The Calm After The Calm
Or, what happens after book tour
The joke used to be that the period after a book comes out is the calm after the calm. My publication didn’t feel calm, it felt exciting and momentous and wonderful, and I had such a great time touring (traveling without children! a cool ocean breeze!), but I do find myself a bit confused about what to do with myself now. The book is still hanging out on the indie bestseller list (hooray! Thank you! You are buying books at the right places!) but my events are done until the Fall and so now I’m…..writing? Thinking about writing? I’m thinking about thinking. There is a notebook. The notebook is mostly filled with drawings of monsters done by my children, but there are a few sentences of notes from me in there, too.
In the past, I’ve always been deep into my next book when I publish one, but this time, no dice. It’s a nice phase of writing, actually, the casting about for ideas. I had a really fabulous convo with Gabrielle Zevin the other day (you can watch on Books Are Magic’s instagram page), and she described the magnet of her idea, and thinking about what things were attracted to it. I drew a magnet in my notebook the other day, and sure enough, other ideas did appear, other threads. So maybe there is an idea brewing after all.
It’s fun to be a writer.
While I’m in my woolgathering phase, here are a few things bringing me joy:
Meryl Streep, the greatest glasses actor of our time!
RIP Claes Oldenberg! Who doesn’t love things built on an enormous scale?
Long hair, big cherry, 2008.
I also just started Laura Hankin’s new novel, The Daydreams, which will be out next spring. It is being pitched as Daisy Jones but for the Britney and Justin generation, hello, yes, please and thank you. It’s terrific thus far! No preorder link yet, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
We made a zine! It’s adorable. You can sign up for our mail club, or buy one in the store soon!
Summer days, summer days. Stay cool, everyone! May there be a Mr. Softee truck on your corner.
I wanted to say thank you for your newsletter! Every time you mention a book that hasn’t been released, I put a hold on said book through the public library in Toronto (I’d buy them all, but I’m on parental leave and kids aren’t cheap! I mean, someone has to pay for the “music lessons” where the parents clap and sing and shake rattles, and the babies do literally every other thing that has NOTHING to do with music). Then, when I’m least expecting it, I receive an email telling me that something magical is waiting to be picked up from the library. I’ve enjoyed every single thing so far. You haven’t steered me wrong! I am an English teacher and I often read with the intention of finding something for my students, but your selections are purely for my own enjoyment. Thank you so much, Emma!
Magnet and wool gathering as well. Enjoyed your book.