The Day after Christmas
FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING OK!!!!
What is time.
Dear Readers,
I had forgotten how absolutely weird this time post-book release feels. You (author you) sell a book, and it takes two years for it to appear in the world. Heck, it takes a year and a half before you even reveal its cover and title! It takes so, so long. And then there are all these abrupt stops and starts. The title and cover reveal! Everyone gets amped, but then it’s quiet again. Then seemingly out of nowhere the book is up on NetGalley! ARCs are hitting people’s inboxes (and somehow never yours first). Your events are being planned, often by other people, and you feel weirdly out of the loop! Then your book is, somehow, out there! You’re doing events! People are tagging you in cute Instagram posts! It’s all FINALLY HAPPENING!
And then, somehow, it is just… over.
I mean, it is not, not really, because now the book is published! IT LITERALLY JUST CAME OUT. Things are not over with the book; in many ways they have just begun!
But it feels like it. You were on that onramp for so long that it feels weird to just…be on the freeway with all the other cars. I’ve done it many times* but it’s jarring each time to let it all build up to this one day and just… have it be over. And also just starting, but…without your involvement, almost? I dunno. I’m still processing. The thing about putting out a book a year** is that I’m maybe just processing until it starts up again! Maybe I never have learned to just get used to it. MAYBE I NEVER WILL?
(See you in June when I announce my next book!)***
While my tour is over, I do have many events still to come this year, some yet to be announced! But here are four that have! I would love to see you at one/all of these!
I hope to see all of you YES EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU at one of these. A normal expectation!
xoxoAmy
Consumption
Some recent and recent-ish stuff!
Cooking
Obsessed with this butternut squash, kale, and beans soup. I know what you are thinking: aren’t ALL soups basically butternut squash/kale/beans now? YES but also THIS RECIPE IS SUPERIOR. It’s the tiny amount of cream, parmesan cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds that put it way over the edge, OK??!
Reading
For reasons**** I filed Zan Romanoff’s Big Fan away, which means I am now diving in and enjoying the hell out of it. Romanoff’s writing is always just so right, I love her word choices and her character choices, and I always fall for celebrity/normal person*****, the greatest trope there is.
Snacking
This is so boring but I just wanted you to know that my very favorite snack item are Trader Joe’s Multigrain Crackers. I eat them with cheese and I eat them alone and over the course of many many years they have never let me down.
Watching
If you know me at all you have already predicted I am watching The Pitt because I will try literally any medical drama. Anyway I can’t get enough of The Pitt but I also think Michael Crichton’s estate is right to sue them, this is clearly a save-as of the ER sequel script with the location and some names changed, yes? Why would you fuck around with the legal team Jurassic Park money can buy? I mean I guess I’m glad they did. The show is great. I’m obsessed with Bryan Cranston’s daughter’s****** performance!
My Books
*Can you believe ON HER TERMS is my TENTH book? I can hardly believe it.
**I actually like the schedule and find it easy to write a book a year. It’s the other stuff that can start to feel overwhelming. Friends warn me of burnout. I LIKE WORKING IS THE THING.
***June is not for certain and also like you won’t just hear from me all the time, I have a fervent devotion to working on this newsletter.
****Didn’t read any celebrity/normal person books for a second there, imagine how difficult this was for me.
*****Is Maya a “normal person”? She had a Vogue profile! She’s like a niche celebrity, really.
******Sorry I know she has a name and I hate when people are automatically dismissive of nepo babies but time is money blah blah it’s Taylor something. Sorry Taylor, you’re fine. You probably didn’t spend two years of your life being roasted by your best friend because she thought your reading glasses looked like your dad’s when he was playing Trumbo.
See you at the LATFOB! xoxo