Hi Pen Pal/Silly Goose/Rosebud,

I’m coming in hot right at the end of July with my monthly newsletter to share updates from myself and Drew, things I’ve been loving, an ongoing author lowlight, and some news. There’s even a giveaway at the end of this newsletter to keep you interested while reading it… or you can just skip to the end and enter. But maybe the giveaway is a quiz… a reading comprehension quiz on this newsletter to be exact. I guess you’ll just have to read on to find out.

BOOK-ISH UPDATES!

Dear Jeneva,

What I’ve Been Loving

Read: Before She Finds Me by Heather Chavez

A campus shooting, a husband/wife assassin team, and a contract killing gone wrong. With breathless pacing and complex female leads, Before She Finds Me is a page-turning and action-packed thriller that asks the question, how far would you go to protect your family? Chavez is at the top of her game!

Watch: Silo on AppleTV+

This show hooks you from the very first episode and never lets go! I won’t say too much about it because I don’t want to give any spoilers but it’s about this society of people living in a giant multi-hundred level silo below the earth in a post apocalyptic wasteland and… well, just watch it, you will thank me later.

Shop: Walking Pad

As an author, I’m at my desk a lot, and I’ve started getting lower back pain as a result. So, I decided to try out a walking pad to see if it would help and to give me more exercise. It’s been two weeks, and I’m obsessed. Lower back pain is gone. I’m more productive. I’m happier. And I actually really enjoy it. I can easily walk and work, and the time flies by. I’m also hyper-focused when I’m on it. I’ve been averaging one to hours of walking on my pad a day. So, if you work from home and are looking to get up and moving more without sacrificing work time, I highly recommend a walking pad. I’m linking the one I bought, since a lot of people asked me which one I purchased on social media. I’ve only had it for two weeks and love it so far, but can’t speak on the longevity of it, so do your research.

Make: Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon

This is one of my go-to dinner recipes! About once a month, I pick up a slab of salmon from Costco and make this two to three times in a week. I love it so much, I wrote it into You Shouldn’t Have Come Here. Note: I slightly modify it by cutting the butter and honey portions down by a 1/3 or so. There was so much excess sauce the first time I made it, so I tinkered with the recipe.

Do: Play Board Games

Wingspan - It’s an engine builder where you are building a tableau of birds. It is beautiful to look at and really fun to play. Great for beginners!

Nemesis - This is essentially Alien the movie in a box. You wake up on a ship with no idea what any of the rooms hold or where things are, and every time you make move, you risk an alien showing up and trying to kill everyone on the ship. It’s a long and heavy game, but it’s the most thematic and scary game I’ve ever played.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea - This is a lighter trick-taking game that I like playing with more casual players (i.e. my in-laws) and the big thing with this one is that once you start a round…no one can speak. So you have to accomplish the mission with only a few signals that the game gives you. Easy, breezy but a blast every time

The Quest for El Dorado - This is my current favorite easy game to play. The goal is to get to El Dorado by trekking through jungles, rivers, and deserts but you can only move according to the hand you draw each time. It’s a really fun deck builder that feels like a tense race to the finish line!

Author Lowlight

Let’s talk about the things we’re not supposed to talk as an author… i.e. when you have an issue with a publisher.

It’s taboo as an author to openly discuss disputes with a publisher. Why? It could tarnish your reputation in the industry. Make you seem difficult or demanding. It could make other publishers wary of working with you. But I’ve been quietly dealing with issues concerning my first publisher for years—including underpayments, late payments, signing contracts for longer than they have the rights for, making changes to my book without my permission, etc... It has caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety and as much as I’ve tried to get these ongoing issues resolved—I’ve instead been gaslit, ignored, lied to, yelled at, and even threatened that they would cancel a large store order from Walmart because I was asking for my unpaid royalties.

I’m not the only author they’ve treated this way. I know of at least a dozen others who have experienced the same issues I have. Of my six publishers, they’re the only one that has been like this. The rest have been kind, respectful, transparent, professional, and communicative. My contract with them expires in November of 2024, and the rights to ‘The Perfect Marriage’ will be fully returned to me then, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I received an email this week from the CFO of TPM’s publisher in response to me asking for my unpaid royalties again and telling them they are not allowed to add advertisements to the back of my book, which they recently did with both the print and digital versions. The CFO wrote,

“It’s interesting how we put forward a good faith effort on rights and you are relentless about everything as if we are not trying to do the best possible for you and your book. Our efforts and the results have been extraordinary.”

The “good faith effort” he mentions was them finally returning my unsold foreign rights to me, which they had promised to return in June of 2022 after they were called out for signing a dozen contracts for longer than they had the rights to TPM. They always point to their “efforts” as a way to deflect their wrongdoings. Like I’m just supposed to put up and shut up because TPM is selling well. They fail to give credit where credit is due as I was the one that marketed The Perfect Marriage and got it in front of readers—thanks to my viral TikToks and reels. They couldn’t even figure out how it was selling, until they asked me, and I let them know about my virality on social media. Then they asked if they could hire me to promote their other books, to which I declined.

But according to Mr. CFO, I’m relentless for standing up for myself, for calling out their contract breaches, and for demanding that they pay me all of the royalties I’m entitled to. I know he intended it to be an insult, but I didn’t take it that way. Because if I’m going to be anything in life, let it be relentless. And the same to you. Be relentless in everything— your happiness, your goals, your peace of mind, your wants, your expectations, your career, what you deserve and what you’re entitled to… just be relentless.

That’s what I’ll be doing. Even if I never ever get what I’m owed. Even if they never treat me with the respect I deserve. Even if they never right all of their wrongs. At least I can say I was relentless.

xoxo,

Jeneva Rose

We’ve Got Merch!

The Adventures of Winston

Winston is continuing to live his dream life of sleeping all day, a single short walk and eating. He’s also been enjoying sunbathing. Sometimes he cuddles between my legs, but mostly he just does what he wants… which is nothing.

From the Desk of Drew

Hello, it is I, Drew, aka Past Tense of Draw, once again providing not just quality content for this newsletter, but let's be honest, this is what you came here for. I am now wrapping up month two of officially working for Jeneva and my god. I thought I knew what struggles were before but they all pale in comparison to the living hell and nightmare my life has been for the past couple months…… just kidding ;) These past couple months have certainly had their challenges as we figure out where I can add value, and the dynamics of us working together and delineating between work and us just being a couple. But that has been a fraction of what otherwise has been an incredible change.

Some of the big highlights have been revamping and getting the Facebook group to a better spot. For those of you who know, you know, for those who don’t, you should go check out Jeneva Rose’s Convention of Readers on Facebook and ask to join. If I am feeling benevolent at the time you request, I may even allow you in (it’s SUPER exclusive though, so I doubt it).

There has also been some back office admin and accounting and tax stuff (won’t bore you with that) but we are also working on some writing projects (when I say “we” I really mean Jeneva with me reviewing and editing but as you can see it takes a lot longer to type out “Jeneva is writing with me reviewing and editing” so “we” it is) and are planning to roll out signed copies of Jeneva’s books again as well as some additional merch (stay tuned).

In addition to work with Jeneva, I have also personally been trying to take this time to be better with my health and wellness now that I am not working an 80+ hours per week corporate job. I am doing things again that previously my brain didn’t have the bandwidth or stamina to do after work. So I am reading again!!! I am talking with family and visiting them more. I am playing board games again (big deal for me). Spending more time with Jeneva. I am being more mindful of my physical activity and what I eat and drink. I am just overall getting back to a better spot after probably 4-5 years of neglecting it between work and business school. This has also led to my MONDAY MORNING MOTIVATIONS!!! (again gotta be in the Facebook group people) where I am trying to take the positives in my life and share them with others.

To conclude, these last couple months have been interesting to navigate, there is still a lot of work to be done and we are still figuring out where I can help best but it has been a really great start for us as a couple and for my well-being personally. Stay tuned for next time as I will hopefully have more to report and might start parroting some of Jeneva’s sections like “What I’ve Been Loving” (we are obsessed with the show Banshee right now, I just finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - believe the hype, it is incredible, and the board game The Gallerist).

As always, you are all incredible and it has been amazing interacting with y’all more in the Facebook group. So just keep being your awesome selves!