Happy New Year friends!
Can we still say "Happy New Year" when we're more than two weeks in? I say yes. Let's keep busting it out for at least another few days:)
Launching into this new year feels a little different for me this January than previous ones. Wanna know why? I ACTUALLY TOOK TIME OFF THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!
(Check out those rainbow jams!)
Sorry. I don't mean to yell, but I'm feeling proud of myself. I took a solid three weeks out of the recording booth to focus on fun with my family and my own writing. We saw The Nutcracker. We wore Christmas Jammies (as evidenced above). We drank all the hot chocolate and watched all the movies. It was awesome. The free time also led to a whole lotta creative brainstorming for me and was the absolute best thing I could have done for my mind and future projects (More on what's coming up this year, below!)
But this doesn't mean 2022 didn't start out with a bit of a bang
Our house caught on fire this week.
We were SUPER lucky. I was chilling with our middle kid in the living room while the baby napped upstairs and the husband worked out in the garage. Our oldest was in school. I smelled something strange, popped my head into my recording studio and saw smoke pumping out of an outlet. There was a small electrical fire growing inside the wall.
I alerted the husband. He called 911. I woke the baby. We grabbed everyone's coats and got the hell out of the house to wait for the fire department.
(Firefighters to the rescue!)
Within minutes our street was totally blocked off by police cars and firetrucks. Not long after that, the fire was out and all was well - except for the toasted wires in our wall and the big ass hole the firemen needed to hack into our sheetrock. Again... SUPER lucky.
Once I knew all was going to be okay, I let my writer mind wander a bit while I watched the firefighters and police do their thing. There were fist bumps, smiles and slaps on the back for a job well done. I noticed that one fireman and one policewoman seemed especially happy to see each other, like it had been a while since they'd run into each other on job. I imagined what the story could be there. Then while my husband was chatting with one of our concerned neighbors, a fireman came up to talk to me and the kids. He was really sweet and reassuring. Here's the conversation I had with my husband about it afterward:
Me: Don't take this the wrong way, but I can totally see why so many romance authors write firefighter books! That guy hacked the shit out our wall, fixed the problem, then came out here, looked deep in my eyes, explained what went wrong, asked me if I was okay and if he could do anything else for me. It was pretty sexy!
This gave my husband a good laugh. Later that day he sees me in the bathroom putting on makeup.
Husband: Oh, look at you. Hoping the firefighters come back?
Me: <haha> Well I definitely wasn't looking my best! I won't let that happen again.
Husband: Nah, that fireman you liked actually said to me, "No wonder your house caught on fire... your wife is crazy HOT!"
What a jokester.
Note: the firemen actually DID come back later that day. It was our son's 7th birthday and my husband mentioned to them how he'd be disappointed that he missed all the excitement when he got home from school. So THEY CAME BACK! They wished our kid a happy birthday, turned on the sirens for him, let him check out the truck...
See what I mean? Sexy.
Alright, back to business! Like I said, I've been writing and plotting my buns off, so I have a bunch of projects hitting your eyes and earbuds between now and the summer. One special lady-dominated audio project will be announced in just a week and a half, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, want to hear a little about the one project I can spill the beans on....?
(These Walls can Talk 3 is coming in May '22!)
That's right! These Walls can Talk THREE is in the works! The cast is set to record in early April, the script is coming together and I couldn't more excited about it. This will likely be the last we hear from this crew of characters, so we're going all out! TWCT fans will be psyched to hear from their old friends again and... we have a very special narrator joining the team in a role I'm pretty sure you've never heard him play before.
I'll be dropping more info and sneak peeks here and in my Facebook Reader's Group, Erin Mallon's Feisty Fitzies these next few months, so get ready people!
Last bit of good news...
Remember before the holidays we announced a 10 paperback GIVEAWAY? Well, it's time to announce our winner! Congrats to...
SHILOH WOODARD!!
Shiloh, you'll get a personal email from me setting up your delivery! Thanks for spreading the word about my books!
And thanks to all of you for reading! I hope 2022 is treating you right so far. I'm excited to bring you lots of new stories this year!
As always, before you go, scroll down for this week's Author Spotlight. This week we're featuring my friend and fellow Rom Com author, Sarah Ready!
xoxo
Erin
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
SARAH READY
My friend Sarah Ready has a big release on January 25th! JOSH AND GEMMA MAKE A BABY is such a lovely (and funny) book, and... I got to narrate the audio! The audiobook is already out and getting great reviews, so take a listen if you like all the laughs and feels. And if you'd like to learn more about how awesome Sarah is, check out this Instagram Live interview we did together this month!
JOSH AND GEMMA MAKE A BABY
by Sarah Ready
New Year’s Resolution: Have a baby. Preferably with Josh Lewenthal.
Meet Gemma Jacobs. She’s driven, energetic, and a positive thinker. She has a great career working for famed self-help guru Ian Fortune, she lives in a cute studio apartment in Manhattan, and her family is supportive and loving (albeit a little kooky). Her life is perfect. Absolutely wonderful.
Except for one tiny little thing.
After a decade of disastrous relationships and an infertility diagnosis, Gemma doesn’t want a Mr. Right (or even a Mr. Right Now); she just wants a baby.
And all she needs is an egg, some sperm, and IVF.
So Gemma makes a New Year’s resolution: Have a baby.
Josh Lewenthal is a laid-back, relaxed, find-the-humor-in-life kind of guy. The polar opposite of Gemma. He’s also her brother’s best friend. For the past 20 years, Josh has attended every Jacobs’ family birthday, holiday, and event - he’s always around.
Gemma knows him. He’s nice (enough), he’s funny (ish), he’s healthy (she thinks), and he didn’t burn any ants with a magnifying glass as a kid. Which, in Gemma’s mind, makes him the perfect option for a sperm donor.
So Gemma wants to make a deal. An unemotional, businesslike arrangement. No commitments, just a baby.
To Gemma’s surprise, Josh agrees.
They have nothing in common, except their agreement to make a baby and their desire to keep things businesslike.
But the thing about baby-making…it’s hard to keep it businesslike, it’s nearly impossible to keep it unemotional, and it’s definitely impossible to keep your heart out of the mix. Because when you’re making a baby together, things have a way of starting to feel like you’re making other things, too - like a life, and a family, and love. And when the baby-making ends, you wish that everything else didn’t have to end, too.
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