I Will Have Fun This Summer

Turning the slog into an adventure

Guys I just got back from a girl date with my five year old and it might have been the best three hours I’ve spent in a long time. We went to a bookstore and then Sephora where we literally tried on everything in the store. Including my favorite Peter Roth eye patches that are miracle workers.

We were slathered in oils and creams and hair gunk and we smelled like Joan Collins dressing room by the time we moved onto dinner at the conveyor belt sushi place where robots bring you soda. The robot is really the star of the place, but the sushi (which my daughter calls rice circles) is also very good.

And because we were wearing matching dresses (Boden, natch…mama dress here and daughter dress here) we got compliments every couple of feet which my daughter loved. Everyone likes to be told they’re adorable. Everyone!

I want all this joy this summer! ALL of it.

Since I posted about my book tour, I’ve been hearing from so many authors who are dreading their own. And I get it. It’s a lot of work. Yes, it’s amazing to meet readers. It’s an incredible privilege to get out in the world and talk about something you made. But it can also feel deeply vulnerable, physically exhausting, and logistically bonkers.

I’ve shown up at events where the only person in the audience was one woman and her poodle. I gave the full talk anyway. I spoke to that woman and her dog like they were a packed house. And then I went back to my hotel room and cried. I loved meeting her and Fluffernut, but I also felt embarrassed and ridiculous.

That’s not going to happen this time. Most of the events are already selling out, because we’re turning them into something bigger than just a reading. These stops are meetups, parties, community builders. And I think we’re all hungry for that kind of connection right now.

I made a decision: this summer, I’m going to have a fucking blast on this tour. And not just me. My whole family is along for the ride, because it’s their summer vacation too, and they deserve a great time. We’re turning every stop into an adventure.

The book events are not going to be me sitting in a chair, reading chapters aloud until everyone gets sleepy. No one wants that. These are interactive. There will be prizes. There will be booze. Some stops will have tradwife costume contests. You can even bring your own pies. I’ll keep you posted on Instagram, obviously.

But also I am planning our vacations around the tour. I am taking something that could be exhausting and draining and turning it into something fun. I’m sharing all of this because I believe we get to choose how we show up. Not always, but often.

WE ARE SO CLOSE TO PUB DAY. I’ll be ending the offer of a free subscription for this newsletter for orders of Everyone is Lying to You on pub week so get those orders in. If every single subscriber to this newsletter gets it now we may defeat the patriarchy and JD Vance will cry and then his eyeliner will run.

Here is the Amazon link. I know it is often the easiest one. This is a list of more purchasing options, but it is also available at a lot of indie bookstores and you can get signed copies mailed to you here and here. Tour stops are here!