News
My second novel TRASHLANDS releases on Tuesday, October 26. There’s still time to get free temporary tattoos, stickers, and a bookmark in custom TRASHLANDS swag. Just pre-order from ANY store or retailer—OR, ask any library to consider ordering the book—and fill out your mailing address here.
Literary Overwhelm
Hello! It’s been awhile. In the last few weeks, as publication of my second novel nears, I’ve had to let a lot of things go. One is the thing that means most to me.
Last week, I was at the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association FallCon. This was my first booksellers’ convention—something, to be honest, I did not know existed, and I pitched my book—something I have never done before—to a very large room full of indie booksellers from across the west. I was sitting in a corner, and did not realize how far the tables went back, and how many faces would be staring up at me, until I walked up to the microphone. Last. And with my jumpsuit buttoned wrong.
Before my speech, the writer sitting next to me asked me if I had any advice for debut novelists. I thought of the advice I had been given, which was to be in the middle of working on a new, different project when your book publishes.
I didn’t say that to her.
I said, In the months before your book release, there’ll be a lot of requests—for interviews, for guest essays, for podcasts. It’s hard to balance that and writing a new book. Know that it’s coming, and know that you might have to juggle for awhile.
Juggling means dropping things sometimes too.
I can balance my journalism job, responding to PR requests for TRASHLANDS, taking care of my son, and hopefully not being too terrible a partner or long-distance friend. But I can’t balance the new novel I started writing at the end of the summer. I can’t do that too.
About a hundred, rough pages have been drafted of this new book. I was excited about it. I was into it, and being full absorbed by the story, this new cast of characters and setting: a place near home but not exactly home, very familiar to me but very far away.
The idea of being deep into a new book when your project launches is that you’re not totally invested in the old thing. You’re moving on. That’s the life cycle of an artist. You have to keep going.
But sometimes in order to keep going, you have to drop some things weighing you down.
So much of being an artist is out of your control. You can’t control if your book gets published, if you get to keep the title, what the back cover reads, how your project is marketed (if it’s marketed at all). Or reviewed. Or celebrated—or even understood. Or read.
Part of the reason to jump into a new project is that you can control that part. You control the page. You control sitting there and having patience and being open to a story or music finding you. And being real and vulnerable when it does.
But another part of being an artist is knowing that there is a season for all things. There’s a time and place for new work, including work that feels really necessary—even those demanding projects will be there for you when you’re ready, when you have time for them. They deserve that, real time from you.
What else can you drop?
I have enough. I am doing enough. I am enough.
And dropping doesn’t mean losing. It doesn’t mean walking away forever. That new book is still where I left it, waiting patiently. And on October 27, the Wednesday after my novel comes out, I’m going to drink a big cup of coffee in the morning. And then I’m going to read through the new book I had begun, the book I had to let go of. I’m going to begin again.
And Lavender
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned lavender before. We think of it a lot in bath salts and candles—and the strong purple flowers definitely have a relaxing scent. A bit of the oil, which is intense and needs to be used sparingly, rubbed on the hands and inhaled can sometimes help with anxiety, which I’m certainly feeling now in these weeks leading up to my book launch. I have a lavender-scented heating pad which I warm up in the microwave.
But lavender also has antiseptic properties. You can use it to soothe an irritated scalp or skin. A few drops in a carrier oil, like olive oil or coconut oil, can help an earache. Tend a lavender plant for luck—and grow rosemary by the garden gate.