a research trip, publisher visit & graduation
Hi friends—
Are you ready for summer? I certainly am, although my flat doesn't have a/c (it's a rare commodity in London), so I'm hoping to coast at a nice 72 degrees all summer long. Onto updates: I have a lot of exciting things to report! I went back to the US earlier this month and hopped around four cities in nine days. First up was a quick stop home to see my parents, sister, and niece (six months old and absolutely adorable).
Then it was on to Maine for book 2 research! My second novel will be set off the coast of Maine, on a fictional island called Wisewood. Did you know Maine has 4600 islands?! I've started sharing this fun fact all the time, and have yet to come across a single person (not from Maine) who knew that. I definitely didn't until I began my research.
Anyway, since I'd only been to Maine once before, I wanted to get a feel for the setting, the people, and the logistics of island life. It's a lot easier to describe a ferry terminal or the hue of the water when you've seen it yourself. Google street view and images can get you pretty far, but nothing beats going in person.
I'm so glad I made the trip. I hired a guy who lives on an island near Vinalhaven to take me around on his boat (pictured above) to a few uninhabited islands. Lest this sound like the opening scene of a horror movie, fear not: my parents chaperoned! And Captain John only mentioned where his dead family members are buried twice. (That's not a joke.)
Captain John was actually a huge help. He not only identified every tree (red and white spruce, mostly), rock (granite and basalt), and animal (seals, otters, eagles, plus a million other birds) we saw, but he also explained what kind of vegetables can be grown on the islands, the depth and temperature of the water, how one builds a pier, how islanders get their groceries, etc. As someone with few to no survival instincts, all this information fascinated me and got me thinking about what my characters' daily lives would look like on an island.
After 2.5 days in Maine, I was off to NYC to meet my US publishing team. First off, Penguin Random House has the coolest lobby (pictured above), and second, the best people working there—and I'm not just saying that because some of them read this newsletter (hi, guys!). I continue to be blown away by other people's passion for this novel and its characters. When you've been working on the same project for a long period, sometimes it's easy to forget what lit you up about it in the first place. The naysayer in your head starts to wonder if it's actually any good. Listening to the Berkley team discuss our plans for the coming year has been getting me pumped all over again.
Finally, I flew to Boston for graduation and an interview with Emerson's alumni magazine. The article will be featured in the summer issue, so I'll share that with you guys once I have it. And although graduation ceremonies aren't known for being the most thrilling events, it was a nice punctuation mark to my two years in Boston. I even managed to catch up with the three writers/professors who have been most influential to my writing career: Steve Yarbrough, Mako Yoshikawa, and Rick Reiken. They've all written (multiple!) fantastic books—check out the links above for their Goodreads pages.
My last bit of news is final titles and publication dates! In the US, DARLING ROSE GOLD will be published March 17, 2020. In the UK, the book is called THE RECOVERY OF ROSE GOLD and will be published March 19, 2020. :: breathes heavily into paper bag ::
Oh, one more thing—I've now seen cover designs for the UK and US and absolutely *love* them both! They're very different from each other, but are two striking interpretations of the story. I'm hoping I'll get to share final covers with you in next month's newsletter!
As always, thanks for reading—