Mazey Eddings' Newsletter!

Happy Hump Day! Let's get weird. 

Greetings you sweet lil llamas of love! 

Okay so this is like the thirtieth email opening I've typed out. None are working (conceptually speaking). I originally started with a dream I had about my cat, but decided that little gem will be better suited later. Then I tried this big long thing about if you're feeling meh lately like your's truly, here's a big virtual hug and deep breath, but then I was like, "some people don't like hugs, Mazey! Don't force your hugs on them!".... So, as you can see, I'm doing super great and not overthinking things in my life AT ALL. 

Anyhoooo! Some exciting news! My publisher is giving away FIFTY (50) print copies of A BRUSH WITH LOVE over on Goodreads! You can enter here. I believe this is U.S. only (sorry international frands 🥺).

If you're international and looking to pre-order, Book Depository has free delivery worldwide! It's also still available for request on Netgalley and Edelweiss.

Woof okay that's enough shameless self-promo for now. Let's talk about fun stuff. 

I'll be honest, I've been in a massive funk lately. But every time I go to try to think of something to get out of said funk, my brain goes *bee-bloop-beep, not today!* and then I just sit there thinking about all the things I could do (I'm scared to look at precariously stacked TBR) but feel very meh about doing. 

But here are a few glorious things that have managed to snag my attention:

TV and Music 📺🎶 

Okay so my boyfriend and I took our relationship to a new stage: We've started watching anime. Specifically, Attack on Titan. 
But I want to explain how dime-piece introduced this into our lives:

I'm sitting there, minding my own business, stress eating some salt and vinegar chips while doom-scrolling on Twitter. Dime-piece (DP) turns to me.

DP: I want to bring something up, but I want you to keep an open mind. I'd like to introduce us to something new. 
Me: *automatically thinking of safe words* erm... 
DP: And before I go on, I want you to know I've done research. I'm not just pulling this out of nowhere. 
Me: *inches away* uhhhhhhhh *pictures some really dark shit*
DP: I think we should watch anime. I found this Buzzfeed list of really good anime. 
Me: *releasing the breath I knew I was holding* well damnit, you couldn't have led with that???

That's right, we are officially anime-ers. Attack on Titan very well might be the most graphically violent thing I've ever watched. It's a show about... well it's about A LOT of things. But the main things are the humans are being hunted by these big giant man-eating mutants called Titans. There's lots of intrigue and lore and so much drama I could die.

Also, WAY more butts than I would have anticipated. Granted, said butts are man-eating mutant butts. But(t) they're there. 

I also have a very huge crush on this one character named Captain Levi because he constantly looks bored while also being a feelingless bad ass and I just think he'd make a really great grumpy in a romance novel. 

You can't tell me he's not hot. Also, I think this is tied to being raised on disney movies and having all my first crushes be on animated characters. I'll talk with my therapist and report back. 

As far as music goes, I pretty much have my YA novel playlist on repeat while I draft. One song that really sums up my sweet angel lovebirds is I CHOOSE YOU by Adam Melchor. 

My characters are very... well, they're two goofy weirdos who want nothing more than to live a life they love, hopefully with someone they love. They're messy and dramatic and I can't wait for you two meet them (in like... two years hahaa)

The Cats 🐈‍⬛

Last night, I had a stress dream about my cat. In the dream, there was a female lion on the loose but I had just gotten a super sweet deck/patio and didn't want to miss out on primo deck time. I took Zadie (smol cat) out on the deck with me and was like "listen, you adorable bitch, we're gonna be good and behave. We aren't going to jump over the railing. We aren't going to antagonize the literal lion that is sitting RIGHT. THERE. We're gonna chill."

Sure enough, Zadie didn't listen to me and I spent countless dream hours rescuing her from almost getting freaking EATEN by  LION because she was deadset on breaking out of my dope ass deck. 

It's not hard to figure out this dream's meaning because we had an irl nightmare situation happen.

These cats, lights of my life, disrespecters of my being, used to be so hesitant to go out on the deck we have at our new apartment. They'd be all crouched and hesitant and run back inside at the tiniest noise. Fast forward maybe a month later, these she devils are busting between the deck slats and CLIMBING ON THE ROOF. Of course, I instantly lose my shit and start screaming bloody murder (I'm a really great neighbor), then run inside and grab a packet of wet food. The problem was, we are on the top level, so they were on a roof overhang that required them to squeeze back through the deck slats. 

Zadie came back as soon as she heard the food packet but Yaya, who is broad of back and of hip, couldn't get back through the slats. 

So, in my panic, I start throwing wet food at her while crying. Any time she came close enough for me to grab, she'd slip out of my grasp because she's all covered in cat food and I'm all covered in cat food and it's just one giant mess. 

Eventually, I do think I dumped enough turkey-in-gravy on her that she could slide right back through those slats like an eel, but it was traumatic none the less. 

They've lost deck privileges. 

Books 📚 

I've been struggling a bit to read. I'm deep in drafting mode and it's one of those spots where it's hard to read other books (even though reading is literally the best thing you could do for writing ugh). One thing that has been a rom-com savior is Boyfriend Material  by Alexis Hall. Even more specifically is the audiobook. I'm not sure I can name a funnier book with better narration. I was listening to it on a car trip recently and I had to pull over on the side of the road because I was overcome with how good it all was. And, what's even more amazing, is the entire audiobook is available on Spotify! 

Next up on my to-be-read pile is With You Forever by Chloe Liese. Liese's writing is phenomenal, and this story sounds like the warmest hug on a perfectly crisp fall day and I'm pretty much sobbing in anticipation. 

The [Horrifying] GIF

And here's whatever this is:

The End 🤡

That's all for now! Be kind with yourself. Provide yourself with grace and love and gentleness. I'll try to take my own advice! Also, I've started getting really into soup, but I'll report back on this later. 

All my love,
Mazey ❤️🧠🦷