Hello, my Wylde-lings! I am back! Sort of...

What I mean is that I am back home, to my old place, everything is as it should be, yesterday I unpacked THE LAST box, and I'm all set to resuming MY LIFE.

To those of you who are new to my newsletter, in short, this is the disaster that was October:

• I moved to a new city, new place, that turned out was all kinds of broken and wrong.
• I had a little accident and tore my meniscus.
• Five days with my leg in a cast, and another week and a half in a knee brace.
• We moved back to our old place because we couldn't possibly live in that disaster of an apartment. Lost a lot of money with the moves.
• Spent two weeks at my parents' house to fix my knee and contemplate all my bad decisions.
• Luckily, surgery wasn't needed, so I went to physiotherapy every day.
• Knee is better, not great, but I'm getting there.
• Had to delay books and cancel a pre-order.

Now that you're up to speed, I can tell you that I'm okay, and I will soon get back to work. I have learned a powerful lesson: I have to slow down once in a while, and even stop. I hadn't taken a proper vacation since 2020, when again, I was forced to stop because I'd hit burnout. This time, what forced me to stop was the stupid accident that resulted in a knee injury. And I'm really upset about it, because I love walking (I walked on the treadmill every single day in September), and hiking, and doing all kinds of sports. And now... I can't do a lot of those things. Two of my favorite yoga positions are off the table.

It's so important to stop and take a break (a real, full break where you don't even THINK about work and DOING), or your body will force you to, and not in a pleasant way.

So the two weeks I spent at my parents' were my vacation. I barely opened my laptop, did the absolute minimum, and tried not to think about work. I feel better now, and ready to ease back into it.

But I promised myself that even this November and December, I will take it slow. This is why I will only publish two novellas, and leave the novels for next year. I am so lucky and privileged to be able to do this. Every day, I see authors burning themselves out, not knowing when to stop, until they become so stressed and exhausted that they give up completely. Have you noticed how many authors stop writing and just disappear? It's sad... it's not okay... There's a lot of pressure, self-publishing is up and down, up and down, things change every few months, and as an author, you just have to be STRONG. And strength also comes from knowing it is okay to take a step back once in a while, recharge, and reevaluate.

Anyway, this email is getting long, and I'm rambling.

I did want to tell you about this awesome new anthology I'm in! It comes out in March, and my story is called... *drum roll*... Heart of a Satyr. Yes! It is part of my Monster Hearts series.

Please consider pre-ordering it. It's only 99cents, and we're trying to hit the USAT bestsellers list. The proceeds all go to charity, too.

Only $0.99

Monsters do it better—especially when they fall in love.

Dive into this stunning anthology filled with wicked tales and monstrous ever afters. These sweet and steamy short stories feature drool-worthy monsters as they woo and claim their human mates.

*** ***

I will be back with more news!

Love,

Cara