Happy Halloween and an update for Pining for You

Yes, I'm Freddie for Halloween. Yes, I put a scary alien head next to the toilet to scare my guests for a Halloween party. And, yes, Zoe is adorable as a bat.

Time for a Pining for You update. I have completed developmental edits and turned the manuscript back in to my agent. We are so in sync with our vision for this book. I’m always so grateful for her expertise. She’s an amazing partner on my publishing journey.  I’ve added another 10k words or so. There are some new chapters and some really fun changes including two chapters from the male main character’s perspective. I KNOW… So, what happens next? My agent will likely do another pass of the manuscript for some line/copy edits and then we will move on to the submission phase with publishers.

In the meantime, I wanted to talk about how my real-life experiences have melded with what I wrote in the book. I mentioned previously that the book is inspired by real events. It is also the book of my heart. I wrote the first draft in two and a half weeks. That, alone, left me with a sense of knowing that the story was buried deep within me and just needed a little digging to uncover. Even when I began edits, I found myself mesmerized by the words. It was as if I hadn’t consciously written the story so much as it flowed from within. It was in that space that I created a story and ending that I fell in love with. It was magical and very much straight from my imaginative, romantic heart. But then something happened. Something strange and unusual—the book started to manifest in my life in a present tense. I know, I sound wild and crazy.

But hear me out.

Fictional things I wrote about in the book have come to pass in real life.

Let me say that again.

Fictional things I wrote about in the book have come to pass in real life.

Yes, I know I’m writing about this woo-woo stuff on Halloween and, yes, it’s one of my favorite holidays. This has Necronomicon vibes form Evil Dead but like in a light way and not in an undead way.

So here’s the thing…I’ve been told that I am a gifted person in manifesting my dreams. I can’t deny the connection between the book and real life. There are too many strange occurrences that correspond with the book for me to write it off as coincidence.  Even stranger is that when my book needed something, such as my agent asking for more conflict, something in real life answered that call. I can’t make this up, and I write fiction.

So, what’s my point? I think what I’m trying to say is that there are things in life that can’t be explained by the 3-D world as we know it. We see the world with our physical eyes. Our logical brains find comfort in that space. But energy is real. Energetic vibration and connection to others is real. Think of someone you’ve met in your life that had a glow or aura about them. You couldn’t actually ‘see it’ but you felt it. Lean into that more, look for that same peace and love inside yourself, and remember that no one is ever alone. It took me a long time to accept and come to know this. I’m much happier and at peace because of it.

Until next time, get your witch on. It is Halloween.