or send me an email even more of what you loved in Friends. But pressure, self-imposed or otherwise, is not helpful when you're trying to be creative.

So I'm going back to what I've done before. I like to get up at four or five a.m. and write while the house is dark and quiet. I take the dog out, make my coffee, sit down at my desk and immediately start writing. I don't check social media or email or even change out of my pajamas. And if I'm very lucky, I'll suddenly realize it's noon and I've been writing for six or seven hours.

Once school starts up again, that won't be possible. So I'll try to get up early and write for a couple hours before I drive my 8th grader to school at 7:30 a.m. Then I try to get back into the zone for a few more hours when I return home.

But sometimes the dishwasher and the dog and the house and the grocery store beckon for my attention and that's always dangerous. Stopping at Target on the way home is really dangerous. Target is next door to HomeGoods, which is even more dangerous. Next thing I know three hours have gone by and instead of new words on the page I have detergent pods, a table runner, a lamp, and yet another scented candle.

So I will keep you posted as I move through the process of creating this next book. I do have one very exciting adventure lined up as research for the third book. More on that soon.

Until then, let me say this. When I'm writing, I'm about as happy as it's possible for a human being to be. I'm unaware of everything around me. I am no longer in my body or at my desk. It's almost like entering into a new state of consciousness.

All my liabilities and inadequacies fall away, and I'm in a place where the only thing that exists is this gift that I was given by my Creator. A gift that brings happiness to the people who read it, just as it brings me happiness as I write it.

So in 2025, I'd like to challenge you make time to use your gift. And if you haven't found it yet, I challenge you to make time to find it. Because you have a gift. We all have a gift.

Mine is sort of obvious because frankly, it's the only gift I have. You might have lots of gifts, so it's harder to see it. But it's in there somewhere and you deserve to use it. And it isn't selfish to spend time using it, because when you use your gift you're putting something into the world that brings other people joy. And that's why we were created. That's why we're all here. That's why you're here.

Sorry about all the italics. But I feel so strongly about this. So as I am sitting at my desk in the wee hours writing this next book, I hope you are painting or gardening or knitting or pottery-ing, or maybe writing yourself. And if you need encouragement, please hit reply and I promise to supply it.

Give this new year the gift of your gift. And if you do, amazing things will follow.

All my love,

Christine