It's pub day!
Huzzah!
This message is a little time machine, because I’m writing to you from Monday evening. I’ve just come home from my neighborhood walk and Ripley wants to know if it’s time for lap yet (not quite, baby girl, not quite).
I just feel so freaking grateful! Also tired, but really — grateful. On my walk, I kept thinking about how full of nerves I’ve been all day — nerves with no real, specific focus (ok, maybe some focus on what I’m going to wear on Saturday…).
And I was thinking about how all books come out on Tuesdays, which means that every Monday, there are dozens of writers going through exactly what I’m going through right now. Like a strange, disbursed club in which the members are different every week, but the communal feelings are (probably) the same!
Here is what I hope, on publication-eve:
I hope the dozens of folks at Scribner, S&S Canada, and Chatto & Windus who championed and shepherded the book feel proud, as it goes out into the world (I feel proud!).
I hope that booksellers and librarians feel excited to share it with their communities.
I hope that Homebound finds the readers who need it — who are hungry for a bit of hope, a bit of punk rock, a bit of storytelling.
And I hope I get to see you at one of my Bay Area events, if you’re local!
Wednesday May 6 at JCCSF, 7-8:30pm (free, registration required)
Wednesday May 13 at Mill Valley Public Library, 6:30-7:30pm (free, registration required)
Wednesday May 27 at Book Society, Berkeley with Kate Crane and Eric Scot Tryon (tickets available for purchase here)
Thursday May 28 at Keplers, Menlo Park, with Ellen Barker, Meg Donohue, and Victoria Tatum (free, registration required)
I’m sharing my book birthday with many many other books, including some fellow debuts I’m excited to pick up!
How the Story Goes by Andrew Forrester
A young widower of a famous children’s fantasy author teams up with a down-on-her-luck MFA dropout to write the final book in his late wife’s series...and find their own perfect ending along the way.
The Cove by Claire Rose
Midsommar meets Fear Street in this modern, sea-soaked folk horror debut about fighting to survive, and fighting to be yourself.
Honey by Imani Thompson
Yrsa is bored: bored with her PhD program, her entitled students, and the never-ending pages of racial violence and feminist theory she has to read. But most of all, she’s bored with the men in her life—especially the bad ones. And then, one sunny afternoon, she accidentally kills one.
I’m sure there will be more to share and say in the coming weeks, but for now, I’m going to head to bed and spend the rest of this evening with the cats and Rory and my current book (Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree). I’ll meet you in the morning!
With love,
p
Wheeeeeeee!!!!!
Happy pub day!!