Dear Reader,

Let me start by wishing all of you a happy, fulfilling, and prosperous new year. May your hopes and dreams come closer to fruition, and may you and everyone you love remain healthy. I mean it.

But I do have a real question: How long into the year does it continue to be appropriate to wish someone a Happy New Year? I generally go with the first time I see someone in the new year, at least through January. How about you?

That all said, I'm not going to go into lyrical reflections about last year here. I did that in my Substack post (which also includes some juicy numbers info for romance writers).

What I am going to do is tell you a little about what's ahead. I will admit that I'm pretty excited about everything I have in store for 2026.

Book V in the Double-Dilemma Romance Series: The Teacher's Noble Heart

I’ve been spending time again in Regency Cornwall, and some of you will be pleased to know that Miss Wilkins—whom you met in The Falconer’s Lost Baron—finally has her turn. The Teacher’s Noble Heart is primarily her story, and it begins when she is inspired to take a daring step toward a life that feels more fully her own than the life of leisure she lands in at the end of FLB.

That choice brings her into the orbit of a surprising young heiress with a secret passion for healing, as well as the quietly capable captain of the Delabole slate quarry—a man who, like Miss Wilkins, was not looking for love and has his own reasons for keeping his heart well guarded.

Alongside them is a humble country doctor with the manners of a true gentleman and a past he keeps carefully concealed, who finds himself drawn into the heiress’s unconventional world.

I have truly come to love these characters and I hope readers will too.

There's no cover yet (you'll see it first), and I will soon be recruiting ARC readers, so stay tuned!

Facing writing challenges

You may notice that there's no "earl," or "baron," or "duke" in the title of this book. Those words signal certain things to readers of romance, and I love as much as the next Regency reader to be swept up into the fantasy world of the aristocracy.

But the Regency was so much more than that world alone. Consider Jane Austen's novels: I don't think any of her heroines are titled. As to heroes, there are some younger sons and very wealthy gentlemen, but she stays in the world of the landed gentry.

Another writer who also grounds her world somewhat outside of the ton is Christina Dudley, whom I've mentioned here before. If you haven't dipped into her charming books, you're missing a treat.

Be that as it may, I'm a bit nervous about whether this story that only touches on the ton will appeal to readers. As a historian, I have loved researching the remarkable Delabole slate quarry, still a working quarry in Cornwall that dates back to the thirteenth century.

Teaching and coaching: what's coming

AI Workshop

On Saturday, January 24, I'm teaching a half-day, hands-on workshop for Writers in Progress, AI for Writers: How to Use it Responsibly and Effectively I'm excited about this, because AI has so much to offer in the way of support for writers, but writers understandably approach it with a certain amount of trepidation.

First, let me assure you: not a word of any of my novels has been written by AI! But I use AI in many ways as a sounding board, a brainstorming partner, a research assistant, and a marketing expert to support my business. This supplements rather than replaces the human input that's essential: coach, beta readers, documentary research, input from marketing experts.

I'm really excited about this workshop and hope you'll join me there! It's from 9:30am to 12:30pm EST on Zoom.

Romance Workshop Series

I'm planning a series of hour-long free workshops about different aspects of writing romance. These will begin in March and go through the summer (with a break in July, because I'll be at the RWA conference in Albuquerque). I'll be sharing more information and registration links in about a month or so.

Publishing Workshop

Another workshop I'm running for Writers in Progress is Hybrid and Indie Publishing: Pros, Cons, Differences, and How-To's. This workshop is on Saturday, March 7, 9:30am–12:30pm on Zoom.

In case you weren't aware, I've traveled just about all the publishing routes except for putting out serialized content on Radish and other such platforms. In this workshop, we'll talk about what these indie paths entail and do some hands-on work to help writers figure out what's going to best fulfill their publishing goals.

That's all I have for you right now. As always, if you have questions or comments, feel free to respond to this email. I answer every one of your inquiries!

Happy reading and writing,

Susanne