Blackberries, gardens and too much kale.

Happy Friday, my darlings!

First, a poem I thought you might love for my favorite month of the year:

AUGUST

Mary Oliver

When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by there is
this thick paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves; there is
this happy tongue.

And because it got me thinking of that sweet golden summer light, a handful of my favorite flower photos I’ve taken this season:

Also, I DID IT! Sent a gianttttt round of revisions for Hot Gay Thieves romance to my editor at 1:00 am on Tuesday morning. I was, as always, grateful and euphoric to be done. Though I still have many revisions to go. But each one brings the story closer and closer to you. 🩷

Here I am from the nest I made on our couch the next day:

Unfortunately, all the late nights, bright screens and lack of sleep triggered a vestibular migraine attack, so I was down bad with a lot of dizziness, some vertigo and a pretty foggy brain. Then I got some nasty regular migraines 😵‍💫. But my meds worked (thank you Imitrex!!), I took a ton of naps, ate a whole pizza and watched a ton of TV so really I can’t complain too much. Having a chronic illness has deeply humbled me and being in therapy has helped me practice radical acceptance around my body and brain’s new little quirks.

One thing I did do was work in my garden a lot. Something about getting my hands into dirt after weeks tied to a computer screen is so healing! And the garden was pretty wild and messy after all of our travel, so I was able to prune, cut back, weed and stake so many plants and flowers. Plus a new trick I learned courtesy of the internet is to water my plants with water from my mini-pond (chock full of fertilizer!). Not only are my house plants flourishing but I successfully brought back quite a few almost-dead outdoor plants.

Also for everyone growing lacinto kale this season — I’ve never seen so much kale in my life 😅. Bushels and bushels, honestly. My neighbors have been getting lots of extras and I’ve been freezing the rest for hearty kale dishes in the winter.

Before I go — because my brain is still pretty soup-y — I thought I’d get a sense from all of you about your end of the year/holiday shopping interests and habits. This could just be me, but holiday sales, endless emails and non-stop promo makes me feel easily overwhelmed and not in the holiday spirit at all. It’s also hard for things to stand out, because it’s just a loud and noisy time, so even when I’m interested in buying something I usually forget what it was.

Anyway, as a person who both has to sell books to make money and as a consumer who likes to spend money, I was curious how you all are feeling since I think we’re about to get hit with one billion holiday ads sooner rather than later. 😵‍💫

There are no right answers to these polls — just curiosity as I start to do my own promo planning for the winter:

Something I missed? Reply to this email and let me know!

Thanks as always for being here. I hope you’re able to spend some time with the flowers this weekend.

xoxo

Kathryn

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