I haven't blogged in a long time, but I'm sitting here in this surprisingly empty coffee shop with a steaming cup of earl grey tea and earphones in to block out the bad choice of music, and it seems like the perfect time to catch you up on what's going on.

I spent a lot of time home alone with my troublesome three-year-old this weekend while my husband was out showing houses, so this break of mine -- these couple hours that I can call my own -- feel like a breath of fresh air.

I know I have this annoying habit of being negative more often than not (which I'm working on every day, believe me). but here's the truth for ya.

Life is kind of insanely difficult right now.

Between my full-time job and writing I am busier than ever. Dom is even busier than I am. And my kid... well, lets just say that if I had known what three would be like, I wouldn't have been complaining about two.  Most days I'm fighting just to keep my head above water.

And to not drink all the wine.

I've been struggling with writing How To Be Someone Else lately. I've hit that oh-so-difficult part where you've written the thick of it, and you know the ending, but there's that section in the middle that just doesn't want to be written. Despite my best attempts I keep writing and re-writing. Typing and deleting, though I know I shouldn't be. I keep trying to remind myself that this first draft just needs to be written, and I can worry about the rest later. But goodness... it's not coming easily these days.

I hit the first goal I set for myself -- which was to hit 40k by June 10 (I hit it on the 6th) -- and I've set myself a new goal of 50k by the end of the month. I know it doesn't sound like much, but with how much I've been struggling lately, I'm not sure it will happen. But, I keep trudging along.

I had a late lunch with a new friend on Friday and she asked me how my writing was going. It definitely hurt to tell her that it wasn't going well. Admitting it to myself is one thing, but having to say it out loud is a whole new ball game.

Fortunately it wasn't anything that a purchase at Lululemon couldn't solve. #kiddingbutnotreallythough

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This past week we had one of our biggest authors in town. I spent a lot of time with him, his wife and my boss, talking about everything from writing to the Vietnam war, to the sad state of people these days. For the most part,  I'm a quiet, reserved person, but when we get on the topic of people doing shitty things and being shitty people, I get really worked up. I felt like my Italian husband, waving my arms in wide circles while I rattled on (seriously, Italians know how to use their hands in conversation).

I guess the timing of this is pretty shitty, considering what just happened in Orlando, but I've always been so disappointed/horrified/embarrassed/ashamed of all the horrific events that happen in this country. Honestly, anytime stuff like this goes down I miss Canada more and more. I could talk about it for hours on end, but suffice it to say, there are some really awful people out there in the world.

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I attended a high school graduation party last night and ended up speaking with three recent graduates about what they want to do with their lives (god, how much do I hate that term!) and I was absolutely blown away by their thoughtful responses. If I think back to when I was 18 and fresh out of high school, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I'd only known -- like I've always known -- that I wanted to do something creative. Totally vague, right?

Anyway, these girls blew me away. I sat across from them, my legs crossed, enraptured in their stories. And I was envious, did I mention that? What I wouldn't give to go back to 18 and do things differently. And I wasn't just envious... I was full on jealous. That is until they told me they thought I was 27 or 28... then I just loved them. Screw envy, jealously... it ruins everything.

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So I guess that about catches you up with what's been going on with me lately. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to get back to my earl grey tea and see if I can't make a dent in the last 9k of #HTBSE.

It's that time of the year when I start daydreaming about all the vacations I'm not going to get to take this summer, LOL. Well, that's not entirely fair seeing as I spent three glorious child-free days in La Jolla, CA with my hubby at the end of April, and just came back from four days in my Canadian hometown. Let's just say that's probably it for the holidays until at least the fall.

Regardless, there's one thing I love about vacations -- besides getting away from the norm -- and that's vacation reads.

Here are a list of 6 books I've read that are perfect to take on vacation no matter where you go.

2. THE VACATIONEERS BY EMMA STRAUB
From Amazon: For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

3. FINDING LILY BY RACHEL DEL
From Amazon: Lily Gardner thought she'd found her soul mate when she met and married the handsome and well-off Thomas Gardner. But eight years later, with a two-year-old in tow, she finds herself wading through the messy waters of divorce, and crying herself to sleep at night wondering if she's lost her chance at love... and herself in the process. When she's assigned the task of working with Nathan Trainor to reel in a popular author who is seeking new representation, she must put her troubles aside and do whatever it takes to get the job done. At once touching and hopeful, FINDING LILY is a contemporary inspirational romance novella that captures what it feels like to be given a second chance at life... and love.

4. THE SUMMER GAMES: SETTLING THE SCORE BY R.S. GREY
From Amazon: As an Olympic rookie, Andie Foster has spent far more time in her cleats than between the sheets. For 21 years, her Friday nights have consisted of blocking shots rather than taking them. But now that she's landed in Rio, she's ready to see for herself if the rumors about the Olympic Village are true:The athletes are all sex-crazed maniacs, the committee passes out condoms like candy, the games continue long after the medals have been handed out... As Andie walks the line between rumor and reality, she's forced into the path of Frederick Archibald, a decorated Olympic swimmer and owner of a sexy British accent--too bad he's unavailable in a way that "it's complicated" doesn't even begin to explain. In other words: off limits. It doesn't matter that he has abs that could bring peace to the Middle East and a smile that makes even the Queen blush; Andie fully intends on keeping her focus on the soccer field. But the Village is small. Suffocating. Everywhere Andie goes, Freddie happens to be there--shirtless, wet from the pool, and determined to show her a whole new meaning of the phrase "international affairs".

5. THESE ARE THE MOMENTS BY JENNY BRAVO
From Amazon: You can't go back in love... or can you? Wendy Lake... Big dreams. Small bank account. Back home from college, she's the girl with the day job, the girl whose mom still packs her lunches, the girl with the memories she can't shake. Simon Guidry ... The boy who holds her past in his pocket. And maybe her heart, too. This is the story on-again, off-again Wendy and Simon, told in the now and then of their relationship. As the couple is thrown back into each other's lives through their friends' wedding, These Are the Moments dares to ask the questions: Do people ever really change? Do two people, who can never make it work, actually make it right? And most importantly, do they even want to?

6. EIGHTYSIXED BY EMILY BELDEN
From Amazon: Emily Belden has no idea what to do with her twenty-something life (particularly as it pertains to love), which is a tough problem for a hopeless romantic who’s fresh out of a failed relationship. Never one to admit defeat, Emily vows to get back in the dating ring. But the more she tries to get the most out of her Match.com subscription, the deeper down the rabbit hole she goes. While recovering the pieces of her broken heart, Emily’s dating pool soon fills with a classic mix of drug addicts, embezzlers, perverts, and (spoiler alert!) pimps. But just as she begins to believe that a bottle of wine might be her only shot at lifelong happiness, a chance encounter with a man whose path impossibly crosses hers changes the game in a big, big way.

IF YOU'VE READ ANY OTHER BOOKS THAT ARE PERFECT FOR VACATION READS, COMMENT BELOW AND LET ME KNOW SO THAT I CAN CHECK THEM OUT!

Instead of telling you what I read in April, in, well... words, this time I'm literally telling you.

If you're interested in watching me awkwardly read a scene from my newest novel, How To Be Someone Else, you can catch me do so over on my author blog, now.

Writing a book is hard work. Writing a book while working and parenting full-time is even harder.

Here's a little glimpse at how most of my (work) days go.

5AM -- Open my eyes (usually on my own... no alarm necessary) and try to wake up. Get out of bed, pour myself some warm water with lemon, and settle down in the dark family room to write.

5:45-6:15AM -- Some time during this time, my three year old wakes up. Since my husband has already left for work, I'm on my own with getting him breakfast, changed and off to daycare.

8:15AM -- Back from daycare drop-off and my work day begins. I work from home and usually eat lunch at my desk. Sometimes, if I need a break, I will take my laptop into the backyard and write for a few minutes.

4:15PM -- My husband picks up our son from daycare and they immediately head out into the backyard to play while I try to write.

5:30PM -- I start on dinner and we all eat together. After dinner we spend time playing.

7:00PM -- Our son goes into the bath. Usually my husband does this while I tidy up downstairs. Maybe once a week, I head off to a coffee shop to get some writing done, though this hasn't been happening as of late...

7:45PM -- I watch an episode of Handy Manny on the iPad with my son in his bed and then it's lights out.

8:00PM -- If the hubby is up for it, we watch an episode of whatever TV show we're binge watching at the time. If he's out, or not interested, I will start writing.

9:00PM -- If I'm not too tired, I try to write.

9:30 - 10:00PM -- I am not a night owl, so usually by now I'm asleep, hoping for more time tomorrow to write.

And there you have it: the life of an author with a full-time job and a three-year-old.

TELL ME: WHAT DOES YOUR DAY LOOK LIKE?

I'm kind of a sucker for these kinds of posts; where you get a little glimpse into other readers and/or writers. I'm actually surprised that it took me this many years of blogging to finally write one of my own. But, better late than never, right?

Here are a few bookish things about me:

1. I read more physical books than ebooks, simply because I much prefer the feel of a real book in my hands. 
2. If I'm not writing first thing, I get most of my reading in in the half hour I get up before my son.
3. The smell of library books is one of my favorite things.
4. I am rarely found reading without a cup of coffee nearby.
5. I find it impossible to narrow down my choices to a few favorite books. So I don't.
6. I definitely judge books by their covers.
7. You will never see me dog-ear the pages of a book I own or borrowed from someone else (but apparently this doesn't include library books...).
8. I think that my weakness for romance novels stems back to never seeing my mother without a Harlequin romance in her hand as I grew up.
9. The last book I read was "An Unforgivable Love Story" by B.L. Berry
10. I am capable of suffering from terrible book hangovers.
11. Receiving books as gifts is the best. thing. ever.
12. I try to write reviews right after I finish a book so that I don't forget what I want to say about it. And trust me, I will forget if I don't do it right away.
13. I can't read hardcover books with the dust jacket on. It drives me nuts.
14. My favorite genres are probably contemporary romance and literary fiction.
15. If a book keeps coming across my radar (ie, everyone I follow online is blabbing on about it), I'm more than likely going to give in and read it. Case in point: The Love that Split the World.
16. I've written and published three novellas, and am currently working on what will hopefully be my first published novel. 
17. I pretty much always carry a book with me. You never know when you'll be stuck waiting somewhere.
18. Books are my favorite type of home decor.
19. Bookstores are where I go when I need time to myself.
20. I organize the books on my shelves by their spine colors.
21. I share most -- if not all -- of what I read on Instagram, using #rachelreadsthis
22. I'm obsessed with bookish photography (hello crimebythebook and sweptawaybybooks)
23. I get genuinely excited when someone asks me for book recommendations.
24. I am not a fan of audio books. at. all.
25. I go through phases with my favorite authors, but currently I'm majorly crushing on Meg Wolitzer and Emily Henry.