The Truth About Lists

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here.

Not sure what to say about that. I’m sorry? You’re welcome?

I don’t know.

The truth is, these last few months have just been a cyclone of activity. I went on tour in the middle of my work year (I’ve never done that before), my book hit the USA Today Bestseller List, I finished writing the book I started last summer in the Cape, continued carrying the heavy load of working a day job and side-hustling this author life, visited a ton of book clubs, and on and on and on.

Because it’s all been kind of a blur, I haven’t taken the time to process a lot of what’s happened. It’s a big deal, being a USA Today Bestseller, and I’m extremely proud to have hit this milestone with this particular book.

But it doesn’t really change anything.

I still work a day job, and that day job still pays my bills. I still struggle to find readers, to figure out social media and what people like, to balance my time and commitments. I still have no help from a big marketing and publicity team. I don’t have an assistant, or a budget, or a consistent writing practice. I still read all of my Goodreads reviews and stress over what will come next for me in my career as an author.

It feels good, sure - but in the same way as an excellent piece of cake can taste amazing in the moment that you eat it. Once that moment passes, you can always look back on that cake and think, “Man, that was some good cake,” but it’s just a memory. Time steals the excitement of it. New things happen that blur it out. We all move on.

So today, as I try to get back into some kind of writing practice, I figured I’d take a second to memorialize this really delicious cake I ate a little over two months ago by reintroducing myself to my own blog, saying hello to you, dear reader, and looking ahead to what’s next.