The Milestone Issue
Thinging All The Things In 12 Months
Always Choose The Whirlwind Ride
Facing Exciting Milestones, Fears and Unknowns
Has there ever been a time in your life that has tossed every emotion at you? A week, a month? For this author, it’s been a year full of highs and lows, twists and turns, new and exciting and sometimes scary experiences. There is so much to share, and if I tried, this would end up being a two-or three-series of newsletters (no promises it won’t). Those of you who have been following from the start know about my brevity disability, so in the interest of succinctness, the following sums up the highlights and milestones of 2025:
The Debut Book Launch! 📕🚀 Not Yours to Keep went out into the world. Super scary? Absolutely. But you all received her with warm enthusiasm and (mostly) positive reviews. Thank you for making me call myself a successful debut author! Still pinching myself.
Podcast Roadshow🎙️Turns out I love being a guest on podcasts—mainly because they are always inspiring and no one can see my palms sweating 😜 It was hard to pick just two favorites to highlight— but keeping it brief, remember?
With Michelle Glogovac 🥰
Book Signings & Author Talks 📕✍️ From Shakespeare in NYC, to Barnes & Noble Pennsylvania, Maxima Book Center in Massachusetts (and more in-between), book signings and talks are ridiculously fun. Meeting readers face-to-face? Even better! This newsletter wasn’t supposed to be drip with gratitude, but you guys…🥰
Book Clubs Have My Heart ♥️ In-person, and virtually, you bring the best energy! I’ve met amazing, perceptive readers and there is never a shortage of lively discussions, laughter, and warmth. (Don’t asking me why I’m forcing myself to pick only three favs)
HOLY CRAP—Awards 😲🏆 Not Yours to Keep received an astonishing 20+ awards and honors. Shocked me more than you! Humbled and in disbelief!
Planes, Trains & Automobiles ✈️🚊🚗 🧳 Packed my bags and traveled to a slew of places. Here’s a few: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Boston, Rhode Island, Nashville, New Orleans, California and Ireland.
Conferences and Panels 🎤 Not only did I make it to wish-list conferences like Thrillerfest, Killer Nashville, and Bouchercon, but I had the best time as a panelist! Rumor has it I was even sounded coherent!
Public Speaking—BIG Phobia! Big! Remember the giant fear I confessed over the summer and you all cheered me on? Yeah. I cannonballed right into that 45-minute presentation. The audience was wonderful. I’m proud to say I lived through it—this time! I’ll be sharing more on how that went soon.
No fear here...🫣 Writing Book #2 👩💻 When I wasn’t touring, podcasting, marketing, or pretending to be an extrovert, I stole time—writing, deleting, and digging out of plot holes to complete my next manuscript.
https://giphy.com
Big News for 2026 🤩 My next book, ONE OF US MUST DIE, is coming October 2026! Readers at the 2025 Boston Book Festival got an early peek at the potential cover (spoiler: rave reviews). You’ll get the official reveal and story details soon!
And Now For Something Completely Serious…
When a reality star is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm
News about Kim Kardashian’s unruptured brain aneurysm has made headlines recently. I know all too well what it’s like to be told you have a grenade in your head and maybe it will explode, maybe it won’t. Just like Kim, I went for an MRI for something unrelated, and found out I had a small aneurysm. Just like Kim, I was told it had to be watched. When it grew, I thankfully had successful surgery to fix it. That was seven years ago this past October.
For those of you just joining us, you can read details of my diagnosis and my aneurysm story in the Snarkastic archives.
Had I not had the surgery when I did, the aneurysm would almost certainly have ruptured, with a high probability of a fatal outcome. It would have been nice if I’d walked away from the surgery with nothing else to worry about. But they left me with a party favor—a tiny second aneurysm, too small to fix. It sounds similar to what I believe Kim is describing.
An aneurysm is a weakness in the wall of an artery that expands out as blood pushes into it. Like over-filling a real balloon, it can only stretch so far without bursting. Women 35-60, smokers, drinkers, people with high blood pressure or a family history of aneurysms are more at risk for developing one. So, I’m not totally buying Kim Kardashian’s claim that her ex-husband gave her the aneurysm.
If she can find medical and legal justification to prove it, I’ll be the first to jump on the blame-the-ex train with her.
Now, I’m not a doctor; I don’t even play one on T.V., but my theory is that her artery walls were already weakening. The stress of divorce likely and understandably raised her blood pressure. That would have enlarged the bulge, i.e. aneurysm, that developed. As someone with a brain aneurysm, I can tell you we don’t want to do anything that rushes blood into the head. Think of all the things we do that give us ‘constipation face.’ Anything that results in that strained-red-in-the-face look. You know exactly what I’m talking about—like lifting too much weight over your head during a workout, or trying to open a very stubborn jar. Doing them doesn’t mean you’ll end up with an aneurysm. But if you’re already prone to one, they could be dangerous. Unfortunately, without standardized universal testing like mammograms, no one knows if they are at risk or not.
Here’s a link to an Instagram video shared by the Brain Aneurysm Foundation that I liked, not just because it supported my theory about Kim’s brain aneurysm, but because it explains what they are in a clear and understandable way.
Last Licks
Strudel the Doodle turned 9! Life threw us a whirlwind of curveballs, chaos, and joy—and we had to miss her birthday! 💔
Help us make it up to her with some love in the comments.🐶 🎉
It's already been a year?! Where does the time go?! Can't wait for your next book!
Congrats and excited to hear about your new book, Zelly!