37. A note from Penelope

I did wantto quickly thank all my readers, though. I've been writing romance for about 8 years, now, and it feels like such a long time ago when I look back on my early books. I've definitely had ups and downs, both emotionally and as far as my career has gone. There have been moments when I've been up at the tip-tops of rankings and among one of the top-selling romance authors. And there have been times when I've been sort of in the obscure corners of the genre and not getting noticed by any but my biggest fans and readers.

And I wantedto say how much I appreciate all of you for letting me do this as long as I have. It's easy to forget how incredible it is to have the opportunity to write words for a living.

I don't wantto get super deep into the details because I know I've shared most of this at various points. But, to summarize, I've been dealing with some health issues this past year. It's nothing life-threatening, so don't worry about that! But I've felt really creatively strained by it all. Thankfully, as long as I don't have any more health surprises on the horizon, I do feel like I'm recovering from the stuff I can recover from and learning to live with the things I can't.

But I bringit all up because I've been feeling like I may need a bit of a mental reset after this book. I had the pre-order deadlines kind of looming over me until now, so I was looking at finishing this story as the point where I could catch my breath and decide what to do next. Right now, I'm thinking that may just mean taking a couple months to kind of gather up and take a big deep breath before launching into my next story.

Takinga break is scary as a self-published author, though. There are thousands of super talented authors out there all fighting for every scrap of your attention. But I've probably been overdue for some kind of break for a few years now and neglecting myself by not taking it.

So,yeah. I know what my next book will be and already have a rough idea of the plot sketched out in my mind. I just don't know exactly when I'm planning to start working on it. Maybe I'll take a week off and feel completely recharged, or maybe I'll need two or three months. I'm just not quite sure yet, but I did want to put a little note here for anybody who keeps up with me close enough to notice if my next book takes extra long.

I'm not planningto quit writing, or anything like that! I just ask that you guys don't forget me if it ends up being like six months before you see another Penelope Bloom book!

Anyway,thanks so much for reading my Frosty Harbor series. I had so much fun writing it and felt like I got really close to the characters by the time it was all done. I'm a little sad to leave the series, but I don't currently have any plans to pick up storylines of characters form the stories and keep them going. At least not as hockey themed books!

Keep scrollingto read a sneak peak of One Frosty Pucking Meet Cute!!

xx

Penelope