I Guess I'm Trying to Say Sorry

Sorry Hugh, this is not working.

I once saw a movie that:

(a) I can't remember the name of

(b) was not appropriate for children

(c) had Hugh Jackman playing a hacker

(d) was not Hugh's best work

(The answer is All of the Above.)

In one scene—a real low point of this stinker— the movie making people tried to make it look really cool and exciting for Hugh to hack into some system. It did not work. It was painfully bad.

The scene was doomed to fail, despite Hugh's heroic efforts to sell it, because IRL hacking (any programming, really) is a long, long silent thing that is exciting only for the person who understands what is happening inside their computer and/or their own head. Meanwhile, anyone else in the vicinity slowly dies of boredom.

I tell you all that to tell you this--the same is true for writing.

Like, if I were to send you daily updates about "how the book is going", they would look like this:

Day 1: sat silently in front of my computer for 4 hours. Typed 1346 words. Deleted 422 words.

Day 2: sat silently in front of my computer... Typed 1342 words. Deleted 497 words. Laughed twice at my own jokes.

...

Day 368: sat silently... cried a little. Typed 1402 words. Deleted 1199 words.

Day 369: stared at screen for 36 hours. Typed 5 words. Fantasized about being eaten by a bear.

So that's why these random musings are so few and far between, Dear Readers. It means I AM working on the next book while, simultaneously, I AM NOT boring you by telling you about it. I'm only musing now because I've turned in the manuscript and am waiting for edits.

(Quick pause to SCREAM FOR JOY!!)

Speaking of the next book, here's the thing... It's going kind of rough. Like, we're in a good place now, but it's been a twisty, potholey road to get here.

No time to say hello-goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

I drafted it last spring, and I knew it had major problems. Even though there were some scenes and characters that were a lot of fun, the story wasn't working. My editor and I both agreed that we should burn that draft and never speak of it again. I re-wrote it from scratch. I felt better about this draft, but in talking with my editor, it became clear that I still hadn't quite found Eve and Andrew's new story. I started over a third time.

Meanwhile, the publishing date had to be pushed out. Twice. I spent all of 2025 writing and rewriting this book, while the hope of having the book come out in 2026 was slipping away. In January, I had four weeks and one last chance to get this story right so that it could come out before the end of the year. (For reference, the fastest I've ever drafted anything before was eight weeks.)

And, HALLELUJAH, by some miracle, it happened! I finished the manuscript. Again. And then my editor read version three and said, "IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!!" (She's normally very articulate. When she can't find any words and just resorts to spamming the exclamation point, that's an excellent sign.)

We're officially in production to have this book in your hands on November 3, 2026! Just in time for holiday gifting and cozy reading!!

So, if you've been waiting for MAYBE WE'RE MEANT TO LAST, and you're disappointed that it's so late:

(a) please forgive me

(b) know that I'm doing the work (even though you aren't getting daily--or monthly--updates on it)

(c) trust that, when you finally get to read it in November, it will be a corker!

(The answer is All of the Above.)

Coming November 3, 2026!