My nudge word for 2025 was balance. It’s difficult for me to remember a year that’s been so divided between moments when, in a cold sweat, I’ve thought, “I have no idea what I’m doing” and those when, in tears and triumph, I’ve thought, “I absolutely know what I’m doing.”
Is that balance? Who can say! Let’s review.
Continue reading “2025 in Review”
FYI, the ebook of Bold Moves is on sale for the first time in North America. Until the end of August, you can get it for $2.49 at Amazon. It’s also available in KU, in paperback, and on audio, where it’s read wonderfully by Savannah Peachwood and Jeremy York. There’s a full list of buy links at Books2Read.
Additionally, the ebooks for Chick Magnet and Bad Reputation are both $1.99 this month, so it’s a great time to stock up on Emma Barry titles for cheap.
We are approaching a high point in the romancelandia calendar: Valentine’s Day. We usually celebrate it not with flowers and candy, but by rolling our eyes at terrible romance novel think pieces in the media. Except this year, I have something else in mind–at least for my newsletter subscribers.
In the fall, I asked what bonus story you wanted about the characters from Bad Reputation. I expected to hear the Cole and Maggie proposal or some glimpses into Tasha and Ryan’s love story. But literally everyone who emailed me asked for the same thing: more Libby Hansen. And y’all, I have so much to say about Libby. Approximately 15K words, in point of fact.
If you aren’t subscribed to my newsletter, fix that post haste (you can sign up here). And on Friday, I’ll pop into your inbox with a link where you can download Double Take, a novelette about what happens when the entertainment journalists from Bad Reputation, Libby and Jack, spend a week together in a holiday cottage in Inverness interviewing the Waverley cast.
I’ve had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope it’ll brighten your Valentine’s Day.
This is a difficult year to take stock of because outwardly, I tried to project a sunny confidence that I did not feel. I didn’t talk about the hardest moments online. Suffice it to say, I spent more time sitting with family members in hospital rooms in 2024 than I could’ve predicted. Everyone is better now, but it was immensely challenging–and that’s setting aside the state of the world.
My nudge word for the year was hungry, and I did in fact go for it, even when my instincts were screaming for me to diminish and go into the west. I was rewarded in some ways, and I fell short in others. All together, it was a gratifying year…and it was a trial. The best I can say is that I persisted, and so let’s review.
In 2024, I:
In terms of my 2023 goals, I didn’t write two books and finish a third: I wrote 1.3 books, plus some bonus material. All together, I’m north of 140K new words for the year. I suspect 140-160K in a year is my sweet spot these days. As I make goals moving forward, that’ll be my target.
Next year, I’d like to sign some new contracts and to write 1.5 books. I’d like to be chill about my 2025 release. I’d like to be on social media less, and I’d like to move and stretch more–intellectually, creatively, and physically. And I’d like to read more.
May 2025 be a year of growth and love for us all. xo
(I’ve been producing some version of this post for as long as I’ve been blogging my writing. You can read about my 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 respectively.)
As you probably know, Hurricane Helene barreled into Appalachia in late September, causing widespread devastation. I live in coastal Virginia, and we’ve traveled in the affected area many times. It’s a beautiful region of the country, and the images of bridges and towns being swept away in an instant was horrifying.
Wanting to do something to help, I donated to the Western North Carolina Indie Authors auction. The auction goes live TODAY and ends on October 20, so get browsing!
Up for grabs is a set of books from me. I’ll send the winner signed paperback copies of Chick Magnet, Funny Guy, and Bad Reputation immediately and then, as soon as I have them in hand, I’ll add an ARC of Bold Moves. Chick Magnet and Bold Moves are both set in small (fictional) towns in southwest Virginia, so it’s especially poignant for me to be able to offer those to the highest bidder in this auction.
Continue reading “A Charity Auction and a Zillion Guest Posts”
I’m so excited because, as of today, Bad Reputation is available in Kindle Unlimited, ebook, audio, and paperback! If you click here, you should be able to find the country-appropriate link for you, whether you want to borrow Bad Reputation from Kindle Unlimited, buy the ebook, grab a copy of the GORGEOUS paperback, or pick up the audio.
I do want to put in a special plug for the audiobook. I’ve been dealing with my anxiety about the release by listening to it the last few weeks, and Aaron Shedlock and Summer Morton are perfect as Cole and Maggie. It should be available to read and listen to in KU.
If you’ve already read Bad Reputation, or if you pick it up in the next few weeks (or months, or years), it would mean a lot to me if you’d consider rating or reviewing it, especially on Amazon, Audible, or Goodreads. Reviews help readers find books, and they also help readers avoid books they would loathe.
Continue reading “Happy Release Day, Bad Reputation”
Release day for Bad Reputation is ALMOST here, and I wanted to let you know about a free, virtual live event I’m doing with Fresh Fiction on Wednesday, Oct 2: their video bookclub! It’ll run from 7 p.m. CST until 9 p.m., and we’ll be chatting and playing some games, and then I’ll answer any questions that might come in from readers. You can register here, and I’d love to see you there.
ETA: while the Eventbrite may read Oct 3, I emailed the organizers and confirmed that the event will be on Wednesday, Oct 2. So the graphic is correct!
As a reminder, I’m also doing a free, virtual event on Oct 8 with The New Romantics bookstore and author Jennifer Snow (more info here!), and I’m signing at Novel Grounds in Chesapeake, VA, on Oct 12 (more info here!). The latter does require tickets, but it comes with a paperback of Bad Reputation.
Y’all, we are so close to Bad Reputation‘s release on October 1! I already mentioned the signing at Novel Grounds on October 12 in Chesapeake, Virginia, but if you’re not in the mid-Atlantic, that won’t work for you.
Oh, but I have you covered. I’m doing a virtual event with Jennifer Snow and The New Romantics, a romance bookstore in Orlando. (Digression: aren’t all the romance bookstores popping up the BEST? I love them all.) It’ll be on October 8 at 6 p.m. EST. Registration is required, but it’s free. You can get all the details and reserve your spot here. I would love, love, love to see you there.
So I have some cool news: Bad Reputation is an Amazon First Reads pick for September!
It’s available in North America only (I’m sorry!). What this means is that if you’re a Prime subscriber, you can grab the ebook for free: USian folks, click here; Canadian folks, click here; and Mexican folks, click here. If you don’t do Prime, you can buy the ebook for the discounted price of $1.99 using those same links. The price will go up to $3.99 on October 1; that’s when it’ll be available in KU and when the paperback and audiobook will drop.
And if you snag Bad Reputation now, you’ll be able to add the Whispersync audio for just $1.99 when it releases next month. Aaron Shedlock and Summer Morton read the audiobook, and they’re both so, so good.
If you do read Bad Reputation in any form, it would mean so much to me if you reviewed it. Reviews, especially early ones, help readers find books. The book’s Goodreads page is here.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be basking in my kinda sorta release day glow.
Like many elder Millennials, my first experience with sex on screen came during Top Gun—and no, I don’t mean the iconic beach volleyball scene. I’m referring to the 79 seconds in which Maverick and Charlie get it on to the strains of “Take My Breath Away.” The entire thing is shot in blue-toned silhouettes, with billowing curtains, perfectly manicured nails, and tongue choreography. While there’s not much nudity, for a movie with a PG rating, it made my eyes pop.
The scene is famous enough that last year, Screen Rant ran a piece by entertainment journalist Cathal Gunning exploring why it’s “so bad” and celebrating that Top Gun: Maverick isn’t burdened with anything as cringe. Why are you polluting my action movie with stuff that doesn’t belong: that’s the argument.
Opponents of on-screen sex don’t stop there. In a review of Magic Mike, critic Ross Douthat asked, “Is sex necessary?” To which I would reply, “Is anything in a movie or on television necessary? Channing Tatum didn’t have to make a trio of films about masculinity, capitalism, and the power of the transverse ab, Ross, he chose to.”
And more recently, reviews of the latest season of Bridgerton focus on the show’s salaciousness, labeling it “steamy” when they like it and bemoaning that it feels “familiar,” though with more “ripping and removal of bodices,” when they don’t. If sex is present, it seems hard for some viewers to see anything else.
Look, I am not saying that all media needs sex, and I’m certainly not saying that you, dear reader, have to consume or enjoy these depictions. But arguments such as these come out of a tradition of censorship and ignore that sex in the media can add to characterization and that even when it doesn’t, it can be beautiful, fun, and, yes, titillating. Sex is as cinematic a subject as any other, and it should be treated that way.
Continue reading “Banging on Screen Is Great, Actually”
Emma Barry 