📚Kyla’s Musings: 1st draft of HEIRS OF INFAMY is done!
Also, you can get my next book for 25% off! 🥳
Hi friends!
First up, this is the last MAJOR DISCOUNT for May the Best Player Win before it officially comes out on Sept 16!
You can get a 25% discount at Barnes & Noble by using the code PREORDER25. Ends July 17 so HURRY!
1st draft of Heirs of Infamy done and dusted!
In case you missed it, I have a new book deal!
And I’ve just finished the first draft! Here’s a little snippet of my writing progress:
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I’m very grateful for the July 4th long weekend because that gave me the space and time I needed for the home stretch.
The first draft is finished at 92k words. And honestly, I had a lot of fun writing this + doing the research. San Francisco Chinatown in the 1940s is an incredibly fascinating place, and as we get closer to publication (in 2026 lol), I’m excited to share more about the facts I’ve uncovered—some of which made their way into the book, many of which did not. (D:) (Gotta keep in mind that this is a historical novel, not a history book!)
I’m also excited to share more about how different my writing process is for this book. I’ve never been a Pinterest girly/a particularly visual writer. But for the first time, I’m compiling reference images. They help me envision and flesh out a more realistic + vivid historical setting. And of course, I love looking at photos of the late 1940s fashion in California.😉
The tricky thing about writing historical fiction is keeping track of all the anachronisms. For instance, I was about to write something along the lines of how a character had a poker face, but then I started questioning if the phrase “poker face” was even commonly used in the late 1940s. And turns out, it wasn’t!
P.s. You can add Heirs of Infamy on Goodreads now hah to get updates!
Book event with Ann Liang
I was also incredibly honored to be Ann Liang’s conversation partner/moderator when she came to my neck of the woods for a bookstore event! I adore her books and was very excited about the opportunity to ask her all my burning questions. :) Including her craziest high school memory (I knew it was gonna be good because she writes the best high school settings) and her writing rituals.
Ann is such a sweetheart and just as great of a person as she is an author! It’s always nice knowing that people who write amazing books are also amazing folks, yknow?
It’s also great to meet some new readers at the event, and to catch up with Veronica—a book blogger (@littlecornerreads on IG) turned friend. Afterwards, Ann, Veronica and I went out for a sushi dinner, where we all agreed that imitation crab SLAPS.
(My hot take: imitation crab » real crab)
While I’m looking forward to sharing more about May the Best Player Win as we get closer to its September release, please continue telling your friends/book clubs/libraries/schools about Valley Verified and The Fraud Squad.😊 Word-of-mouth helps authors so much!
And that’s all from me for now. Wishing you a great second half of July!
Love,
Kyla
Hmm, writing here might have been a better choice than Medium. The community here seems awesome too and substack is more developed out than the 12 year old startup.