Final Edits, A Novelette and Learning the Piano
Jun 28, 2026 9:01 am
Hi
I hope you’re well and safe wherever you are in the world. If you’re new to my newsletter – welcome! It’s lovely to have you here.
My big news this month is that All That Remains is finally, finally, ready to go. Yay! The final edits are complete and the cover is done. I'm now in the process of uploading it to the stores for the preorder. I've also ordered a proof copy of the paperback both for a quality check and also to try and catch those last pesky typos that seem to survive every other round of editing!
Here's a sneak peek at the final cover - I hope you like it! Once again, a huge thanks to everyone who gave feedback - it was enormously helpful.
In the next few weeks I'll be giving out advance review copies so if anyone would like one, please do reach out and let me know. I'd just need you to post a review to your favourite store(s) and/or Bookbub, when the book is released on September 15th. Even a single sentence such as "I loved this book" would be fantastic.
As well as all the preparation for the launch of All That Remains, I've also begun working on a short story. Well, it started as a short story but it's currently turning into a novelette. I'd never heard of a novelette until I looked up the difference between a short story and a novella and discovered that novelettes sit somewhere in between. Here are the definitions I found - there's a fair bit of overlap, but I'm pretty sure the new story will be a novelette!
Novella: 17,500 - 40,000 words
Novelette: 7,700 - 17,500 words
Short Story: Generally 1,500 - 7,500 words, but can range from 500 to 10,000 words
Flash fiction: Less than 1,500 words
But no matter, the story is going to be a free giveaway on my website, and I'll let you know when it's finished. Working title is "Borrowed Days" and here's an early draft of the description.
For two years, young war widow Laura Eliot has avoided the world, burying her feelings in work on her parents' farm and caring for her son, Oliver. But when she meets American airman Ethan Woodward on a birthday trip to the zoo for Oliver, the walls she has built around herself begin at last to crumble. Until Ethan fails to keep his promise to see her again, and she must decide whether the love she has only just allowed herself to feel is enough to keep her from retreating behind those walls forever.
So the writing has been keeping me busy, which is wonderful. Like a lot of creative people, my mojo waxes and wanes, and I feel like I'm back in a productive phase again, which makes me very happy :)
As well as the writing, I'm also learning to play the piano, which is a lifelong wish of mine. I played the violin as a child because there were lessons at school, and it was fun - I played in a youth orchestra, which was an amazing experience. But what I really wanted to play was the piano. And now I'm finally doing it. I have a lesson once a week and I practice a bit every day, so I'm gradually improving. It gives me great joy.
What I'm reading - The Inheritance of Loss by Kieran Desai. This Booker winner has been on my bookshelf for ever, and I finally started reading it this week. Set in the 1980s, the novel alternates between the narratives of orphan Sai, who lives with her grandfather in India, and Biju, the son of the grandfather's cook, who is working as an illegal alien in New York. A moving and beautifully written exploration of memory, colonialism, and the disorientating experience of living between two cultures.
What I'm watching - A Spy Among Friends. A gripping mini-series based on the defection of Soviet spy Kim Philby in 1963. Starring Guy Pearce and the ever wonderful Damian Lewis, it’s completely compelling.
Kind regards
Samantha
PS. Don’t forget to let me know if you’d like an Advance Review Copy of All That Remains.
Here are the links to my books. Have you read them all?
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com
