Summer Favorites

Hello, Friends!

Summer has landed hot, hotter, and hottest here in the south and I am finishing up next year’s novel titled THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA out May 9th, and I can’t wait to share it with you – as usual, you will be the first to hear about everything.

But meanwhile, yes, I’ve been thinking and wondering about the same hard things you have been worrying about, and yes, it feels like there aren’t any good answers out there, and yet there are good things everywhere if you look with an open heart.

Here are some of my favorites:

A Read Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle. A book that whisks you away and won’t return you until you’re finished. Then you’ll want to find a friend who read it so you can talk about it – that’s how immersive and wonderful it is! A Podcast Laura McKowen Tell Me Something True. I’d recommend one episode but then I’d change my mind because I’d choose another and then another. So suffice it to say – just the whole shebang. Music Our cat-herder, hot-mess-express wrangler and managing director at Friends and Fiction, Meg Walker, told me about the California Honeydrops and I can’t get enough. Favorite Instagram Post THIS IMAGE by @pamelaandedward is giving me everything I need right now to escape into my imagination. I feel like a thousand stories are hidden in this house. An Essay I don’t know how I missed it for all these years, but our recent guest Harlan Coben reposted an essay he wrote for the NYT years ago about his father. It is in the guise of fiction, but it is most definitely about his father and it will take your breath away. The Key to my Father. Feel Good Video It’s old. It’s Christmasey. It’s been out a while, but none of those facts are going to stop me from telling you to watch it now. I can’t stop watching it when I need a cheer. VIDEO Nature Just that – get outside even in the heat. Listen and look and be present. Breathe in and out. List what you see. You feel better already, right? Friends and Fiction: It’s true – they keep me (and so many of us going). So many good shows and podcasts recently I can’t even pick a favorite. FRIENDS and FICTION. A poem David Whyte reading Everything is Waiting for You. Over and over.

Next Up This summer, I’ll be traveling to England to bring you images from the settings of next year’s book, so make sure you’re following me on Instagram for all the goodies, insider stories, and hints about The Secret Book of Flora Lea! Already a few blurbs for the novel have come in from our favorite authors like Kristin Harmel, Fiona Davis and Janet Sesklien Charles! I am so grateful and thrilled. More about all of it sooooon. PCH News I had the most amazing time at the opening of the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum’s grand opening of the S. S. Pulaski (commonly referred to as “my ship”) artifacts and treasure. I was joined by shipwreck hunter, Micah Eldred and it was an absolute blast even if hot as Hades. Articles Events