Writing & Loving
updates from the trenches (and couch!!)
It’s the last day of March already, and I’m suffering from whiplash. This month really kicked my ass. I’m not going to try to be more eloquent about it. It sucked.
Mid-month, my fifth-grade daughter came down with a fever, extreme lethargy, and a small cough. It wiped her out for five days, and about a week later, my preschooler came down with the same symptoms. Three days later, my first-grade son. The next day, I was the next to fall victim to the mystery illness, and by the following weekend, my husband.
For over two weeks, our house was fighting for its life. And it turns out it wasn’t just a fever and fatigue. It felt like COVID, but worse. It was apparently neither influenza nor COVID, but I have a hard time believing that. When I tell you I have never felt this terrible in my life, it’s not an exaggeration. I had COVID during the pandemic, and this was infinitely worse.
I’m also diabetic, so while I had no desire to eat and was struggling with dehydration, my blood sugars were all over the place. (Diabetics have to eat, or our bodies think we’re dying and our blood sugar spikes to keep us “energized.” It’s terrible.)
I’m still not quite myself, truthfully. My brain feels a little foggy, and I haven’t had coffee in ten days. My Americano addiction feels deeply neglected, but I’m still barely eating and have been loving warm green tea like it’s my new personality quirk.
And now the kids are on spring break, so I won’t be making it to the coffee shop anytime soon. I know… I’m mourning my alone time, too. *sobs*
But March hasn’t been all bad, especially creatively, though I did accidentally throw myself into a bit of a reading slump after developing a new obsession and unlocking a previously unknown fangirl persona for Lily King.
I’ve had Writers & Lovers on my shelf longer than I care to admit. It was one of those books I picked up on a gloomy day because the title caught my eye (I, too, am both a writer and a lover), and then it sat on my ever-growing TBR, because that’s just the nature of these things.
A couple of beta readers for Small Birds had listed Writers & Lovers as a comp title based on vibes and writing style, and I was like, cool—I should probably read this so I can use it in my query letter. And then… I didn’t. I’m a bit of a mood reader, and while I picked it up a few times, I just wasn’t “in the mood.”
Fast forward to February 2026, and Heart the Lover was suddenly everywhere—people calling it the best book they’ve ever read. One BookTok’er (how do we spell that?!) even said, “Omg, if you’re obsessed with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I am!), you will love this book.” Boom. I was in. But first, I had to read Writers & Lovers—it had been sitting on my TBR long enough.
And once I started, I couldn’t put it down. It felt like a masterclass in literary storytelling. As a writer, I can’t help but approach a novel (especially one that knocks my socks off!) with the eye of a student. The structure. The pacing. The way emotion is rendered. The atmosphere they build… a good book pulls you in, but a great one teaches you something about the craft. I felt so beyond inspired. I picked up Heart the Lover the next day and didn’t look back.
And color me surprised to discover that Heart the Lover is both a prequel and a sequel to the events of Writers & Lovers. I know. Mind blown. Not once had anyone mentioned the connection— everyone seemed to be reading it as a standalone. I was so glad I had read it first.
There was so much to learn from the craft in this second book, too. Not only is it written in a completely different way, but it weaves together youth, lost love, heartbreak, character history, and something deeply real with such honesty.
I have a few all-time favorite books, and they include The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (the most beautiful prose I have ever read), Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (I have a deep reverence for and connection to April Wheeler), and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (I first read it at nineteen, decades before the show. I hate how often people assume loving it now is because of that show).
And now, I can proudly say that Writers & Lovers by Lily King has earned a place on that highest shelf.
I haven’t been able to read anything since. I’ve tried starting three different novels and couldn’t get into any of them. You know a book has rocked your world when it leaves everything else falling a little flat. So, I did the only logical thing, and I picked up a few more Lily King titles.
Hopefully this snaps me out of it, because I’ve only read eleven books so far this year, and I need to get back on track.
What have you been reading? Have you read any of Lily King’s work?
But, because I’m also a writer and not just a reader (though, as we know, if you’re a writer, you have to be reading), I do have a few writing updates to share.
My short story about a mother who loses a tooth and finds herself in the garden, affectionately titled Mother Root, is in the most recent issue of New Feathers. It will also be included in the year-end print anthology, which is incredibly exciting. This story is deeply personal to me for so many reasons, and I would love it if you took a few minutes out of your day to read it.
Tomorrow is also the first day of National Poetry Month! And that means… it’s erasure poetry month for me! I used to participate in The Poeming with a group of poets, but I think the organization faded out this past year after a move to Discord that didn’t quite take hold. I loved being part of The Poeming and the community it fostered, but I’ve realized I can still pick a novel and play on my own. This year, I’ll be erasing Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. I’ll be posting one erasure poem each day on Tumblr.
Root Smoke is also celebrating National Poetry Month by sharing work from nine poets throughout April, and I’m really excited about it.
There will be a few structural changes after April, as the current publishing model feels a bit overwhelming (three emails a week!). That said, we’re still growing in subscribers, so it does seem like people are enjoying what I’ve started over there. I’ll share more about those updates soon.
Yes, I’m still querying Small Birds! Nothing new to report since last month. I still have three agents with the full manuscript and haven’t heard anything further. I did receive two new rejections from recent queries—both form rejections—so there wasn’t much to take from them, aside from the sense that it may not have been the right fit for their current lists.
I did, however, have an absolutely unhinged moment of clarity that I can only describe as a fever dream while I was dying of the plague. I basically watched my book unfold in my mind’s eye while writhing in pain and drifting in and out of consciousness and realized that a major plot point needs to be moved to the beginning. I have no idea how I missed this through four drafts and countless rounds of edits after beta feedback. But now that I see it, I can’t unsee it and I know exactly what needs to be done.
I’m going to finish the first draft of Dream Date (I’m about halfway through, though I haven’t written much since illness took over the house) and then let that manuscript sit for at least a month. During that time, I’ll return to Small Birds and work through this rewrite. I can see more clearly now what the story needs. And I’m willing to do the work to get it there. Plus, I love Tully’s world. I don’t mind revisiting it as many times as I can.
Which reminds me, I do have a Small Birds story coming out soon in the romance journal Lovestruck Inkwell. It’s called “Wings Over the River” and centers on Tully and Jeremiah’s first kiss. I can’t wait to share it with you.
(I need headshots. I changed all my profile pictures to a woman holding a bird until I can get something that looks more professional.)
What I’m Reading: Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
What I’m Writing: Draft 1 of Dream Date and editing a short story
What I’m Listening To: Suki Waterhouse’s new single, “Back in Love”
What I’m Watching: Nothing. I haven’t been to the cinema, I haven’t streamed a film and I’m not watching any shows. Any recommendations?