Hello! How are you?

Dear Friends,

Wow, it has been a while! Come on over here and let me pinch your cheeks and tell you how much you've grown!

I know I haven't been in touch for a few months, and let me explain why: I'm always trying to find the right balance between updating you on interesting events in publishing and my new book releases, while not bombarding you with too many messages. Because between those incessant calls from "Rachel from Card Services" (do you guys get those too? If not, count yourselves among the luckiest people on the planet) and all the politicians who suddenly seem to have my home number on speed dial, and emails from organizations I've never heard of but who want me to sign up for their amazing and limited time offers, I know what it's like to be bombarded. Sometimes I'm like, "Can I please just sit here and read Perez Hilton in peace, Rachel from Card Services? And oh, Rachel from Card Services, have you seen those shirtless pictures of Channing Tatum and his abs?"

But lots has been going on behind the scenes. I'm in the midst of writing my fifth novel, which of course doesn't have a title, since I'm horrible at coming up with titles. So we're calling it "Book Five," which reminds me a bit of George Foreman naming all five of his children George Foreman, Jr., which effortlessly trumps Apple Paltrow in the weird celebrity naming category ("I'll take Prince 'Blanket' Jackson for $1,000, Alec.")

I'm also getting ready for the Nov. 27 release of my new novella, titled "Beginning Again," which tells the story of a woman named Corrine Brown who flies to her hometown to attend her little sister's wedding - while dealing with her own very recent, very painful divorce. If the sisters' names sound familiar, you might recognize them from my previous short stories "All Is Bright" and "Love, Accidentally" - this new ebook is a continuation of those tales. If you haven't read the previous stories, don't worry. It isn't necessary to know their history to read this novella.

I hope you'll consider downloading "Beginning Again," because it's a pretty good deal - it's just 99 cents, and it's a nice lengthy read, about 1/5 as long as a traditional novel. Plus, there's a good chunk of my next upcoming book attached at the end. If you don't have an ereader, you can still download books easily onto your computer. Shoot me an email at sarah@sarahpekkanen.com and I'll walk you through it.

Let's see, what else? My copy editor saved me from a completely humiliating mistake in the latest book I turned in: I had a character covering her hand with her mouth. It's physically impossible - trust me, I've tried, and my efforts weren't something I'd ever want to see turn up on Youtube.

Okay, time to get back to writing the book. But I just want to thank you all so much for taking the time to read this (Wait your turn, Rachel from Card Services! They're busy with me now!) and for reading my books and short stories. I'm thrilled to say my novels are now being published in 10 countries - China, Russia, Poland and Italy among them - and I'll be writing a book a year, under contract with Atria/Simon & Schuster, through 2015. I've dreamed of being a writer since I was a scabby-kneed little kid, and it's because of you that I get to do it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
xoxo,

Sarah