Reframing How I'm Doing It

PLUS EXCLUSIVE 'ON HER TERMS' PREORDER INFO YOU'LL SEE WHY I AM SHOUTING

Every book is that book for the first time!!! I shriek at myself in the mirror

Dear Readers,

I just got back from Romance Con! To say I had a nice time would be a bold and grand understatement. I had a wonderful time, seeing/meeting friends and readers, eating my weight in cheese curds, enjoying beautiful Milwaukee weather before returning to the oven that was Burbank Airport at 3pm on Sunday.

When people ask what it’s like to write romance books, I ALWAYS talk about the readers. Romance readers are passionate as hell. They read in giant stacks, the way I do, and they are so warm and enthusiastic about what they like. They are looking for new books, new authors, new characters to fall in love with. I absolutely loved getting a chance to meet so many cool readers this past weekend. There are a lot of reasons I do this work (mainly I just freaking love to invent fictional people and give them fictional problems and then get deeply stressed out trying to help these fictional people solve their fictional problems), but a huge one is THE READERS. So thank you to all I met this past weekend (and of course to all the readers in general).

And now… I am SO SO SO excited to share with you the preorder exclusive for ON HER TERMS!

YES IT’S TRUE! If you preorder ON HER TERMS from Skylight Books, you will receive this exclusive AND EXTREMELY ADORABLE sticker sheet featuring the pets of ON HER TERMS, Fernando (lower right) and Small Jesse Pinkman (upper left).

(Art by Fiona of aliasxahna, who also drew my amazing header image of the kitties above!)

I know what some of you are thinking (maybe): HEY I AM A HUGE FAN! I already preordered this book! WELL OBVIOUSLY I REWARD THE EARLY BIRDS WITH THE METAPHORICAL WORMS. If you already preordered the book, simply reply to this email with proof OR forward proof of preorder to me at amyspaldingwrites@gmail.com and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. Yes it is just that simple!!!

I am back to working on the first draft of my next book, which is the final (PROBABLY??) volume in the Out in Hollywood series. I will say nothing else specific about it for awhile. Don’t blame me, blame whatever’s wrong in my brain that believes so much in jinxing that I think if I tell you one thing the whole idea might collapse into sawdust.

First drafting is often HARD for me. Not the actual task of writing, per se, which differs from so difficult I would rather have a long conversation with a person who hates me to oh my god is this what reaching actual nirvana feels like. But something started happening to me awhile back where even when I want to write, it feels like my head and body are full of static, and, like, I can’t. It feels too horrible to even open the Word document!!!

I could get into all of these reasons, like the external pressures of publishing and the internal pressures of wanting to constantly be getting better and worrying you are not to just like dude this stuff is tough and what is a lot easier is NOT DOING IT AT ALL. But I want to be writing! I LOVE writing. I love all my characters and the stories I want to give them.

I’d mapped out this year, productivity-wise, and knew that in order to follow this schedule, I needed to be writing regularly and hitting a certain word count. OK great! Here I go! The static remained. I wrote in my planner every day to work on the book. I even wrote the (TENTATIVE) title to make it seem real. THIS DID NOT HELP.

So here’s what I did, and maybe it is why now I am writing big gusts of words every day and feeling very little static at all: instead of writing something like “work on the book” or “hit my wordcount goal” or whatever, I write one thing in my planner every day for this book: words.

That’s it. Words. It’s not overwhelming. It’s not attached to a number (math can be scary) or a project name (names can be scary) or a deadline (don’t even get me started). Words feels so gentle, so forgiving. I specifically plot my wordcount in two-week stretches, specifically to allow for “if I can’t write today then I can just write a little more every day this week and I’ll catch up” so the grace of words feels built for me.

I do not actually know if writing words every day into my planner is helping me, but it does feel nice (and not at all like static) to cross it off every day. Maybe it will stop. Maybe it won’t help the next project at all. But right now the book is flying and I’m not wanting to barf about it and my deadline doesn’t seem very scary.

Fall is in the air in Los Angeles, or at least that’s what 80 degrees feels like, and I’m loving it. Hope you are also experiencing the weather you crave, wherever you are!

xoxoAmy

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This is truly a power move by Katsu

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Consumption

Organizing

I have ADHD (actual ADHD diagnosed by a doctor and not by Instagram memes) so I struggle a lot with keeping track of things. Ever since I started using planners the other year, things have been SO MUCH BETTER. However, I felt bad that I was barely using a lot of the sections of the Full Focus Planner. I found this Daily Overview Planner at Powell’s (the brand is Ramona & Ruth) the other year, and I LOVE IT. The dates/days are blank, so I can only use it for days I’m in the office, which is almost always the only times I want to use it. This means I’m not wasting pages on weekends and days out of town where I will not use it at all. I also really like how it’s spiral-bound; it lays flat on my desk. It’s also VERY CUTE! (Before I would have skipped the intention/grateful boxes daily, but it kind of feels like something my therapist would like so I basically do it for her approval even though she doesn’t know. IT STILL COUNTS!)

Reading

I am loving Adib Khorram’s I’ll Have What He’s Having. Funny, thoughtful, very very dirty. All things I love deeply in a romcom. A warning that this book describes the most delicious food and wine you have ever heard of. Do not read it on an empty stomach like I did; YOU WILL REGRET IT!

Subscribing

Are you old? Or do you feel old? Anyway I recently subscribed to the After School newsletter which is about youth pop culture/media trends. You can probably also subscribe to this if you are not a withering husk of a person, though I personally would not know.

Seasonally Eating

My favorite thing at Starbucks is back! It’s pumpkin cream cheese muffin season, motherfuckers!!!!!

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On Her Terms

ON HER TERMS is coming… soon! Soon-ish! It’s Book 3 in the Out in Hollywood series, but you can ABSOLUTELY just…read it. It won’t ruin anything, I promise.

Fresh off breaking up with her boyfriend and swerving away from the conventional, TikTok-ready married life she never wanted, Clementine is ready to explore the alternatives. Not that she wants to be single forever, much less die alone. But at thirty-six, it’s time for her to experience new things—including in her love life. And though an invitation to a fake relationship to appease family sounds like a recipe for disaster, Clem finds herself agreeing to the ruse with smart, spirited dog groomer Chloe Lee anyway . . .

Chloe is long past her own baby gay era, but even before they’ve tackled Clem’s parents’ anniversary party and Chloe’s friends’ wedding, the two of them end up spending a lot of time together. As the attraction between them grows stronger, it all begins to feel very real to Clem. Chloe, however, is fine as just friends—plus she’s convinced Clem is just eager for “someone” to take her off the singles list. How to persuade her otherwise? After all, Clem is starting to realize her life is wonderfully full and being “alone” doesn’t scare her a bit. Still, being without the tiny powerhouse that is Chloe, specifically is a whole other story . . .

Wise, witty, and full of heart, this is an uplifting love story about being true to yourself and your desires, even if it means plunging into uncharted territory.

“On Her Terms is a delightfully funny and tender ode to second chances, all the romantic feels, and finding—and loving—yourself at every stage in life. A bright jewel of a romance.”—Ashley Herring Blake, bestselling author of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care

“Nobody look at me while I'm reading an Amy Spalding book because I'm worried I have the cheesiest grin on my face the whole time! On Her Terms is so funny but also disconcertingly relatable if you happen to be a queer person still figuring out your own queerness later in life. I loved watching Chloe and Clementine banter and flirt and eventually admit to themselves that what they were pretending was fake was actually very, very real.”—Alicia Thompson, USA Today bestselling author of With Love, from Cold World

“I adore all of Amy Spalding’s books and On Her Terms is no exception. I related so much to Clementine’s story, and I think so many other people will too. This book is about coming out and coming into your own later in life, finding the courage to do what you want, instead of what’s expected of you, and, of course, falling deeply and gloriously in love.”—Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author

“Amy Spalding continues her takeover of gay LA! On Her Terms is another sexy, smart addition to her interconnected tales of queer women in Hollywood and their misadventures in love, work, and life. I loved watching another of Amy's expertly drawn, quirky, self-aware heroines embrace the potential in her work, her friendships, and, ultimately, herself — on the road to falling for her dream girl. Cheers, queers — Amy Spalding is for us!”—Mackenzi Lee, New York Times bestselling author

“On Her Terms might be my favorite Amy Spalding book yet—probably because it’s the steamiest yet! I related so hard to Clementine’s desire not to follow the expected steps of life, like marriage and kids and relegating friendship to a lower status once those big-ticket items have been achieved. I also think this book will be so affirming for all the bi babes who have ever questioned their place in the LGBTQ community—the B is there for a reason!!”—Celia Laskey, author of So Happy for You

Y’all are so lucky I didn’t dedicate this entire newsletter to how hot it has been in LA this past week SO LUCKY but you know I could not entirely just IGNORE IT OK