Some of my favorite interviews, Part 3
Here I am on Book Off! with Bella Mackie, author of How To Kill Your Family. This is a great podcast- longform interviews with two authors in conversation, usually ones that have something in common. Bella and I both have a dark sense of humor (as apparent in the title of her book!) Listen to our conversation to hear our takes on horror and humor, America vs. British views of Downton Abbey, and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.
Some of my favorite interviews, part 2
Here is another interview I really enjoyed, with Katherine Huddle of the Carmel Clay Public Library. When you get interviewed dozens of times in a short period of time, you start to pick up on which interviewers stand out. I don’t know what it was, but I think me and Katherine were just vibing! Link (I can’t embed, sorry)
Some of my favorite interviews, part 1
Not surprisingly, I have spent a lot of the past month plus doing various interviews promoting Never Saw Me Coming. I wanted to highlight a few of my favs in case you missed them.
The below video was from my official launch by Politics and Prose (a local bookstore in DC). If I seem really chummy with the interviewer, it’s because we happen to be very close friends—Everdeen actually read the first draft of this novel, and saw it through several revisions, to my battle to get an agent, all the way through submission to the book deal. (She has been moderating book events for years, and we had a dream of her one day moderating my book event.) During the horrible year of 2020, updates on the book coming out were sometimes the only positive thing we had to share! NB: if the questions at the end seem progressively weirder, it is because 100% of them came from my friends who were attempting to troll me and who may or may not have been drinking in a hotel room ten blocks from my house.)
So you've binged Never Saw Me Coming, what now?
sidebar- is this not the most beautiful cat you have ever seen?
Do you suffer from a pervasive emptiness after having finished my book? Um, sorry. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope the characters stay with you and I hope you had a few laughs. As I’ve written elsewhere, this was very much a pandemic book (it was written before the pandemic, but the entire business end of selling and marketing the book occurred during the pandemic) so if I was able to take you away from it all for a few hours, mission accomplished.
I am writing this on Monday, September 6th, the day before my book officially goes on sale tomorrow. My launch event happens to fall on Saturday, September 11th, the 20 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The past two years have been very strange: my little fictional book with its made up characters and problems feels tiny compared the the huge, daunting problems that face us in real life: political instability, climate change, COVID, I could go on. I don’t think of myself as an “important” writer, someone who has profound things to say about the zeitgeist or whatever—I am a popcorn writer who leans towards intelligent. During the pandemic I was not reading War and Peace, learning a new language, or getting into the best shape of my life. I went for long, meandering walks while listening to podcasts. I stared at clouds. When I did consume media, it was comfort watches that took me away: rewatching Breaking Bad for the 100th time, rewatching Lost for inexplicable reasons, becoming obsessed with Full Metal Alchemist and The Expanse. I am not a gamer, but I obsessively played and consumed Skyrim material for most of the summer of 2020. I could not really leave my house as COVID was spiking, but at least in that fictional world I could wander around gathering flowers to make potions, defeat enemies, and stand less than 6 feet away from someone at a tavern (actually I couldn’t if I was wearing Ebony Mail, which poisons people if you stand too close shout out to the one person reading this who’s played Skyrim.) There is nothing wrong in wanting to get lost in a fictional world.
Well, when can you next enter one of my fictional worlds? Um.. I’m not sure? I’m not currently under contract, but I am working on another book. If you want a book exactly like Never Saw Me Coming I will inevitably disappoint you. If the book felt fresh it was because I was doing things with characters and tropes you weren’t expecting. I’m not ever going to be a writer who keeps hitting the same notes over and over to make “different” songs. If you like my actual style of writing, my humor, my focus on characters, you’re going to like my next book. I promise. It will surprise you because it’s different. When exactly you’ll get to read it, I have no idea. It’s going to take me a while to write and then, you know, it has to be edited and printed and stuff.
In the meanwhile, I have a backlog of other stuff you can read right now, which I will tee up here!
Guava Summer
Guava Summer is a chapbook (novella—a very long short story) published by Radix Media as part of their Futures science fiction boxed set of chapbooks. You can buy it singularly or as part of the set. (This novella is only available in print.) The picture doesn’t quite do it justice, but each chapbook was individually designed, and each has their own personal touches (mine has an inset of colorful guavas). In fact, Radix won an award for Book and Cover design from AIGA’s 50 Books 50 Covers 2019 competition.
The story focuses on an unnamed, schlubby detective living with a sexy android (yes there’s a backstory there) in a totalitarian society where the government sees all, people are carted off in the dead of night, and corruption abounds. When Sebastian Black, a corrupt mobster-turned-politician and former client emerges as the leading presidential candidate, the detective prepares for another sham election. But with the summer heat comes the unexpected…
Guava Summer is one of my most favorite things I have written. If you’re a regular thriller reader, but not a sci fi reader, give it a chance; all of my stories are fundamentally about character, but this one is also strongly about creating a new and interesting world, and the political context within it. It also has the best ending I have ever written. (Sadly, because the story is too long, I will never get to read it out loud for an audience.)
Twelve Years, Eight-hundred and Seventy-two Miles
Twelve Years, Eight-Hundred and Seventy-Two Miles is literary fiction, a novella about two brothers going on a road trip to see their father executed on death row. Here’s the blurb:
For twelve years, Zeke Honeycutt has been waiting for his father to be executed on death row.
Haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child, he has been scraping together a living to raise his brother, Will—now fifteen years old—ever since they left foster care. Unlike Zeke, Will, an oddball budding filmmaker, was too young to remember their parents, and to him their mother’s murder is just a case file. Nonetheless, Zeke takes his brother on a road trip across the eight-hundred and seventy-two miles that stretch between LA and the Eyman Prison complex in Arizona to view the execution. As they drive through the desert in their beat-up car, they keep up a steady banter about the mundane—school, girls, and everything in between. But as they move closer to their destination, each must confront the family history that left an indelible imprint on their lives.
This one is always interesting to tee up because it is about something awful and tragic, but it’s also a comedy. For me, there’s often an element of comedy in things that are dark, dreadful, or scary. Here are two boys with a different set of memories, and different feelings about the death penalty. One thinks the execution will bring him a resolution—the other doubts this. I love this story for having a lot of heart and a lot of humor (also it would make a good movie cough cough). The greatest compliment I received about it was a friend who told me that it made him “ugly sob” when he was running on a treadmill. (People can read while running???)
Other Short Fiction
If you head over to this section of my website there are a few more short stories (more of the short variety that the above two) that are available online.
Semi-Gone Girl
All of the work and publicity that goes into the later stages of getting a book out there—well, it’s a lot. A lot of what I have counted as “writing” in the past few months has actually been the business end of getting this book out into the world. I am still saying yes to most publicity things (in as much as I can) and supporting the other 2021 debuts who are coming out later this year through the rest of the year, but what I would love to do is get back to writing a new book. I will still be active on social media in support of the above, but maybe not as active. I will still be doing events, and am still open to doing book clubs (see that section of my website if interested—I would love to finally talk about Never Saw Me Coming without having to worry about spoilers.) But really it’s best if writers are left to do what they do best, which is write. I might delete Twitter off my phone or put some strictures on non-writing stuff I do, but that’s because what I need to be doing is sitting my ass down and writing. If you loved my book, great, thank you, please rate and leave a review and mention it to a friend or two. I hope if you loved it, you’ll continue to support my career, wherever that may take us. I promise it will be interesting.
A week out.. it's been a blur.
I have to interrupt regularly scheduled blog posts to scream the following: I got a glowingly positive review in the New York Times and for a brief moment in time, this review was on the front page of the digital edition.
(You can find the review pretty easily, but I won’t link it right now because there might be a spoilery detail or two).
At some later point, I will write a longer post about the emotional roller coaster that is Your Book Is Coming Out, but at the moment I still haven’t processed everything. If you’re someone who bought NSMC, thank you. If you have already read/listened to it, please drop a review on Amazon, B&N, and/or Goodreads, regardless of where you bought it, as reviews affect algorithms. My next post will be on 9/30— see you then.
How I Wrote My Book (literally)
Building off of last post where I showed you my notebook, this post will discuss the actual process of writing Never Saw Me Coming. This might be interesting for curious readers or may be informative to other writers. Everyone has a different process, so take with a grain of salt—there is no “right” way. There is no magical thing if you just do it, you will finish your book and it will be great and you will get a huge book deal. There are people who take 10 years to write a book, and people who take 10 weeks. There are various recommended processes and programs and books about writing, but ultimately, you have to do what works for you.
I don’t think of writing as a grueling process, which some writers make it out to be. Working at a chicken processing plant, an Amazon warehouse, or as a doctor or nurse right now in COVID is grueling. Maybe it’s because I don’t do autofiction, but writing has never felt like I was tearing out a piece of myself, or processing my trauma. For me it was always fun, even the more difficult parts like revising feel like solving a puzzle. That doesn’t mean that related aspects of the business of writing weren’t hard— getting an agent was emotionally difficult, watching other people succeed when I felt like I was failing was difficult (but not like chicken processing plant difficult).
I am a weird mixture of crazy efficient, lazy, and practical. When I have a project to get done and it is clearly delineated, I will go after it having lots of “flow” moments, losing track of time, and get it done. When I’m not actively working on a project (ie, I’ve just finished a book) I often spend months at a time watching mind-numbingly stupid TV, listening to podcasts, and generally dicking around. It’s all or nothing for me. And that’s fine.
I have a career, which I don’t intend to give up, and writing will continue to be my hobby. So when I wrote this book, I was working about 40 hours a week, sometimes a smidge more. But I have very, very strong boundaries between different things. If I am doing career stuff, I am not on social media poking around book-related stuff. If I am with my friends, I am not checking my phone. It is entirely possible to write a novel and have a full time job. And you don’t have to wake up at 5 in the morning to have the time. You don’t have to stay up till 3 am. You don’t have to kill yourself to be an artist. I wrote the first draft of this novel very quickly (about six weeks) and this typically involved writing for about an hour after dinner but before I went to the gym, and maybe writing 1-4 hours on the weekend. I guess I’m being very specific about saying this because I want to point out that 1) you don’t need a special “thing” to write- like an MFA or a computer program or something 2) you don’t need enormous blocks of time 3) you don’t need a special place, like a writing cabin in the woods away from everything else 4) you don’t need a mentor, guru, or person to hold you accountable because you could just hold yourself accountable.
I will say that the two things you do need are 1) efficiency and 2) a map.
I’ve met a lot of writers who say they can’t write unless they have a big block of time- like 3 or 4 hours. It’s my belief that this is a “won’t” and not a “can’t.” You’ve convinced yourself that you can only write under these specific conditions.. but you made those conditions, so you can change them. If you need a big block of time and don’t have one, then you’re not going to write, or you’re going to learn to write with smaller blocks of time. Can’t write while the kids are screaming? Then learn to write while the kids are screaming or get noise cancelling headphones or introduce the kids to colorful, sparkly bits of yarn. There is no magical formula thing, you just have to sit your ass in a chair. And I had, max, about an hour at a time on weekdays, because I had work, a dog to take care of, meals to cook, gym to go to, friends to see—only an hour. So pragmatically speaking, with only an hour to spare, was I going to spend it dicking around? There’s a time and a place for day dreaming, for researching about agents or publishers, poking around literary gossip, but that time was not when I was sitting down to write.
Maybe you’ve heard of “pantsers” vs “plotters.” ie, people who make up where they’re going as they go along vs people who outline. I am in the latter camp and I will die on this hill. Pantsers always seem to have more severe rewrites and I don’t have time for that. Imagine an architect who just sort of.. builds whatever he feels, whenever he feels it, and then goes back to fix it later lamenting about how much work it is. I don’t think its an efficient use of one’s time, nor do I feel that outlining in anyway holds back my creativity. By the time I’ve outlined something, I’ve spent a lot of time working over the plot in my head, and my subconscious has been mulling over things for even longer than that. I do some plotting exercises before I even get to the outlining stage. This doesn’t mean that the outline is never shifted or significantly altered. Or that it’s even entirely complete. Sometimes I have A B C D F G K L and I sort of fill in the blanks as I go or after the fact. Or I know I need to get to L and I have to figure out how. Now I tend to write more in order because I’m working on two books, still work full time, am starting to have to do various publicity things for NSMC as pub date approaches, and spend approximately 20% of my day washing my hands. So now I work from more detailed outlines.
I really like this. It’s the difference between being hungry and opening the fridge to see raw chicken, yogurt, and celery, and being hungry and having a box that has all the ingredients you need and detailed instructions on what to do with them. (is this an ad for Hello Fresh?) In this case, having a detailed plot outline is like having a sous chef (past me) who’s prepared everything for current-me and all I have to do is provide the labor. Perhaps I’m missing some inherent value in pantsing! But I will say that once you move away from the “I could take as long as I want to write my first novel” into territory that has more strict deadlines and others depending on you, I highly recommend the more structured way of doing it.
Five Strange Things About Living in DC
Embassy of the Republic of the Congo (1)
Ah, seeing Chloe walk around and attend a frat party at a corner rowhouse just instantly brings to mind what DC streets are like at the end of summer, or in the fall (which in my opinion is DC at its prettiest.) It’s a small, walkable city with a lot of nightlife. I spent a lot of my nights walking to/from various bars, restaurants, and when I was younger, nightclubs. While many people have been to DC as part of a 8th grade trip, I can assure you that living here is radically different than just visiting here. Much like I was sort of “meh” about the beach when I lived in LA, I often don’t even see the main tourist attractions anymore: the Lincoln Memorial is just a place I run by, the Washington Monument is just a good way of orienting which direction you’re standing in. Funny thing about COVID, I’ve spent a ridiculous among of time walking around and looking at architecture, and yes, returning for a close look at the Lincoln. (I went there a lot in my 20s, but this time around found myself reading the speeches engraved on the inside walls, all around the time of mass protests in DC about racial equality. His second inaugural address—delivered a month and change before his assassination—contains this historical dunk:)
Anyhow, here are some weird aspects of living in DC you might not know about if your only experience has been an 8th grade trip where you took a chartered bus but you got your period and it was a nightmare.
Diplomats And embassies
You sort of forget about it if you live here, and take it for granted that there are going to be nice cars with diplomatic plates parked terribly who are going to get away with it. There are almost two hundred embassies in Washington DC. Some are in what look like lovely old mansions, some in DC’s . . . interesting brutalist architecture, and then there’s Canada, my favorite embassy, which used to be right next to the Newseum, which is unfortunately moving.
Embassy of Canada (2)
When you walk into an embassy, you are considered in the sovereign territory of that country. Embassies regularly have interesting cultural events, and more importantly, are known for giving out good Halloween candy.
2. lack of sovereignty
It’s mentioned a couple times in NSMC and it’s probably hard to understand for people who don’t live here, but basically we do not have local sovereignty. DC is not a state— it is a “federal enclave” which means there are things that voters in say, Kansas, could do that we could not do here. For example, voters here vote for one particular thing. What basically happens is that Congress could then prevent that thing from happening just because legally they can, even though that particular member of Congress represents constituents from a different state. Not surprisingly, this has happened with hot-button issues: abortion, gun control, and the legalization of marijuana. Regardless of how you feel about those particular political issues, as a resident here it’s frustrating because our votes basically get thrown in the garbage because it’s an easy way for politicians to score points back home.. or so they think. Occasionally you come across a story where a reporter mentions that this is a thing to someone living in another state and they say, wait, what? That isn’t fair. In fact, there are organizations in other states standing up for us. (yay Iowa!)
I am pro-DC statehood- although I don’t really care what form that takes. Do I think it needs to literally be another star added to the American flag and what not—who cares, but we would like to have taxation WITH representation and to have our vote counts. Hence our state license plate:
The population of DC is about 700,000. In 2014, we paid about 26,000,000,000 in federal taxes, which is more than the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Alabama, Iowa, South Carolina, Delaware, Utah, Nevada, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Idaho, New Mexico, Hawaii, North Dakota, Maine, West Virginia, South Dakota, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and Vermont. Our population is in the ballpark of Alaska’s and North Dakota’s, and is actually larger than the population of Vermont and Wyoming. In terms of political representation, you probably know that each state gets two senators— DC does not have a senator. But never fear, we do have a Congresswoman in the House of Representatives: Eleanor Holmes Norton, who in 2018 was the member of Congress who introduced the most number of bills, and cosponsored the most number of bills (this is typical of her). But what you may not know is that as part of the House of Representatives, Holmes Norton cannot vote on final bills, but can vote in Congressional committees—but only if Democrats are in charge of the House. (That’s not a legal quirk—it’s a political quirk. The House votes on whether or not DC gets to vote. When Republicans control the house, they vote to have that right to vote taken away.)
However, there are some Republicans who are in favor of DC statehood, and the movement is gaining some political steam, particularly after the protests which took place in 2020, and then the January 6th attack, and people saw a little about how we have to put up with a lot of shit and don’t even have real budget autonomy in return.
3. Motorcades
I’ve gotten so used to these that I don’t even realize how bizarre they are to experience. There’s Presidential and Vice Presidential motorcades and then there are often police escorts that people mistake for a motorcade. Typically what happens is, you’re innocently driving somewhere and you start hearing sirens in the distance. Police cars or motorcycles will abruptly show up and block off multiple streets at the same time. Then you wait and there are more sirens, then they are a bunch of police cars, police motorcycles, and then a series of anonymous looking black sedans (armored cars) with flashing lights and windows tinted black (you can’t really tell who’s inside.) This can really create a traffic situation if it’s rush hour, but sometimes it’s there and gone so quickly. This is radically different than the motorcade you’d see during Inauguration. You also see Marine One a lot of you live here (this is the helicopter equivalent to Air Force One). I have not personally seen Air Force One flying anywhere (although I have spotted presidential dogs before!)
4. Museums are free
Or at least, museums that are part of the Smithsonian Institution are (these are the ones along the main strip of the National Mall.) There’s only a couple paid museums in DC worth seeing and all the rest are free. It spoils you for when you travel to other cities. My favorite is the Natural History Museum (particularly the gem room) and Modern Art.
5. The city is divided into four quadrants
Maybe everyone knows this, but just to go over some basic geography.. DC is a small city divided into four quadrants, NE, SE, SW, and NW, with the US Capitol marking the dead center. The strip of green you see along the X axis is the National Mall (which has nothing to do with shopping). Along there you’ll find the Smithsonian museums, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial at the far end. NE and SE are heavily residential. SW is partially made up of the Potomac River and used to be known for its fish market, but just before the 2008 market crash, developers started a massive project to develop it into The Wharf. This got put on hold for a while, but The Wharf now exists.. a sort of Disney-like prefab-seeming area with a boardwalk, overpriced apartments, and some restaurants. The NW area dotted in red below is “downtown” where there are large office buildings and a lot of federal buildings—above that part it starts to get residential. (Where the fictional John Adams University is is just north of where it says “Mt Vernon Square” on the map.) If you’re wondering what all these red dots are.. I’m writing this one 1/16/21, or at least the first draft of this post, a few days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, and a few days after the assault on the Capitol and the attempted coup which left (at least) five dead. People often use the word “DC” or “Washington” as a stand-in for “government fat-cats who don’t understand the common man” and maybe don’t think about the fact that people actually live here. The red dots are all the street closures in preparation for Inauguration but more so in preparation for the threats of additional violence that various government agencies have warned of. I just went for a long walk over there and it seemed like the amount of security was a the same level or higher than it was the day of the 9/11 attacks.
Wow… I didn’t mean to end on a dark note.. It’s just been a really rough week for everyone (at the time of writing this post). And I am posting this on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a day which really changed me as a person, my outlook on life, and the direction of my career. It is also, weirdly the day that we are officially celebrating the launch of my book, which feels like a small thing in the midst of so many bad things happening at once. I moved to NYC after 9/11, then to California for a while, but I always wanted to come back here because it’s the one that most feels like home to me. I love how there’s the constant variety of things to do—theater, live music, craft shows, things to eat (there is a constantly evolving restaurant scene), people to meet. It’s large enough to be a city, but small enough that you can bump into people you know in random places. I wanted to write a book that took place here because I love it here, despite all the city’s faults, but I really wanted to write a book that took place in DC and specifically wasn’t a political thriller. I hope you can see that it’s a city that is so much more than just the White House.
Photo credits: 1: AgnosticPreachersKid - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9696983. 2: Brunswyk - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20358058
A month till pub day updates!
Hello friends! I haven’t been blogging a ton because a lot of my free time has been sucked into doing various publicity-related tasks. It feels somehow both like it’s taken forever for pub day to arrive, but also it’s gone by really fast. We are very close to the finishing line, so I wanted to send out some updates.
First, just to warn anyone who has subscribed to get this blog in digest format (via the SUBSCRIBE widget on the right side of the screen), normally these digests go out only once a week, and only if I’ve posted any blogs. For the month of September only, I’m going to change the settings so that blog posts go out the night they are published. I will have some interesting updates and bonus material for people who are excited about the book, so I will be blogging more frequently.
Second, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be about to have a book come out it is… a lot. It is really exciting and is a happy moment, but it’s also mixed in with a lot of anxiety (about people reading and judging your work, judging you when they don’t really know you, performing well for your imprint, people at work wondering if there is something wrong with your brain when they see another side of you, etc. etc. I could go on forever..) and stress (tons of events to attend, tasks to do, things to write, and oh yeah the PALLET of books I have to sign). To be honest, it is also a really bittersweet moment for me: while I have worked for so long for this event to finally be happening, there are people who won’t be here to see it, COVID is still raging, and many things feel uncertain. Luckily I have good friends supporting me who are ardently insisting that this event is to be celebrated. Will there be a custom Never Saw Me Coming shaped cake?? Absolutely. I have vaccinated friends flying in to celebrate privately in person and fun will be had.
Preorder information
Our preorder campaign is officially underway! Preorders are important because they count differently when calculating sales for the first week of debut (they are cumulative from the day the book is listed, which means months of sales). Here are a couple purchasing options: Politics and Prose for autographed copies; Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores; Libro.fm for an audiobook, and Vintage for UK readers.
Events
NB: these are not all the events, as there are some additional podcasts that will be broadcast at some point, which I will advertise when they are out.
Day Drinking With Authors podcast: this occurred already and you can listen to my lovely conversation with Molly Fader/O’Keefe here
8/23: McKinney Public Library: Debut Author Book Talk. Meet the debut authors everyone is talking about this fall. Join us for a conversation with Cassie Gustafson, June CL Tan, Vera Kurian, and Lee Mandelo about the ups and downs of publishing your first novel and how to stand out as a debut author.
9/6 @ 10:35 EST Times Radio First Edition: catch a brief live interview with me.
9/7 @ 4 pm EST A Mighty Blaze Might Mystery live interview, hosted by USA Today Bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan.
9/9 @ 8 pm EST Campus Crime Night: A back to school thriller event.
A panel discussion led by Nemerever. If you love campus novels, this is a great trio.
9/11 @ 5 pm Politics and Prose Live This is my official launch event and it should be amazing! P&P is a dream venue for any DC-based author. While it’s unfortunate that this got moved from an in-person event to online because of the panini, it should be really fun. Everdeen Mason is a regular interviewer for P&P (and other book venues, like the National Book Festival). We also happen to be very good friends who met at a writing workshop years ago, and years ago, we said something like, wouldn’t it be amazing if I got a book deal and you could host the event?? It should be a great conversation, because while she is a skilled interviewer, she also read this book in first-draft form, and also we are hilarious. Tickets are free, but you can also get a signed book.
9/16 @ 11 am EST Virtual Author Visit with Carmel Clay Public Library
9/23 @ 7pm EST Once Upon a Crime bookstore virtual event. Featuring myself, Raquel V. Reyes, John Copenhaver, David Tromblay, and Rachel Howzell Hall.
Never Saw Me Coming Giveaway and some minor updates!
If you’re in the US there is currently a Goodreads giveaway for one of fifteen advanced readers copies of Never Saw Me Coming! The giveaway ends May 31st and the actual book doesn’t come out till September. Click below to enter.
I can’t really talk about it, but we’ve sold a number of foreign rights for the book as well—the book will get translated into quite a few languages and I am very excited to see foreign covers. I’m currently working on a proposal for book 2—I’ll be honest, it’s been hard trying to get back to “normal life” as work has picked up.. my concentration is not the best, but I will power through.
On my iPhone: audiobook of Vivek Shraya's The Subtweet. Podcast: I Hate It But I Love It. Music: megamix of songs from 1994-1995.
On my TV: Mare of Easttown. Goddamn this show is intense.
On my nightstand: U Up? by Catie Disabato and The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng (one of my fellow 2021 debut authors).
On my couch: editorial dog.