In October of 2020, eight months pregnant, I watched a Halloween-ish movie nearly every night, often with my mom or aunts. My criteria was pretty simple: spooky but not too gory, bonus points for fun. We went through Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Winchester, and some others I’m forgetting. I remember thinking, I want to write a book with that sort of tone, mysterious and quirky. About six months later, baby Arthur in my lap, I started researching a new idea, and now here we are. THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE (@severnhouseimprint , April 2026) has a cover that so perfectly captures the book’s tone that it makes me giddy. #coverreveal #writerlife #bookstagram #mysteries
I am completely and utterly in love with the cover design for my forthcoming poetry collection A BUYER'S GUIDE TO THE AFTERLIFE. The painting is by John Burns, and I discovered it when @eross816 shared it on Twitter a few years ago. I remember thinking, if I'm lucky enough to get my new poetry book accepted for publication, I want that image as the cover. And now I'm feeling extra lucky. Thank you to Emily and @blacklawrencepress ! #poetry #poems #paintings
Arthur and I had a wonderful time at the Children’s Festival of Reading here in Knoxville! The bug booth was a hit, particularly the friendly Madagascar hissing cockroach. If you squint at the skeleton photo, you’ll see a sign explaining that all the insects in that display were collected from UT’s body farm. 💀
Arthur asked me to take a photo of Penny because “she’s looking very cute,” and this was the face she gave me. 😂 Bonus content: Penny and the peanut on the way somewhere I’ve forgotten + my mom’s good doggo.
I was today years old when I realized that the hardcover for THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE has @littleforestcat_ ’s gorgeous design on the jacket and actual cover. It’s so pretty! 💜💜💜
Monday's poem is about how difficult it can be to let go of an expectation/plan/dream in order to let something new and sometimes better grow. From my forthcoming collection A BUYER'S GUIDE TO THE AFTERLIFE @blacklawrencepress . Preorder link in bio.
I wrapped up my book tour for THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE (@severnhouseimprint ) at the pink bookshop in Panama City, aka @bookishboutiquellc . How lovely to meet so many readers and members of the local community. My high school English teacher even stopped by unexpectedly! It was fun to promote a Florida-based mystery in Florida. 💕☀️
Our last full day in Florida was all about beaches not books. What a lovely week of family fun and events for The Museum of Unusual Occurrence, though. When I’m not half-asleep, I’ll try to remember everything. 😂
I managed to take zero photos at the lovely book club this afternoon, but crab hunting at sunset was pretty photogenic. We found some sea snails, spotted a satellite, and crashed as soon as we got back. 😴
