THANK YOU!!

Hello sweet angel! 

So... where to even begin?? I'm pretty sure I was supposed send out a newsletter on March 1st to announce that Harper and Dan were officially released to the world but I spent the day absolutely overwhelmed with joy and excitement and completely forgot (oops).

A Brush with Love has been out six whole days, and I am truly blown away by everyone's kindness and excitement for my sweet little dorks. Those two mean the world to me, and writing their story was so rewarding and cathartic. To know the anxiety representation in the book has touched others is an indescribable feeling. 

So many wonderful moments 📚 

So many wonderful people took the time to talk and celebrate with me, and most were captured on IG live if you would like to watch! Thank you to Skye, DJ and Kasee (Kasee is the creator of the fabulous Long Hand Pencils), and Ali Hazelwood, Elizabeth Everett, and Libby Hubscher for being willing to scream with me. (Although, I do still hold some ill-will for the folklore slander that occurred from Ali and Libby... but this is supposed to be space of gratitude right now 🙄). 

And, in what might have been one of the best nights of my life, I got to do an in-person event with my best friend (and favorite author) Chloe Liese. The wonderful folks at Main Point Books hosted us as we talked about romance, neurodiversity, and how everyone is deserving of love and joy. 

My heart was fit to burst, getting to meet (and hug!!!) so many of you last night, and I am grateful beyond words for your support and excitement. I don't really know how to explain what it meant to sit and talk about something as vulnerable as mental illness in a space so full of love. I'm not sure I'll ever get over the magnitude of that moment. 💖

If I could be earnest and honest for a moment, there were many times when I never thought anyone would read this book. Through imposter syndrome and writer's block and a gnawing worry that no one would want to read about an anxious main character, I sometimes wondered if I would even finish A Brush with Love. I wrote it during some of my darkest days, and it was a safe place to sit with so many feelings, and remember that hurt and happiness are not mutually exclusive experiences. I truly am so moved and honored by the love my sweet characters are getting. They mean the world to me, and I hope they make you smile while you read, because I certainly smiled while writing them. I cannot thank every person that has taken the time to read my book or request it at their library or send me a note of encouragement or trust me with your own experiences with anxiety.

All I ever wanted when writing this book was to make anxious people feel seen. Remind them that they are deserving of love exactly as they are. And your outpouring of kindness for this story has served as a reminder to me of that exact thing. I could fill up hundreds of pages with all the ways I want to say it, but, for simplicity's sake:

Thank you. You've made this experience more amazing than I ever could have fathomed.

ABWL is available wherever books are sold, and can also be requested at your local libraries! If you have a spare moment and feel so inclined, reviews on retails sites (Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Chapters Indigo, Goodreads) are so helpful to authors and make a huge impact in spreading the word about books and helping other readers discover them (there's also some weird algorithm things or something that I won't even pretend to understand but I've been told it's Important™️).  
 

Photodump 🤩

So many wonderful moments, I just needed to share a few snapshots 

The [Horrifying] GIF

And here's this thing:

The End 🤡

All my love,
Mazey ❤️🧠🦷