When I was a brand new mommy I was told the newborn stage was the hardest stage of parenthood. All those sleepless nights, and those aching breasts from nursing, and the recovery from all the miserable things that can happen during childbirth.
As my kids got older I was warned about teething, the Terrible Twos, grade schoolers with attitude, and – scariest of all – TEENAGERS.
But none of that really prepared me for reality. No one ever wrote a book on WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOUR KID LEAVES FOR COLLEGE, or WHAT TO EXPECT THE TWENTYSOMETHING YEARS. And I really need that book right now.
Because of COVID and other chaos I have two children leaving the nest this year. One is headed to start her junior year in business college in Hawaii. The other is starting her junior year of engineering school in Washington. And at home I have one kid starting a junior year of high school and the other going into eighth grade. My house is full of teenagers and twentysomethings, but I’m about to lose half my children to colleges.
The mind truly boggles.
I’ve been juggling kids and writing so long that one of the natural stages of my children’s development has been them asking if they *HAVE* to write a book like mommy when they grow up. And now, with Eldest declaring a major in engineering and moving into math classes I have never touched, my oldest child has finally outgrown the ability to ask for help on her homework.
With all that going on writing has been slower than usual for the summer. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A MERMAID is with my editor and set to release on December 2nd. FOR EVERY ACTION (Fleet Of Malik #3) is going to be my beta reader in mid-August, no matter what.
I should have the cover art for ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A MERMAID finalized in the next few weeks and the pre-order button up sometime in September.
Now… I’m going to hit the night markets in Seoul with my twentysomethings and go see what kind of fun we can have!