This will be a short one, dear readers, because it's been a busy month. But I do have a few things I want to share with you!

Mostly I've been busy in a good way: my day job has been keeping me occupied, including with a conference last week, and between that and the general state of the world, it hasn't left much time for writing. Early in April, I finished a round of revisions on the cozy fantasy novel and sent it off to a few readers for feedback. While that sits on the back burner, I'm working on revising some short stories.

So there's lots going on, but not much news to report. Which brings me to a request:

Share your feedback: What do you want to see here?

This newsletter has evolved a lot over time. It started out, when I was brand new to writing, as a channel for sharing updates when and if I had any. In the publishing world, that can be very uneven, with lots of news one month and then long gaps with little or none. So these days I'm sending out newsletters monthly-ish, with a wider range of content than just newsworthy updates.

I do like to stay in touch, to share what's going on in life and let you know I'm still plugging away. I try to keep it fun, useful, or thought-provoking. But we all get more than enough email, and I don't want to clutter up anyone's inbox with content they're not interested in.

So I put together this little 2-minute survey. Please take it and tell me what you'd like more (or less!) of in this newsletter. Feel free to share any thoughts you have!

Upcoming events

This Sunday, April 27, I'll be at the Day of the Book festival in Kensington, MD. I'm not speaking at this one, but I'll be selling and signing books at a table with my pal Andrew Hiller. If you're local, come on by and say hi!

Also this weekend (though something I'm personally doing), Saturday April 26 is Independent Bookstore Day. Here's a map of the 1,600 participating bookstores. If there's one near you, go support a local business and buy some books--better yet if they're by LGBTQ+ or BIPOC authors. 

No indie bookstores near you? Bookshop.org is a great way to support local bookstores instead of, say, one of the world's richest men when you buy books online.

Further out, I'll be back at Balticon in May! The program isn't finalized yet, but I expect to be on 4-ish panels and also signing books. I'll also be at Worldcon in Seattle this August, hopefully on a panel or two as well.

And finally, your monthly cat picture. I love both my cats equally, and try to give them both equal space here... but sometimes Ada just insists on hogging the spotlight. Here she is hamming it up for the camera, and demonstrating her disregard for the laws of physics.

Until next time,

Jo Miles