Monthly Wrap-Ups

January Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Date Set for my Book Release: It’s official! THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN will be released on January 21st, 2025! Maps: So, my daughter Danielle is illustrating two maps for the book. This is a bit unusual, but it’s actually working out really well because there are some complicated aspects to… Read more »

December Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Copyedits & cover sketches!: I got cover sketches, and we chose the direction to go in. I have to say, I love it! I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share who my cover artist is (publishing rules are so weird – guess I’ll have to check on that), but I… Read more »

October/November Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Substack Newsletter: I decided it was time to jump in and create an author newsletter. A lot of authors seem to be on Substack, so I decided to check it out. I attended an excellent SCBWI Zoom where Debbie Ridpath Ohi talked about Substack and how it’s more than just a newsletter… Read more »

September Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Book event with Megan E. Freeman. I did an author event with Megan at the Barnes & Noble where I work. She was in town for some school visits because her book was nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Award (which is Illinois’ award for 4th-8th grade students), so I figured it… Read more »

July/August Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: I’ve already completed my second round of edits! We’re mostly done at this point, but we’ll be doing one more round after a sensitivity read. The editing process has gone by much faster than I expected, so it’s all felt like a bit of a whirlwind! A new title. That’s right…. Read more »

June Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: I completed my first round of edits for my book! It feels so good to have things truly underway with the editing process. I’m really excited to be working with Emily Settle at Feiwel & Friends—I feel so lucky! What I Read: I’ve listened to a lot more books recently because… Read more »

April/May Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: My new author website is live! I’d love it if you’d go to NicoleMHewitt.com and check it out! (There’s also a link in the menu here on the blog – I replaced the About Me page with a link to the new site.) The adorable main illustration was created by Dabi’s… Read more »

January/February/March Wrap-Up Book News: Well, this happened … If you haven’t, you should go read my post about MY DEBUT MG NOVEL!! And I apologize to those of you who have already seen this everywhere (AKA the blog, Twitter–twice, since it also auto-posted after my blog post went up–Instagram–once as a post and once as… Read more »

My Goings-On in September: Here are the things that stand out to me this month: Working at Barnes & Noble! I’ve been working four days a week, and that’s been an adjustment. I’ve had a lot less time for blogging and blog-hopping. I absolutely love the job, though! Marathon training. I run the marathon on… Read more »

My Goings-On in August: Here are the things that stand out to me this month: I started working at Barnes & Noble! I’m working part-time there, and really loving it. This is the most I’ve gotten to talk about book IRL in a very long time! I definitely have less time for blogging now, though—I… Read more »