Tra la! it’s May! The lusty month of may! That lovely month when ev'ryone goes blissfully astray. Tra la! It's here! That shocking time of year when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear!
Apparently, it’s not a hot take that Camelot the musical is a lil boring and Sorokin flopped on his rewrite. I was so bored when I saw it. Jordan Donica is a whole king, though. Also Philippa Soo is damn gorgeous.
This isn’t the point of the newsletter, but you had to know.
A little while ago, I had my friend read my cards to figure out why I’m having so much trouble with #LOU4.
It’s not clicking the way I want it to. A couple of months ago, I was totally humming along, and then the faucet just stopped.
I ended up doing my taxes so I wouldn’t have to write. So, this seemed like a case for the cards to figure out.
I don’t know if I believe in tarot, per se. But I will admit that I don’t know everything, you know? Maybe the cards have it figured out.
I do a lot of things that basically amounts to puzzles. I do word puzzles (I hate you, NYT connections), I have solved exactly one (1) murder with Hunt a Killer, I do no have the space for jigsaw puzzles, but I would do those too IF I DID!
I like to try to make sense of things. I like to put things in their places. Sewing is like that. You cut out a bunch of flat pieces and pin and stitch and iron until it’s a garment. And, I would say that writing, writing MYSTERIES, is a puzzle.
I think I’ve always been like that. Maybe I’ll call my mom and ask if I was a child trying to make sure everything made sense. I also like to see how things work. I could have been an amazing engineer if I could do math.
The puzzle is sometimes easier if you make them up, though, honestly. It can be hard to really focus on the major details, and not get swept away in every detail you think maybe be AMAZING. Because then you have seventeen murders and eighty suspects and nothing concrete.
So, the cards were like “girl, you know what you’re doing. You’re just stuck.”
and I was like, “okay?”
they were like, “yeah, you really gotta focus, though, ya know?”
It was then I decided that the cards were being mean to me, but they were right. I had to essentially start almost all the way over on LOU4. In February, I felt like I was humming along (and that’s called writing a song), and it’s funny how that can change so quickly. But you go down one avenue, and you think you’ve got it, and then you hit a block and it’s like “oh, so, what do I do now?”
I always try to set myself up. I know who. I know where. I know when. I know why. I know how.
But putting all those pieces together in a way that Lou (and you!) can follow it is sometimes hard.
(Should that be a choose-your-own adventure graphic novel? Lou & You? Solve a murder with Lou? Kiss some girls with Lou?)
(I always wonder if you can tell when I write these at night. I think it’s clear.)
(I’m writing this one at night.)
So the cards were like, “Bestie. you can do this. You didn’t have to come to us for that.”
It’s nice to know the cards believe in me. The cards know I’m stuck, but they foresee movement and progress. And I think that in the grand scheme of things I’m finally making progress. Thank you, cards.
Are most things puzzles?
No.
Mysteries are puzzles. It’s weird writing them because what I think works, what i think is genius does not work for you. And that’s totally fine, please do not email or dm me or write me to tell me that it doesn’t work for you.
I always have to stay true to Lou and what I’m writing.
And keeping that in mind is the way to go forward.
I am once again begging you to:
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