I feel like I should say "Happy New Year" again, as the Chinese New Year began on January 23, and it's the Year of the Dragon! I'm a Wood Dragon so that's exciting! Plus, it means my baby will be a Water Dragon. Very cool! The baby is due in June, but my latest writing baby is due sooner than that! Yes, I'm still working on my next women's fiction book for William Morrow now called The Truth About Love and Lightning. It will be out in early 2013 instead of this fall. That means I'll have time to be a new mom before I have to go into promotion mode again. Nice!
Other good news to share: the Ladue News has named me to their annual list of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic People of the Year," and I'm in the company of nine very talented and generous folks! Pretty exciting! If you're in town, you can pick up the January 27 issue now, or you can view the interview online. I was also featured in the January 18 issue of Town & Style Magazine in their "Get to Know" profile. You can view that piece here (I'm on page 24).
As for events, I've already lined up some very fun gigs for spring: on March 15, I'll be at the Schlafly Branch of the St. Louis Public Library with debut author Ashley Ream; on April 12, I'm giving a workshop on women's fiction at the Missouri Writers' Guild's annual conference in Chesterfield; on April 26, I'll speak and sign at the Maplewood Public Library; and on May 5, I'm the featured speaker at the Kansas City affiliate for Susan G. Komen for the Cure's fabulous annual Pink Promise Brunch! For more information on any and all of these events, click here.
Now for the winner of my Happy New Year Contest! Congratulations to the lovely Sherry M. of Alabama! Sherry won the $50 gift card at Main Street Books in St. Charles, MO; signed copies of Little Black Dress and The Cougar Club; and a copy of my buddy Marilyn Brant's latest novel, A Summer in Europe. If you're a newsletter subscriber, you'll be the first to learn about the next contest, which I'm dreaming up this very minute! So be on the lookout!
I actually reviewed A Summer in Europe—as well as Physical Education by Maggie Barbieri and Proof of Heaven by Mary Hackett—when I visited "Great Day St. Louis" on December 15. You can watch that segment here.
FYI, The Truth About Love and Lightning is the tale of a woman named Gretchen who grew up with a mother willing only to tell the brutal truth. After seeing her mother's bluntness drive away those closest to her—including Gretchen's father—Gretchen decides it's far better to couch the truth in little white lies. Only she ends up telling a whopper that will come back to haunt her when her daughter arrives home pregnant and a tornado drops a man from her past back into her life.
Please visit me anytime at Susan McBride Books, Facebook, the Stiletto Gang, and the Girlfriends Book Club! Can't wait to share more exciting news with you soon! Stay tuned! And have a very happy and healthy New Year.
