Happy Halloween, everybody!
Like a lot of you, I'm sure, I'm worried and stressed leading up to this election. Last night as I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep, I found myself seeing a connection between the stories I write about the little town I've created (Galway, North Carolina) and the way I intend to vote:  In both cases, I am trying to build a world that would be warmer and more welcoming--to us all--than the world we actually have.
At some point in my schooling I learned about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which was like a pyramid of human needs, ranging from the most basic physiological needs (food, air, water, etc.) at the widest bottom part of the pyramid to "self-actualization" and "transcendence" at the very top. 
As I recall, the idea was that you had to have your most basic needs met before you could really concentrate on reaching for the higher-level needs. For example, if you're on the brink of starving to death, you're not in as good a position to be worried about safety (the next level up from the bottom) or belonging and love (the 3rd level up), much less to strive for self-actualization.
What does this have to do with worldbuilding and voting?
Well, I'll be voting for the people who are wanting to do things that help everyone meet their basic needs. The government can't provide love and belonging, but it can do a lot to make sure that people don't starve, that they have access to good medical care, that their water and their foods are safe to eat and their buildings safe to live in and their air safe to breathe.
That's the Democrats again in this election.
While the Republicans have been
* taking away women's rights to their own bodies, such that women are dying for lack of treatment
* disenfranchising people they believe are less likely to vote for them
* threatening a violent crackdown by police--and even use of the military--on US citizens and immigrants
* threatening to take away LGBTQ+ rights
* refusing to enact sensible gun regulations that would keep us all safer
* promising increased tariffs, which would raise costs for Americans
* threatening to cut Social Security and other social programs many of us depend on
* including the Affordable Care Act (specifically the portion that allows those of us with preexisting conditions access to health insurance),
the Democrats have instead been planning ways to help us. They want to lower drug prices, make housing and childcare more affordable, ensure that women CAN control their own health care decisions and that everyone who is eligible CAN vote and feed their children and publicly speak their minds on our leaders without fear of police or military violence. 
If you have read and liked my Galway books so far, it's probably because you like the vision of a world where people reach out and help each other... where we treat each other with respect and try to make sure we all have our basic needs met. 
I created that world because it's the one I'd want my child and all young people everywhere to grow up in. It's a warmer, friendlier, safer place...one where people can raise and feed and shelter their families and have a little energy left at the end of the day to reach for some of those higher-level needs.
So I'll be voting Democrat all the way down the ballot, because although none of the candidates is perfect or agrees with me on all issues (i.e. Gaza), they come a whole lot closer to sharing my ideas about worldbuilding than the GOP does.
Be safe out there, folks, and VOTE.

A few days ago I got an email update from Malaprops Books in Asheville, saying that they had finally been able to make contact with all their employees and to know that they're all okay after the flooding.

Today I got another update I'm pasting here because it contains links to local relief efforts, in case you would like to help and didn't know where/how to send aid:

October 2024 Update
A Note from Gretchen
Dear friends and family,

We are grateful to be able to reach out to you post-Helene. Physically, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe and Downtown Books & News weathered the storm mostly unscathed. Though we don’t have water, we both have power. Malaprop's lacks phones and internet. 

We are most grateful that our staff is all safe and accounted for, though many are without electricity and water. 

Until we have more resources downtown, both stores will remain closed. 

We are unable to process online orders at this moment, but if you want to still support us, go ahead and place your orders knowing it will be a good minute before they can be looked at (we are just simple humans). We will also contact folks with older orders as soon as we can communicate consistently.

If you are able to support folks in our region, here are some organizations to consider: Beloved Asheville, YMI Cultural Center & Partners, Red Cross of WNC, Community Foundation of WNC, World Central Kitchen, Manna Food Bank, and Buncombe County-Hurricane Helene Donations. Please also consider donating to BINC Foundation, which helps bookstore and comic shop employees and owners with unforeseen emergency financial, medical, and mental health service needs.

Finally, Western North Carolina is a strong community with amazing people. If you have stories to share of unexpected kindness or “magical” feats, we would love to pass them along.

You are in our thoughts and hearts,

Gretchen

...goes out to all the people affected by Hurricane Helene.
The unprecedented loss of life and destruction in areas where folks had never before had to worry about hurricanes is shocking and horrifying. Because so many of these areas are rural and mountainous and are cut off by roads that have been blocked or damaged or swept away, and because of widespread cell and electrical outages, we don't even know yet, all these days later, how many people are dead or missing. Reports from survivors and rescue workers on the ground suggest that those numbers may end up being way higher than the 140 I last heard.
I've checked in with friends and family in Florida, both Carolinas, and Tennessee, and found to my great relief that they seem to be okay--at least physically--even though many of them had terrifying experiences and sustained significant losses and will be dealing with the storm's aftermath for some time to come.
Multiple people have pointed out to me that if my fictional world of Galway, NC were real, it would have been swept away like some of the communities we're learning about now. I know that if they were real and able, my characters would step up to help each other and everyone around them.
I pray that the very real people suffering now find the same level of love and support. I've heard of many organizations and donor opportunities but haven't vetted them yet. If and when I find some I feel confident about, I'll share that info here or on social media.
If you or your loved ones have been affected by Helene, my thoughts are with you.

Welp, "What She's Having" has been out nearly a month. I celebrated the day by going out to lunch with my son and visiting Tropes & Trifles bookshop in Minneapolis. Some of my favorite people are there and I always leave with good books! Now I'm looking ahead to when "Hard to Get" (book 3, Andi's story) comes out in March. Between now and then, though, a couple of fun things:

1) On Wednesday 9/25/2024 (6 pm CT) I'll be doing a Zoom interview with Heather Brown, the director of the Women's Center at St. Cloud State University. We'll be talking about Fat Romance. She sent me a list of possible questions and they're great ones and we will have our work cut out for us to cover them all. Meanwhile, in preparation for the event, I have been putting out feelers on social media and in my groups to get people's favorite recommendations for romance novels in which at least one main character is fat. If you'd like to suggest some--or if you're interested in attending the event--check out my Instagram or Facebook author page for more info.

2) In October--6 pm CT on 10/17/2024, if all goes as planned--I'll get to join the wonderful romance book club from The Bookstore at Fitger's. This too will be a virtual event, which I prefer, but now I know what I'm missing, having visited Fitger's Inn in Duluth in person in August and having a lovely time there. Oh well; I'll just have to visit Duluth again in the future!

Suzanne Brockmann and the people of the Fated Mates podcast have me almost convinced to join them for phone-banking for the upcoming elections. I care deeply about the issues and the future and, therefore, all the races, but I'm DEEPLY introverted and DO NOT LIKE talking on the phone. The idea of cold-calling people nearly makes me nauseous. So it's been a hard sell...but I'm almost there, god help me. You can join them [me?] too! Today's Fated Mates podcast (the beginning) tells you about some different ways you can help.

How's your fall shaping up? Were you ready for summer to end? Are you well-stocked with good books? I am currently reading Anita Farleigh Unpacks by Laurie Woodford (just read a chapter about a nightmarish-but-hilarious first-and-only-date) as well as a couple of other books. I'm looking forward to the publication of Julie Anne Long's next historical romance in her Palace of Rogues series; JAL is a must-read for me. Her writing is exquisite and she always makes me laugh and, usually, cry. 

I hope you have something to look forward to as well! 

It's a partly sunny Sunday afternoon as I write this. Air quality in the Twin Cities is not great today, thanks to the wildfires elsewhere whose widespread effects seem to be a permanent feature of life now.

You can maybe tell I'm in an odd mood, thinking about all kinds of things, trying not to be either too gloomy or too excited about stuff in the news or in life around me.

"What She's Having" comes out this Tuesday (Aug. 20th), and of the 3 books I've submitted so far for the Galway series, this one is probably closest to my heart, probably because of the character Joe (July's love interest). Not only was Joe inspired by two lovely guys I've actually known in real life, but he also embodies pretty much everything I'd want in an ideal partner for me. He's good-hearted, kind, steady, loyal, loving, passionate, bright, funny, capable, playful, sexy... Mmm.

And whenever I compare him to people I actually tried to partner with at various times in my life, I find myself laughing and thinking, "Damn, I could have used some more guidance on this from a young age!" Not that I wanted my parents to butt in, or that I would have listened if they had tried, but... I think a few conversations about relationships and what to expect and how to evaluate them and what to think about in choosing someone who'll be a good match  might have worked wonders.

But my family didn't talk much about serious or emotional stuff, and although I was a whiz at book learning, I might as well have stepped off a spaceship when it came to understanding social life. I'm sure I was more than a little weird (and that it would be more accurate for me to say "am" instead of "was"!).

So when I write a love story, I have to really think through every interaction and reaction for my characters. It's important to me that they seem like real people--people who are likeable, people my readers and I can root for--which means that they don't always know what they're doing, or how best to do it, or even what they want. Sometimes they're fooling themselves, so you can bet they also misunderstand other people. 

I'll never make a misunderstanding the entire or only conflict in a story; that's not enough to keep people apart long enough for a relationship to grow in interesting ways. But at the same time, people misunderstand each other in real life all the time. They fear rejection, and they keep secrets, and sometimes they tell only partial truths. And my characters do too, because I want them to be as real to readers as they are to me.

You know how even the people you love the most in life can be really frustrating, because they can't seem to see what's crystal clear to you as far as what they should do and who they should (and should not) be with? Well, that's how my characters are: sometimes frustrating. 

But because I love them despite their imperfections, I'll make sure they always get their HEA.

Even if I make them crawl through hell to reach it.
​
Anyway. "What She's Having" comes out Tuesday. I hope you get your hands on it and I hope you love it.
Thanks for reading!

Okay, three. Three fun updates.
1) Book 2 of my Galway Series, "What She's Having," comes out exactly ONE MONTH from today! Yippeeee! You can preorder now. It's also a great time to catch up on book 1--"Curves for Days"--if you haven't already read it;
2) The cover for book 3, "Hard to Get," is already appearing online, so let me just do a not-very dramatic cover reveal here... (instead of swiping to see the reveal, scroll down);
and 3)  The winners of my "Name a Character" entries in the Romancing the Vote 2024 auction are Kim Shore and Petra Stephens (via Jana Meyer). YAYYYYY! I'm already plotting how and where to work them into my works-in-progress.
Okay, drumroll for the cover reveal....
scroll....
scroll....
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[Image descriptions: 
Smaller image at top: Against a brown paper background the teal-and-cherry-pie cover of the novel "What She's Having" by Laura Moher, beside another book, purplish, which is peeping out from behind a torn navy blue paper wrapping. Caption above WSH says "Coming in 1 month." Caption above 2nd book says "Coming in March."
Larger image at bottom: Same basic image as image 1, but with the paper wrapping removed to show the purple-and-ivy-vine cover of the 2nd book, which is entitled "Hard to Get," also by Laura Moher. The image 1 captions are replaced with a single word "Yippee!" and white fireworks graphic.]

It's been a not-real-hot, very rainy summer so far in the Twin Cities. That means I try to take advantage of sunny days by going somewhere pretty. Two things I'm looking forward to in the second part of this summer: a trip to Duluth (my first!) with my son, and the release of book 2 ("What She's Having," Joe & July's story) in my Galway series. I expect Duluth to be beautiful, right there on the lake in warm weather, Fitger's Inn and its bookstore and patio dining right there... We're going to have a great time.

This week's quiet for me, but last week something very cool was going on: Romancing the Vote 2024, a silent auction with lots of additional "buy now" items for readers and writers and lovers of arts & crafts and fun household stuff. To raise money to get out the vote in November, a bunch of romance writers (led this year by Courtney Milan and Kit Rocha) and friends organized this event and donated items. 

I participated in two previous similar events, but this year was my first time participating as a published author with something to donate! Soon I should get official word telling me who the two winners were for my donations (Name a Character in a Laura Moher work in progress). I've already heard through back channels that one of my friends won one of them and wants to name a character after a mutual friend of ours who is a LOVELY person who devoted her adult life and career to serving survivors of domestic violence. I will be VERY proud and happy to recognize her (lookin' at you, Petra!) in this way.  

I ALSO received word through back channels that another friend had the winning bid on an offer of character art, and that she's giving it to me! I've always admired (and, okay, been envious of) authors who have had that done. So as you might imagine, I'm really excited and touched about this lovely gift in the name of a good cause too (lookin' at you, Beth!).

​Stay safe and have a lovely July, y'all.