No story is ever dead. Sometimes they need a long nap and a makeover, though.

On writing, rewriting, and selling my next series six years after I shelved it. Also, a soup recipe. Because why not? (It's really good, okay?)

Feb 07, 2025

Hello, and happy 2025! I’m reanimating out of my drafting grave to arrive in your inbox bearing news, thoughts on resurrecting WIPs, and a soup recipe! But first, some housekeeping.

My co-written fantasy murder mystery I KILLED THE KING is now up for preorder. (Yay! But also, oh god. But also, yay?) You can get it for 25% off right now at Barnes & Noble. If a punchy, fast-paced Knives Out x One Of Us Is Lying fantasy murder mystery written by two best friends sounds like your jam, today’s a great day to pick it up!
My second graphic novel with Neopets is also up for preorder! (If it makes you cry, I’m sorry. I think the story is quite good, but apparently I was Going Through it when I wrote this one.)
I do have one event this month. I’ll be moderating the launch for Andrea Hannah’s The Wildest Things at Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak, Michigan on February 28th. Come say hi!

Now find something cozy, make yourself a cup of something tasty (my choice, as usual, is jasmine tea), and let’s catch up!

What’s in this newsletter?

New book deal announcement
Thoughts on shelving WIP’s and resurrecting them
Writing updates
What I’ve loved lately
Soup recipe because it’s my newsletter and I can do what I want

First, some news. I’m writing more middle grade!

I’m so delighted I get to write at least two more middle grade books, and this time, I’ll once again be working with Alyza Liu at Simon & Schuster! MILO AND THE MONSTROUS BETWIXT is a ridiculous, monster-filled magical romp that takes place beneath Michigan’s swamps in a land called the Betwixt, where children trade memories for magic – and slowly transform into monsters with each memory they lose.

This story has been with me for a long time. It was actually my first attempt at middlegrade back in 2018, but it wasn’t working — and frankly, I didn’t have the skill to pull it off at the time. So I set it aside. I went on to write nine more books, but unlike some of my other shelved ideas, Milo was always still back there, waiting patiently.

When I finally went back to it last spring, it evolved into a story that was funnier and more accessible than my previous middle grade. It will also be much shorter. (I swear it!!! I vow!!! I will make this a short book if it kills me!!!)

I love this book. I am having so much fun with it. And I can’t wait to welcome you all to the Betwixt next year.

So why (and how) did I resurrect a WIP abandoned six years prior?

When authors talk about “shelving” books, there’s a whole myriad of things we mean. Sometimes it’s an instinct thing. Other times the industry shelves it for you. You query agents and no one bites; you take it on sub and don’t get an offer. While some choose to revise and try again, other writers will set the story aside and move on.

I do this frequently and viciously. I have a superstition where I won’t create a new Scrivener file for a story until I’ve reached at least 30k. Many ideas fail the “stress test” of outlining and drafting initial chapters. (If I’m being honest, these days, they’re more likely to fail the initial test of trying to come up with a pitch rather than me having to churn out a few chapters. I send those ideas happily into the good night with no regret, and hope they find a different writer to serve them better!)

My computer is a graveyard of abandoned, half-written stories. Most are forgotten or chopped into bits and recycled into other stories with more promise. One of the antagonists of I Killed The King was heavily borrowed from an antagonist I cut from The Ones We Burn but never quite forgot. He’s a totally new character, but the origin point remains. When I abandon a WIP, my intention is to largely forget about it entirely, until one day when I’m digging around in my files I’m like, wait, I tried to write a romance novel about a lumberjack? (2020 was a weird time.)

But sometimes, a story lingers. I can feel it hovering in the back of my mind even as I work on other books. When I first tried to write Milo and the Monstrous Betwixt in 2018, I didn’t have the skill or confidence to pull it off, but I’ll admit that when I shelved it — and later mined a lot of the initial world building for The Mossheart’s Promise — a part of me was hopeful I could figure out how to come back to it. I just didn’t know how.

Then a few things happened.

First, I started doing school visits. I got a chance to talk directly with teachers and kids who loved to read — and more importantly kids who *hated* to read. (I was once one of those kids, until I was inevitably tricked into liking books after joining a reading contest to spite my 4th grade nemesis.) I realized, firsthand, some of the ways I’d failed reluctant readers with my own kidlit by writing stories that were too long and too dense. I had dozens of conversations with brilliant, funny students about their favorite books and their most-hated books. The visits started a swirl in the back of my brain, and I let it spin for well over a year.

And then, in 2024, six years after I had written Milo and set it aside, the zeitgeist delivered upon-eth me a gift. Three, actually.

Many a writer has had a moment where they’ve been working on something in secret, and then they stumble across a book, movie, or song that makes them wonder if the other creator is living in their walls. (Rick Rubin has a whole bit in The Creative Act about this where he theorizes that artists are picking up on the same messages. It’s funny to know this seems to happen across industry, regardless of the medium.) My preferred experience of this is when I go into a piece of art with no idea that it comes bearing a key to unlock something in my own brain.

For me — and for MILO — and that was three things. The newest Studio Ghibli movie The Boy and the Heron, the song Like Him from Tyler the Creator’s newest album Chromokopia, and an old nursery rhyme about magpies.

Here’s the part I can’t explain: Sometimes a story is dead, and you do or learn or listen or experience something that breathes random life into it, and it feels a lot like magic.

Here’s the part I can explain: To give that story a second life, sometimes it’s best to go back and gut it without fear. This feels less like magic and more like thankless ditch digging.

Most of my work begins from a place of feelings-fanfiction; that is, I experienced a wonderful piece of art, and I want to recreate the feelings I had in something of my own making. Every story I tell starts from a place of awe. I can point to the “woahIlovethisSOMUCH” origins of every one of my novels. The Ones We Burn has clear influences from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Mossheart is constantly compared to The City of Ember and Gregor the Overlander, which utterly delights me, because those were the exact comps and the feelings I set out to re-capture. I Killed The King, I hope, will fill readers will some of the same thrill and delight they felt experiencing One Of Us Is Lying and Knives Out, with some Tamora Pierce-esque magical meddling thrown in for flavor.

When I have that origin point of feeling, I use it as my guiding light, and cut anything that dims it without mercy. I went back to Milo, holding close to my chest the emotions swirling from Like Him and The Boy and the Heron — and my desire, as always, to write kidlit that is both smart, entertaining, and honest, and redid Milo from the ground up.

I redid the world of the Betwixt; I changed the main character from a little girl named Mia to a boy named Milo. I gave him a sister, changed his family dynamic, swapped one missing parent for another, and rearranged the plot with easy-to-reach-for touchstones of magical trials Milo had to complete. I set the book in Michigan, borrowed and inserted a character from an old short story of mine, mined my Id List for favorite tropes, and let myself go all-in on the full-weird that a portal world where memories are currency and children turn into monsters promises.

The missing piece came when I stumbled across an old nursery rhyme called One for Sorrow, which is based on a old superstition around magpies and their numbers being tied to good or bad luck. I don’t remember how, exactly, I found this; only that I was sitting next to my co-author and dear friend Andrea Hannah at a tiny cafe in Paris, where we were supposed to be working on the sequel for I KILLED THE KING. It was one of those moments where it felt like less like inspiration politely delivering a key to a long-locked door, and more like I was being thunked over the head.

The highlight of that France trip was when I accidentally took Andrea & I on a 2.5 hour hike down a mountain. If you ever visit Eze, do NOT listen to the redditors that say to hike *up* the mountain. They are conspiring against you.

All of these changes and inspirations made for a story that was entirely new, but the core was the same. Even the pitch was the same! A falls into a world called the Betwixt where memories are traded for magic and has to get their sibling back. But now Milo had a real, beating heart, and I hoped it had a chance.

I can’t tell you personally how to fix a WIP you’ve shelved. Every time I’ve gone back to old stories, they’ve required something different, and Milo is the first time I’ve wholesale redone something shelved instead of cutting it into bits and feeding it into different narratives. What I can tell you, though, is that the biggest gift I gave Milo — and myself — was time. When I shelved that book, I was devastated. But I trusted I had more stories in me. I trusted that even if I never touched it again, I’d still stumble into a dozen new worlds full of wonder.

Shelved WIP’s aren’t going anywhere. When I set something aside, all I can do is continue the act of writing and reading, and trust that I am a person Who Makes Things, and that I will continue to make things even if they don’t always pan out.

I’m deep into finishing Milo’s first draft now. We sold it on a chunky proposal back in October, and I expect to hit type that highly coveted the end by early March. I couldn’t be happier that 2018 Becca set the story aside.

I am so excited to share this book next year!

Writing Updates

This is one of those stretches where my house looks like a hurricane went through it and my loved ones begin to gently ask when I last saw the sun. I’m drafting two books at once right now; Milo, and the sequel to I Killed The King. I’m also planning a wedding, doing promo for I Killed The King, and everything is fine, it’s great, it’s FINE!

(It really is, though. A dear friend of mine has a line I like to hold close — that even when the work is hard, it’s important to remember that when your job is someone else’s dream, more often than not public complaints are going to sound like you’re whining that your diamond shoes are on too tight. Having too many books to write is definitely a diamond-shoes problem. But also, my toes hurt.)

The first drafts for both the sequel to King and Milo are due in March. (Hahahaha ILOVEMYSHOES) They are very different books, which makes for a helpful palette cleanser. I hope with all the desperation in my heart that the next time I send this letter, I can happily report to you that I turned in both on time and they’re perfect and lovely! I know the latter won’t be true, but a girl can dream.

I am still working on the adult WIP mentioned in my last newsletter that I lazily dubbed Zelda Book (origin points, remember?), but I don’t have any updates on that right now, as Milo and 2King2Furious have fully taken over my life. Hopefully more soon, though!

What I’ve Loved Lately

A funny thing about being on deadline is I always end up consuming more art than expected, in part because my brain is fried, and also because I ban myself from making plans, so I tend to have emptier weekends and evenings. I’ve accepted this as a part of my process, though I do feel guilty spending an evening reading instead of drafting. There’s only so much output my brain can do!

Reading: I just finished Ina Garten’s Be Ready When The Luck happens on audio, and was honestly floored by how much I loved it. I’m also thoroughly enjoying India Holton’s The Ornithologists Field Guide to Love, which was my pick for my book club’s book this month. (I highly recommend starting a book club with your friends where the only requirement is showing up to dinner regardless if you read it. Our book club is called The Lazy Assholes Bookclub. There’s always someone who didn’t even bother to open the book. Last month I was that someone. I love you, Lazy Assholes Book Club.)

Watching: I finally watched Severance for the first time a few weeks ago, much to the ire of everyone else around me that really wishes I would STOP TALKING ABOUT SEVERANCE. But man, what a show. Every week is now a countdown to Friday. If you are a writer — or if you’re just craving some excellently crafted television — I cannot recommend it enough.

Listening: Tyler the Creator’s Chromokopia, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal, and a lot of Our House by Crosby, Stills, & Nash. I’ve also got the soundtrack to The Boy and the Heron and Tyler the Creator’s Igor on a loop, because they tie so well to Milo and the King sequel, respectively.

And on the loving-everything-else front, I am reliving my childhood dreams by playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure, making a lot of soup, basking in the quiet calm of Tumblr (the only social media that does not feel like hell these days), going for many walks, and trying to soak in these cold, winter-bright days while they’re still here.

Becca’s Favorite Black Bean Soup

I love winter because it’s soup season, and I love soup because it’s pretty hard to mess up. This recipe for black bean soup is one that I created mostly on accident because I had things to use up in my fridge. It’s become an easy favorite. It also freezes and reheats quite nicely, which is my favorite kind of recipe.

Ingredient note: I’ve made this recipe before without the onion or garlic for a loved one with an allium allergy, and it still turned out fantastic. If you can’t have them, leave it out!

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper
1 large carrot
2 ribs of celery
4 cans of black beans
3-4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (I’d start with 3 for a thicker soup. You can always thin it later.)
One large onion (whatever you have is fine. It’s soup, not rocket science. I’ve used red, yellow, and sweet onions. An onion is an onion.)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Black pepper, paprika, salt, thyme, oregano, and a bay leaf. I recommend using fresh sprigs of thyme if you have them, but dried works beautifully, too.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 limes
Fresh cilantro

Prep note: This recipe does require a blender. You can use a regular one, but if you’re a soup fan, I highly recommend acquiring a cheap immersion blender. Mine has been through war at this point.

Instructions:

Set a dutch oven or pot on the stove and turn it on low heat while you chop your vegetables. Dice your onion first. Add onion and add olive oil to the pot.
Once onions begin to sweat, throw the garlic in for a few minutes, stirring with the onion, and add in the bell pepper, carrot, and celery. Open and drain your black beans while the vegetables soften.
Add paprika, black pepper, salt, oregano, thyme if not fresh, and red pepper flakes to the pot. (I measure with my heart on spices and always add more as I cook. As a safe bet, start sparingly, and then dial it up.) Let the spices bloom for about a minute, then add in your broth, black beans, and bay leaf.
Cover the pot and let simmer until everything is soft, about a half hour, but you can leave for longer. The nice thing about this soup is you’re essentially just cooking everything down so it’s easy to blend.
Juice your lime & dice your cilantro. I always just eyeball herbs (I’m sorry), but you want a good handful. Once everything is softened and the beans have split, blend everything together. Blending the cilantro directly into the soup instead of just sprinkling it in will add that wow element. Add additional broth as needed to thin. Turn off the heat, add the lime juice, and give it a good stir until it’s incorporated.
You’re done! Serve with a dollop of sour cream or plain greek yogurt (my favorite!), a wedge of lime, and some avocado and tortilla chips if you’re feeling fancy.

That’s it for now! I’ll be buried in work for the rest of February, but you can expect to see a lot of me on instagram as Andrea and I reveal all six of the POV’s for I Killed The King and their accompanying first lines. (We are very excited about the one we get to reveal on Monday.) We made a pact not to tell anyone who wrote what character, and instead are planning to offer up some ARC’s for readers in the coming months that want to take a stab at guessing which writer is lurking behind the line.

Speaking of King, we have a cover….and it sounds like soon, we might get to share it pretty soon here. We don’t a date yet, but don’t be surprised if you get a second email from me this month. :)

Be well! Stay warm, and stay hydrated.

-Becca

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