Hey there happy reader!

I participated in my first ever promotion with my publisher, Vinci Books, and this is what happened…

My book, “The Beginnings of Us,” skyrocketed to number one in the most crowded category in the Amazon store! 

I could never have imagined this happening, and I owe it all to you, my most loyal readers! Thank you from the bottom of my heart – I can now claim the title of “Amazon Bestseller!”

It’s a pretty big deal. 

I truly have never been able to figure out the algorithm that Amazon uses – quite honestly, I don’t think anyone understands it! But having a book chart so high helps my visibility on the platform and makes Amazon take notice. For now, I’m doing a happy dance!

Happily, my next book, “From Below the Horizon,” is on my editor’s desk (praised be!) and I’m waiting for what I am sure will be one very long revision letter. 

That leaves me time to think about what to write next. I offered up two ideas last week in my newsletter and heard back from so many of you!

There was a clear winner…

I might just write about a mega-popstar who wants to get out of the fast lane, but the people surrounding her – her managers, her publicists, her tour coordinators – don’t want to lose their payday, so they try their best to keep her going on what feels like a never ending, worldwide tour.

When all else fails, she must turn to the only person she can trust, her childhood best friend… the one person in her life who she once betrayed. It’s a work-in-progress, so stay tuned!

For now, I’m trying to catch up on my TBR list. 

I’m currently reading “Yesteryear,” by Caro Claire Burke. It’s the story of a woman, Natalie, who is a social media influencer, living on a farm in Idaho with her picture-perfect family.

She portrays herself as someone who bakes her own bread and tills her own soil, but nothing could be further from the truth. Behind the scenes, she has nannies, assistants, and farm workers making her life look as realistic as possible. Then the unthinkable happens.

She goes to sleep one night and wakes up in the 1800’s, where each day is a challenge and she really does need to learn how to survive. It’s sarcastic and funny, but it’s also a commentary on being careful what you wish for. That’s what I love about reading. There’s nothing better than have an author make you think about all the “what ifs” in life!

Hey there happy reader,

I’m so happy to share a free promotion with you!

From April 15th-19th, the first book of my “Seasons of Us” series, “The Beginning of Us,” is free!

This is the first giveaway I’m doing as a Vinci author, and I’m excited to have this relaunch begin. 

This story will get you thinking about the summer ahead. It’s set in a small-town on Cape Cod and is filled with wonderful and quirky characters who will make you want to head up to Bluff’s Cove and spend a day on the beach!

I know that many of you have already read this book – it was originally titled, “June” and was the first book of my “Gypsy Moth Chronicles” series. It’s been renamed, given a new cover and is in the midst of a relaunch, all courtesy of my publisher!

If you know someone who might like a fun, breezy, beach read, please do this author a solid and share the link with them!

Now that I’ve completed “From Below the Horizon” (or at least am waiting for what I’m sure will be a long and detailed revision letter from my editor!) I’ve started thinking about my next project. 

I’m torn between two different thoughts…

One – I was fascinated with the documentary about Taylor Swift’s Era tour. I like her music but am not a crazy fan, yet the massive production behind those shows was very interesting to me. I am impressed with the thought she puts into every single detail of whatever she does.

As I watched Taylor step out of her limo, fully costumed, and climb into a black box that took her underneath the stage to the lift that would magically bring her in front of the audience, I was struck by an idea: what if she got in the box, but wasn’t there by the time it reached her destination? What if a mega superstar had reached her limit and wanted to get out of the limelight, but didn’t know quite how to do it?

That’s the idea I’m playing with now… a suspense novel about a missing megastar. You would believe that someone SO recognizable would be hard to hide. Or maybe it’s easier than you think!

The other direction I could go? I could work on a sequel to “Question Everything.” So many readers have asked what happens to the baby in the story. Does she know who her father is? Is she safe living up on Cape Cod – are the people who were looking for her gone for good? Does the paparazzi leave her alone? Does Maeve open her own bakery???

Which idea interests you?

Hey there happy reader!

I hope you’ve had a pleasant holiday week! I’m back from California and very happy to have survived the travel woes that have plagued the airports in the last few weeks. My time on the west coast was beautiful – every day was both sunny and warm. Spring is in full bloom there!

This time, we took a quick trip to Lake Arrowhead. 

The thing I find so interesting about Los Angeles is that you can take a ride out of the city for ninety minutes and be fully immersed in nature.

Of course, I never seem to learn to ask, “how long” when my older son says, “let’s go for a hike.” 

Seven miles uphill is his idea of a short, easy walk. It was a pretty view, but sheesh! I’m going to try and remember this in a few months when the entire family will be hitting the road for a vacation…

And now I’m home for a bit. 

I’m about to send “From Below the Horizon” to my editor (finally!) and I’m excited to hear what she thinks. Of course, it’s your opinion that matters most!

I still have some slots available for beta readers. If you’re interested, contact me at hilari.mpp@gmail.com and I’ll fill you in on the details.

Of course, I’m already thinking about what comes next. This will be a very different publishing experience now that I’m represented by Vinci books. I’m excited to see what their cover concept will be… as soon as I have it, I’ll post it here first!

The end of the journey I’ve been on for the last four (!) years with “From Below the Horizon” is bittersweet. 

I’ve lived with this story and these characters for a long time. The women of this book are meaningful to me; they are very much alive in my mind and probably will be for quite a while.

That’s how this process works… I create people who then take shape and become very real to me. I hear their conversations with one another; I am privy to their thoughts. They don’t just disappear for me on that last page. It takes some time to quiet my mind again.

But I already have the outline for my next book ready and its very different… more to come about that very soon!

For now, I plan to take a little break and enjoy the warmer weather ahead. I have a very long list of books I’d like to read, too. It will be nice to let another author tell me their story!

Hey there happy reader!

I’m here to wish you all a joyous holiday… whatever you celebrate!

I’m taking some time to be with my family – you know – cook, clean repeat! I’ll be back with more book news next week!

Hey there happy reader,

As I’ve mentioned many times in this newsletter, every six weeks or so I spend about ten days in Los Angeles visiting our son, daughter-in-law, and oldest grandson.

I do love it when I’m there – I enjoy being the one to pick up our grandson from pre-school at the end of his day and the wide smile he gives me on my arrival, lazy breakfasts with my family and fun dinners.

But getting there from New York? That’s become another story.

On a good day, it’s a bit of a hassle to get from point A to point B in the airport. 

New York’s JFK is big, and somehow my gate is always the furthest point from the security checkpoint. I get my steps in, that’s for sure. But at a time when a partial government shutdown has basically crippled an already fragile system, it’s chaos.

Without getting political, I think we can all agree that the TSA workers are being unfairly punished. 

I don’t have to travel, I choose to travel, but they are showing up for work every day without a paycheck at the end of the week. These people are not the 1%. They live paycheck to paycheck, and this is wholly unfair.

I’ve written to my senators and congressmen, letting them know that I believe that they can do better and come up with a solution to this mess. And let’s be honest. The politicians get paid whether they end this crisis or not…

All of this leads me to where I got the original idea for “From Below the Horizon.” (Stick with me. This TED Talk takes a minute!) 

My husband and I made a side trip to England in 2022, after our older son and daughter-in-law’s wedding in France. On a whim, we went to Stonehenge for the day. I was so taken by the female energy I felt there that the basis for the story was born.

I theorized that there was a chance that the population living on Salisbury Plain, the people who put the stones in place, were led by a group of strong women. No one knows the truth, because the history of that civilization has been erased. Without a written account (these events pre-date the Rosetta Stone or any other formal recorded language) we might never know, and that’s why fiction can make this so interesting.

A writer (like me) can imagine what might have happened and spin a story around whatever she thinks transpired.

But I’ve also been influenced by current events. In the last four years I have been increasingly disappointed by the people we’ve elected to run this country. The men in charge are doing a lousy job – in my opinion – and I think that if women were at the helm, we wouldn’t be in this mess! I mean, we outnumber the male population, we’re smarter (who organizes your household?) we’re tougher (do you think a man could birth a ten-pound baby?) and we would think twice before sending our sons into battle. So why do we let the patriarchy have its way with us? I’m over it!!!

So, in response, in my new novel, I’ve created a world ruled by smart women.

They know the threat that the men pose to their society and are determined not to allow the male population to dominate them. They find a way to live in a matriarchy, and when you read this book, I hope you’ll find them as interesting as I did.

Last August, The New York Times ran a feature piece about a group of women in Texas who decided to retire together. They formed a community called “The Bird’s Nest.” They built tiny houses, pooled their shared skills, and came up with a way to happily live out their lives surrounded by supportive and interesting women. Since women generally outlive their husbands, it’s a way to maintain companionship—with a side of mahjong, canasta, sewing circles, book talks, and communal meals.

Sounds like a little slice of heaven to me… what do you think?

Hey there happy reader!

My work-in-progress, “From Below the Horizon,” is in what I like to call the “slash and burn” phase.

This is when I go back over the entire manuscript with a fine-tooth comb before sending it to my editor (and having her double over in laughter at all my mistakes!) 

It’s not an easy part of the process. I have to ask myself what stays and what goes… it’s a little bit like moving from a house you’ve lived in for thirty years. You don’t want to pack up your kids’ trophies from middle school as you downsize – they have their own homes already and your garage needs to be clutter-free! But a big part of you has trouble letting go.

I liken this to the five stages of grief for writing.

You start with “umm… I have an idea.”

You move on to “let me just put it all on the page.”

Once that’s done, you check the manuscript for extraneous words or phrases, plus, you delete all those pesky adverbs.

Then it’s the “why did I write this novel and think it was important” stage.

Finally, you throw your hands up in the air and ship the whole bulky thing off to your editor for her to deal with your mess. It’s not easy…

Luckily, I have my writing gurus, the people I look to for help. 

(After all, Mr. Rodgers’ advice is always true. When you find trouble, he said, “look for the helpers.”)

Some of my helpers I know personally, like the four members of my writer’s group – we’ve been together for over thirty-five years. I’d trust them with my life. Then I have my newly formed Guatemala Girlies – the women I met a year ago at Joyce Maynard’s workshop. They are all accomplished, thoughtful and wonderful writers who are generous with their time and their enthusiasm.

Finally, I have two women who I don’t know, but I faithfully follow their writing advice – Anna Quindlen and Anne Lamott. Both have books on the craft that I refer to repeatedly. As a matter of fact, Anne Lamott’s new title was published this week! (And I just love that Anne calls her co-writer and partner her “current husband.” Hysterical!)

Once this manuscript leaves my hands and digitally appears in my editor’s inbox, I’m going to be looking for beta readers. 

If you are interested in an advance copy of this title in exchange for a careful read-thru and a future review left on Amazon, I’d be happy to add you to my growing list.

You can email me at hilari.mpp@gmail.com.

I would so appreciate your honest opinion…

And like those sweet flowers poking up through the dead leaves, I have hope that this book will be worth the wait. 

It took me four years from concept to completion… in that same time both of our sons were married and we became grandparents — twice! I wish I could say I was distracted, but the truth is that I’m just a slow writer, lol.

In the coming weeks I’ll tell you about why I wrote “From Below the Horizon.” It’s interesting that this historical novel got its start in current events…

Hey there happy reader!

Last week I was able to share the first cover of my newly renamed series, The Seasons of Us. Now, I can show you the rest…

I love them! I love the new series name – The Seasons of Us – as well. 

I think the combination of the bright colors, the very “now” portrayal of the main protagonists, and the interconnected titles truly represent the stories inside. I am hopeful that these books (formerly named “The Gypsy Moth Chronicles”) will appeal to a whole new set of readers who may have passed over them before.

Weigh in. What do you think of these covers and titles? I’d be interested to know!

This is a big release week for one of my most favorite romance novelists, Lucy Score.

The second book in her Story Lake series, “Mistakes Were Made” is out now. 

I loved the first of the series, “The Story of My Life,” which was about a romance novelist with writer’s block. (Just a little bit meta, right?) The thing about Lucy is that she writes with such joy and irreverence, and I love that for her.

Plus, when I was starting to work on The Seasons of Us series, I wrote to her and asked for advice. At that point in her career, she was a mildly successful indie writer. She took the time to write back with constructive ideas on how I could improve my marketing and broaden my audience, and she was right. Lucy Score went on to become a New York Times bestselling author, now published and partners with EL James, the founder of Bloom Books.

And, we all can acknowledge how EL James changed romance novels forever with her wildly successful “Fifty Shades” franchise. Lucy and EL together are quite the blockbuster team. I’ve already downloaded Lucy’s new title to my kindle – I will always support her books as she helped me on my path when I truly needed someone to outstretch a hand…

And as I head into the homestretch of my current work-in-progress, “From Below the Horizon,” I am starting to imagine what that cover might look like. 

There are elements in the book, aside from the obvious stone circle, that figure prominently in the story. Perhaps the most important is an amulet, worn by Maya (the first woman leader of the tribe on Salisbury Plain) passed on to her daughter Marah, and which then disappears for centuries, only to turn up during World War II in a most unexpected way…

Here’s a description of it from the story:

Maya was preparing to give her daughter all her jewelry. Some of the pieces had been passed down from her grandmother, others from women who’d lived centuries before her; precious stones inlaid within silver bracelets, disc-shaped earrings with intricate etchings in their center and an amulet of pure gold, a large amethyst in the center, all sitting on a heavy, beaded chain. These special ornaments marked her daughter as the royalty that she already was and were befitting of the leader she would become. Maya had worn this jewelry with pride; she hoped that Marah would do the same.

The jewelry in this novel is an important piece of my imaginings of the mystery of Stonehenge. I think that when history leaves us unanswered questions, it’s the job of a novelist to fill in the blanks. I hope that when you read this book, you’ll agree!

For today, spring is truly hinting that she’s about to make her grand entrance. If you can, take a walk outside. I did and it made me feel so hopeful to see small, green shoots peeking up beneath the last remnants of our snowy winter. Can the daffodils be far behind? Treat yourself to a bit of sunshine!

Hey there happy reader,

As you know, I am now represented by Vinci Books, a London-based publisher who is committed to putting my books out into a much larger world than I could have ever imagined doing by myself. When I signed on, they let me know that they would be changing the covers of all my titles, starting with “The Gypsy Moth Chronicles” series.

What I didn’t realize when this all began, was that they would test everything – the art, the titles, and the series name.

(Where it started)

They changed the art first and I loved the way they made the covers look like vintage postcards.

(Where it went next)

But they weren’t done researching the market, defining my readers and paying attention to the small details.

For example, the word “chronicles” confused the audience. It implies an historical novel, not a contemporary one. Plus, the image was too “old-fashioned” and not current enough to catch the attention of those we were trying to reach.

So…

(Where we are now)

A full re-boot! Not only did they design an entire new set of covers – the rest will be revealed next week – we worked together to rename both the series and the books.

Welcome to “The Seasons of Us” – a collection of five novels. I am very excited about all of this…

Of course, Vinci will let buyers know that these books have been renamed, so that if you bought the originals, you’ll know you’ve already read these stories. 

But to attract a whole new audience, I think this is the way to go. The cover art is very much in fitting with the trends in the contemporary romance marketplace and because this series is about a group of friends who become a family, I think the new titles make sense. I hope you’ll agree.

And, coincidentally, yellow is my all-time favorite color, so it feels like a good omen that the first cover is bathed in this happy shade.

All I can say is that I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I am so close to finally finishing “From Below the Horizon,” my Stonehenge saga. 

This book has taken me FOUR YEARS to complete, from initial concept to completed manuscript. I don’t know about you, but it feels like it’s taken over my life!

I dream about the characters, and I solved a plot mistake in my sleep. Seriously. I knew I had an unresolved plot hole, and I was wrestling with how to fix it when I shot up out of bed at four in the morning with the idea that solved the problem. Crazy, right?

Finally, I think this writing thing might have some strong genetic links! Our three-year-old grandson wrote his very first poem. His mom is a wonderful writer (the poem is reprinted from her Substack) and his Gigi dabbles a bit, lol!

Here it is:

But I don’t need to repeat it. Ever.

Hey there happy reader,

This is the winter that will go down in the record books as the most annoying of all time. Just when my lawn was starting to peek through the dense layer of ice that’s been there for almost a month, BOOM! A blizzard hit us, and it hit us hard!

We had two feet of snow drop on us over the course of twenty-four hours. 

The wind was incredible – at the far east end of Long Island, it was clocked at seventy-five mph! It was whistling around my house on Sunday night, and I feel so lucky that we didn’t lose any trees as some of my neighbors did.

And the worst isn’t over – it’s predicted that we get another round of snowfall today and tomorrow. Will it ever end?

The snow is beautiful if you don’t need to deal with it, but unfortunately, I do. 

I’m now watching every step I take when I’m walking outside, careful to look for black ice before moving from place to place. Parking lots are a mess! If you’re not cautious, you might find yourself upended on the asphalt!

There was one positive aspect of this natural disaster. 

I know I’ve mentioned before that I live behind an actual castle. During the storm, it looked like it was trapped in a snow globe, and even now, the setting is picturesque!

Speaking of castles, since I was stuck inside, I caught up on my latest obsession, “The Traitors.”

It takes place in a Scottish castle, and the incomparable Alan Cummings is the host. The aim is to not be “murdered” by one of the designated “traitors,” whose identities are kept secret from the other contestants. It’s an over-the-top experiment in trust… I can’t get enough of it (or of Alan’s fantastic clothing!) If you’re in the mood for high drama, I highly recommend this addicting and bingeable show!

Luckily, my husband was at home with me during this storm and I did a lot of cooking for us. 

It was nice to have the time to prepare a meal without rushing through it. Thankfully, I have a full set of Ina Garten’s cookbooks, so the sky was the limit. I made her yummy coq au vin, which was perfect for a cold, snowy night.

But now that we’re shoveled out, it’s time to get back to work. I’m days away from sending “From Below the Horizon” to my editor. That means it inches closer to being in your hands…

Hey there happy reader,

There are small, hopeful signs that spring is on the way! The snow is melting (just a little bit) as the daytime temperatures here in the northeast have risen above the freezing mark for a few days in a row. Training camp is open for professional baseball players and, most importantly, there are aisles of Easter candy in my local CVS.

It’s Peeps season!

With the weather improving a bit, I spent a day in Manhattan with some friends to celebrate one member of our group’s birthday. We went to the Neue Gallery, home of the very famous painting, the “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” by Gustav Klimt, otherwise known as “The Woman in Gold.”

Housed in a Beaux-Arts mansion, this painting was the subject of a film – it had been stolen by the Nazis during WWII and a descendant of the woman in the painting petitioned the Austrian government to have it returned to her family. After a protracted hearing, she won the prized portrait back and it now sits proudly on display in New York City for all to enjoy.

When you stand in front of this magnificent piece of art, you are immediately drawn in to this woman’s soulful eyes. 

Klimt mimicked her eyes in the pattern of her dress and maybe knew somehow that the world would be watching her for centuries to come.

The opulence of her diamond studded necklace could not protect Adele Block-Bauer from the meningitis that killed her in 1925. 

And unfortunately, the necklace was looted by Hermann Goring during the war – there are pictures of his wife wearing it. It has never been recovered.

When people ask me where my ideas come from, it’s stories like this one that inspire me. A diamond necklace, captured in a portrait, but lost in a war, never to be found? Was it buried in a safety deposit box and forgotten? Was it dismantled and sold in pieces? Does someone have it but not want to be identified as a relative of a war criminal?

Left alone long enough, I can pretty much come up with an entire story… suspense novel, anyone? I’m going to file this one away for future use!

What inspires you? A new recipe? A knitting or needlepoint project? There’s an inner artist in all of us – we just need to give ourselves permission to unleash our hidden talents!