The Quiet Work
On slow months, soft creative seasons, and the fourth trimester of a novel
The Part of the Process No One Sees
November always feels like a pause button. That in-between space after the bright welcome of fall, but before December turns everything sparkly again. The trees outside the window are bare now, no more rush of autumn joy, and there’s this subtle quiet that settles over everything. It’s the kind of quiet that looks like nothing is happening.
Even my Instagram posts have lost their pizzazz. Sure, I had that one nice headshot post (shout out, Karen Ma Photography!) but considering the impressions I was pulling in October, it honestly feels like a drop in the bucket.
Here’s a sample, for posterity:
Sometimes there’s a distinct feeling that I’m somehow losing momentum by not being able to keep up with daily posts or draw in tons of interactions, but I’ve learned that part of this whole process—the writing, publishing, marketing process—is that a lot of it is busiest beneath the surface. Kudos to anyone who can pull up Canva and whip up a social media masterpiece 7 days a week. But between writing, tending to my family, working a full-time job, and running a whole household with hockey, soccer, dance, swimming, and volleyball schedules all intersecting, I have to be okay with what I’m able to produce and how and when.
And I am! Sort of. Sometimes.
But back to November—November has been about writing. That behind the scenes heavy lifting that you don’t get a lot of “likes” for, but that is part of the building blocks for this whole process.
People often imagine writing as fingers tapping keys, word after word after word. But so much of it happens elsewhere—in the walks where a sentence untangles, in the long showers where a character finally says what they mean, in the driving to and from hockey practices when you’re completely disassociating as Christmas tunes play on the radio and an idea rises anyway.
Anyway, the point is slow months—in social media, in online presence—they don’t stall the work. Slow months are the work.
Creative Hibernation
This November wasn’t about racing toward a word count (NaNoWriMo PTSD, anyone??) it was about sinking into my developmental edits, that deeply absorbing (and heavy lifting) stage where the story finally begins to resemble the book it was always meant to be.
Developmental edits are such a funny creature. On the outside, it looks like I’m staring at the same pages I’ve been staring at for months (which, not NOT true). But inside, it’s a whole different kind of momentum: back-and-forth conversations with my editor, notes that open little trapdoors in my brain, realizations that click into place three days after I think I’m done. It’s quiet, and sometimes slow, but it’s still those tiny steps that take you to the finished product.
This month, that meant taking some of my editor, Sarah’s, notes and writing a brand-new chapter that—if I’m being honest—was totally necessary to the overall story. It meant strengthening motivations, deepening those emotional beats, and connecting all the little loose tethers that brought the story together.
And then, finally, after all that work, I get to see an email like this:
Gratitude as a Creative Tool
Some of you may already know this, but I’m Canadian. We celebrated our Thanksgiving AGES ago. Months! (okay, early October). My Christmas tree has been up for WEEKS already (okay, a week)
With that said, I’ve still been thinking a lot about gratitude this month. Maybe not the performative, list-making kind, but the softer version. The one that feels like second nature, a “stop and smell the roses” kind of appreciation of the day to day world around you.
When I look at life through that lens, it also helps me to see the pieces of my writing life that matter most: the readers who’ve joined me here, the unfolding journey of The Matchmaker’s Cottage, the privilege of bringing these characters to the page at all.
Gratitude sharpens the view. It makes it easier to see the forest for the trees, so to speak—the “why” behind it all. (And trust me, there have been many times I’ve mentally wailed “Whyyyyyy” into the void). My closest family and friends will attest to me being more stressed than outwardly grateful, so that’s why it’s important for me to take a step back sometimes and realize just how lucky I am and how far I’ve come.
And tell the stress to shove it.
Behind the Scenes: Book Update
A little peek at what’s been happening on the book front this month:
As evidenced by my lovely editor’s email, I’m officially DONE my final developmental edits for The Matchmaker’s Cottage. With that said, it still doesn’t feel like a fully formed product yet, ready to greet the world. I’ve decided to call this era my “fourth trimester” of writing—a strangely tender stage where the book is technically finished, but it still needs me to smooth its edges, sharpen emotional beats, and rework anything that doesn’t hit quite right. It’s less about reshaping now and more about polishing. Hopefully soon I’ll feel like I’m finally done (do we ever?) but that day isn’t today.
Sigh, my friends. It’s still surreal to be here. For so long this story existed only in a messy Google Doc and in my own head, and now it’s becoming the thing it was always meant to be. A real book. A story with a spine, a cover, and—soon!—a place in the world.
And thank you again for the incredible love on the cover reveal. Seeing the art out in the world felt like the deepest breath of fresh air. I’m still so moved by every comment, message, and share. I truly cannot wait for you to hold this book next summer!
And because we’re in that exciting pre-publication stretch:
Preorders!
If you’d like to order a copy and haven’t yet—or you know someone who might love a cozy, emotional, small-town second-chance romance—you can find links here:
👉 Penguin Random House US
👉 Penguin Random House CA
You can also help enormously by adding The Matchmaker’s Cottage to your Goodreads shelves:
👉 Join 447 of my new best friends
Little actions like preorders and Goodreads adds make a huge difference and I’m SO grateful for every single one!
For now, I’ll be spending most of December waiting for copy edits and quietly revising (nitpicking) to make sure Julia and Ethan’s story is at its best.
Until Next Time
Thank you, truly, for being here—for reading, for following along, for letting me share the quieter parts of the process. Next month will probably be even slower as everyone winds down for the holidays, but honestly? That’s okay.
‘Til then. 🤍