Welcome!
Disclaimer: I am brand-new to this platform, so please give me a pass if there are any errors or questionable formatting! This first post is also going to be too long. I've seemingly got a lot to say.
Thank you for subscribing to what I really hope will be a monthly newsletter! There are only so many hours in the day, and the closest thing I have to an assistant is our family dog, Birdie. Willy, Birdie’s uncle, neither listens nor ~respects~ me enough to help (but I still love him). I’m excited to connect with you—readers, friends, and my incredibly supportive family—beyond my Instagram stories and DMs and rare X-but-still-Twitter-to-me posts. This newsletter’s content will probably fluctuate as I get used to it, but here we go…
The Tea (or lack thereof) On My Initials
I get asked this a lot! I like writing under my initials not for an air of mystery, but because my first name is difficult to pronounce. My name is Kaethe (and I was born in 1995!), which is pronounced “Kay-ta” and is German for “Katherine.”
If my seventh grade math teacher is reading this: Yes, I still think about the day(s) you took attendance and called me “Keith.” All the time. Because you did it the entire first week of school.
Please, call me Kaethe in any messages or if we are lucky enough to meet in real life!
On The Shelf
I have written three young adult romance novels: Maybe Meant To Be, The Summer Of Broken Rules, and What Happens After Midnight. They are all standalone stories, but my characters exist in the same world, so there are cameos in each book. The KLW Universe? The K.L. Walther-verse? The Walther-verse? I’m going to keep workshopping until something sticks. Suggestions welcome!
Courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire, my publisher, here are snapshots of each book.
The adorable artwork is by LEGGOS (@giraffeleggos). If you’re interested in a physical print, keep an eye out on Instagram. Sourcebooks Fire has some plans cooking!
Irons in the Fire
Mark your calendars for spring/summer 2025! Not only will I have one book coming out, but I’ll have two (which feels nothing short of surreal to say). Sometimes 2025 sounds like the distant future, but my Gentleman Caller reminds me that we are racing toward 2023’s finish line, so it’s not truly that long a wait (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). I love these two upcoming books, and I hope to share as much as I can leading up to their release dates!
Let’s start with While We’re Young, which will be published by Delacorte (US) and Electric Monkey (UK)! I’ve been obsessed with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for as long as I can remember. I watch it when I’m happy, I watch it when I’m not-so-happy, I watch it when I’m sick, and I watch it after originally considering two other movies. When my family doesn’t quote John Mulaney, we’re quoting Ferris Bueller (and Gilmore Girls). My brother, one of the funniest people I know, has also compared me to Jeanie Bueller on more than one occasion.
While We’re Young started out as a National Novel Writing Month—NaNoWriMo, per its acronym—project in November 2020. I had recently finished TSOBR, and was having trouble figuring out what to write next. One night, I had a dream about a gender-swapped contemporary retelling of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (very specific, Kaethe). Instead of Ferris skipping school, it would be his sister. Miraculously, I remembered it the next morning. My literary agent loved the idea, and I finished an initial draft in mid-December. But, for reasons, it wasn’t “time” for this book yet. It became a passion project, one I was so thrilled to return to this year! Instead of John Hughes Chicago, it plays out in Philadelphia and its suburbs. There’s a Ferris, a (much more delightful) Jeanie, a Cameron, and a Sloan. Writing four first-person perspectives has been challenging in the best way possible, and these characters make me smile and laugh (and drive me nuts) with their secrets and shenanigans. I’m so excited to start revising it with my editors!
Next, Swiftie 4…
We are currently in the process of titling this one. I never title my books before/while drafting. I always call them by my protagonist’s name. In this case, Swiftie 4 has been “Mads” since page one. Her full name is Madeline Fisher-Michaels, and the code-phrase for her story has been “The Bachelorette” since there may or may not be some Bachelorette-style dating involved. But again, the title is still up in the air…
This book is a love letter to my childhood home in Pennsylvania (perhaps the same town where the WWY characters live???) and being a bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding. Please enjoy my “bio” from the Bachelorette Weekend, courtesy of a fellow bridesmaid.
Many of you have also asked what the “song” is for this book! Speak Now is the album that solidified me as a Swiftie—I would listen to “Enchanted” every time I had a new crush in middle or high school—and so here I’m going to be doing a spin on “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” One of the questions, throughout the book, is who exactly is “singing” this song. Is it Mads, the groom’s kid sister? Is it his best friend? Or might it be The Bride herself?
The romance was also loosely inspired by folklore’s betty x james x august love triangle.
The last thing I’ll say for now is that I have unblinking heart-eyes for this book’s love interest. His name is [redacted].
7 Questions
You can submit these on Instagram! I received a handful of questions about my writing process, but I’m going to save those for a longer discussion in a future newsletter.
Did any specific author(s) inspire you to write?
Yes! Stephanie Perkins and her novel, Anna and the French Kiss, made me want to write my own book. It has everything I love in young adult: boarding school, a tight-knit and entertaining ensemble cast, clever dialogue, and a swoony romance. After each and every time I devoured it as a teenager, I would think to myself, I wish I wrote this!
What’s Meredith’s favorite 1989 (Taylor’s Version) vault track?
“Slut!”
What is your favorite book?
There are so many I consider favorites, but the love I have for Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus will forever endure. I read it every Christmas. It’s like savoring the last slice of chocolate cake.
Absolutely loved Maybe Meant To Be, especially Luke and Charlie. Anything on them in the future?
Luke and Charlie (or, as they are known in TSOBR, the “Cute Bookseller” and “Hot Sailing Instructor”) are in their final year at UVA! Charlie is majoring in bio and applying to med schools, and Luke is double-majoring in criminology and linguistics. He’s in the IMP Society, one of UVA’s secret societies, and attends every FBI recruiting event. He lives on The Lawn while Charlie is off-campus at the frat house. Charlie is President of Chi Phi (because of course he is). In his lack of spare time, he also plays club ice hockey and participates in UVA’s Shakespeare On The Lawn. They are a Power Couple. Can you tell I love them?!
Do you make inspiration playlists?
Playlists are an essential for me! I like to write in silence or to the tune of a
“crackling fire” video on YouTube, but I listen to my manuscript playlists when I’m brainstorming or running or driving.
Character you’ve written that’s most like yourself?
Lily Hopper <3
Will Mer and Wit be spending the holidays on the Vineyard?
Yes! Thanksgiving is always in New Orleans at Sarah and Michael’s house (they are now homeowners), but everyone heads out to the Farm for Christmas. Wit and Mer spend New Year’s with Wit’s mom and his stepdad in Vermont!
5 Songs
Always, always, always listening to music…
History of Man - Maisie Peters
Pretty Boy - LÉON
the grudge - Olivia Rodrigo
Here On Out - Dave Matthews Band
Garden - The National Parks
3 Books
Last: Sharon Cameron’s Artifice. It’s a WWII story full of intrigue, deception, romance, and art appreciation. There were tears at the end!
Now: Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes. I’m not very far in yet, but the voice has me hooked.
Next: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle, because I blew through In Five Years and One Italian Summer!
Bonus Content:
An entry from Meredith Lane Fox’s Diary, dated August 4th, 2023
Dear Claire,
I know I haven’t written in a while—after Aunt Julia won Assassin last month, this summer feels like it’s gone by in a flash—but tonight, time seems to have slowed. It’s 11:56 PM. Stephen is asleep next to me, but my heartbeat won’t settle to the sound of his breathing like usual. I’m wired. Because, in four minutes, it’ll be your birthday. You will be twenty-one.
And I wish I could, but I can’t blink away my tears. Wink called and made our standard balcony reservation for twenty at Alchemy tomorrow—I will smile wider and sing louder than anyone else and then lead the revelry all through town afterward. IT’S CLAIRE FOX’S BIRTHDAY, PEOPLE!
Just, right now, I feel this impossible weight on my chest.
I never want to stop celebrating your birthday. I love your birthday, but at the same time, I want it to pass. You are here with us, but you are not HERE-here with us. Not here with me. On days like this, it sinks in all over again. You aren’t here to put on your sparkly tiara when the clock strikes midnight. One of your favorite traditions, remember? We would welcome your birthday, just the two of us. You’d wear your tiara and light witchy candles while I’d take your “zebra cake” out of the fridge and sing Happy Birthday in off-key, poorly pronounced French. You would make a wish before we took two forks to the whipped cream and chocolate wafers (I maintain that zebra cake is NOT a real cake!). Then I would give you your present. I saw a pair of earrings at Backwater the other day. If things were different, I would’ve gotten them for you. I miss you, Claire. I really, really miss you.
Have a drink on me upstairs, Birthday Goddess. You’re twenty-FREAKING-one!
Sending my love anywhere and everywhere,
Mer
If you have made it to the end of this experiment, I really appreciate it! I’m wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see what next month brings…
Cheers,
Kaethe
PS: A huge shoutout to the fantastic Samantha Blasch, for sparing me a battle with Canva!
loving this newsletter already🥰
You're going to do great 🤩 and I can't wait to hear all news and tidbits!!