We celebrated the end of summer this long weekend by visiting a beautiful beach nearby, off of manmade Jetty Island.

I also celebrated by getting some MUCH NEEDED rest, and completing the revision of a woman-made YA horror novel called Monsters Can’t Love.

In this dark and twisted Golem retelling (with a few other morbid Jewish fairy tales thrown into the mix), set in a fictional town on the Jersey Shore, a certain teenage-presenting Golem creature named Victor Stein breaks the rules and falls in love. And he expects his cheek to go unpunished? His maker Via Stone doesn’t think so.

The story explores gender roles, societal expectations, beauty ideals and moral gray areas. I loved that book before, and I think it’s even more special now. (And now that I am done with that, I can focus on my first draft — it felt so good to dedicate my whole morning to it today, aaaah!)

Next month I’m going to a conference to pitch Monsters, at which time, a new agent query season will start up again for me. Can this be it this time, friends?

Wish me LUCK. Send me AWESOME VIBES. Your best thoughts. All that goodness!

Hope your (almost) fall is off to a beautiful start!

Love,

Katia