Steven Weinberg and I will be in Kingston at the wonderful magical Rough Draft Books tomorrow at 11. Come for the Farmers Market and stay to have Steven doodle in your books.
Even though I’m still doing events, I’m finally starting to relax after the Parisian Heist launch. It was a whirlwind and my brain and body were going at about 210%. But I’m starting to slow down a little. It takes me a beat. I’m not a particularly slow living person even though sometimes I would like to be.
I’m going to be honest with you. The events for the launch for the book were amazing. More than twenty sold out events all across the country. BOOKSELLERS ARE THE BEST PEOPLE. But I’m feeling a little depressed about how sales are going. I wasn’t sure if I was going to admit that, but I like to be honest and transparent about all things here, especially my writing career. I wrote a piece for my friend Andi Bartz’s Substack about how I am reframing this. I am reminding myself that this is the beginning of a long life for this book, the very beginning.
Keep giving us the five stars on Amazon and here on Good Reads. Also mark it as a book on Good Reads you’re excited to read or that you just read. Let’s set goals for us. Right now we are at 239 reviews. Lets get it to 500. And sadly 5 stars are the only things that actually help. SO DUMB. And keep shouting about it from the rooftops. And let me know if there are any press outlets you want to see me on.
Now onto the things helping me slow down and just a couple of things I am totally hating on right now.
Things I love
Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand. I am so late to this party that it feels like an understatement to rave about it now, but it was a goddamned delight. I devoured it in a couple of days at the cabin. It’s a novel about women in their fifties with actual real-life problems that still manages to be glossy enough to be a romp, which is a genuinely hard thing to pull off. Onto the show next.
Scandinavian Swimmers from Trader Joe’s. The best gummy candy available to humankind. No notes. My friend Colleen, who I stayed with at the beach, keeps a nearly unlimited supply, and we plowed through them like it was a job.
The Ninja Slushie machine. Also discovered during my stay at Colleen’s. The Ninja Slushie has become her entire personality and I regret to report that it is rapidly becoming mine. Trying to convince Nick Aster we need this in our lives. We made the kids strawberry and blue raspberry, then we made ourselves slushie old fashioneds. I would now like all food and all beverages delivered to me in either gummy or slushie form.
What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking: Make It Fast by Caroline Chambers. Caroline is the person who has done the most to make me feel less insane about the nightly hostage situation that is dinner in our house. This book is a godsend. Every recipe can be cooked in under 30 minutes of hands-on time, with swaps built in. When she came on Under the Influence I told her on the podcast that her whole career is a public service and I meant it.
