and up ahead's another town
"kentucky rain" by elvis presley & book tour
I’m back from book tour and have been enjoying a few days of just relaxing and trying to lay low, but I thought I’d take you through some of my adventures over this last week. A mini travelogue if you will.
Tombolo Books (St. Pete, FL)
This is my fourth launch event with Tombolo Books, and there’s a reason I keep coming back — I just love this bookstore so much. The vibes are impeccable, the people are knowledgeable and supportive and kind, it’s just a guaranteed good time every time.
Before the event, there was a mom wandering around the bookstore with her kid. They were from out of town, she said, and had just dropped in. When she saw I was setting up for an event she bought all of my books (!) and was like, “Good for you!” which. Can I just say — in a weird way, sometimes those are the comments I feel the *most*, when some stranger who’s barely invested in you or your books at all, is just passing through, is like “wow, you should be proud of yourself!” That’s the thing most likely to actually get me to stop and be proud of myself! As they were leaving she also asked her kid “do you know what shipped means?” and the kid (about 8 or 9, I’d guess) was like, “oh, I know what it means” in this very salacious way and the mom was like, “No, it’s not anything naughty!” haha
My conversation partner was Tombolo bookseller and incredible writer and overall awesome person Rachel Knox, who has a bookish newsletter of her own and an essay collection coming out next March that I’m very excited about. We talked about when I knew John from Cold World would get his own story (I’ve always wanted it!), whether I ever considered dual timelines (not really — I love showing bits of their friendship from the past but I wanted to stay on the ship), and the ways that making art and then putting it out for public consumption is kinda always a mindfuck (I mean, see almost every newsletter I ever write).
Pack Like a Rockstar
Okay, technically this has nothing to do with my book tour, but since I do more traveling than I used to, I started really getting into ways to min-max my luggage any way that I can. Y’all know I like to travel light! It is very important to me for reasons that probably go all the way back to childhood trauma or something if you unpack them, but that’s why I travel light so there’s less to unpack 😇
So I revisited this book I remembered reading back when it came out, because it was written by a member of Tegan and Sara’s touring band and featured lots of pictures of Tegan and Sara (and also Hayley Williams and others!): How to Pack Like a Rock Star. It also just felt thematic for my book about rock stars who have to pack for a cruise idk, it was a fun read!
Mostly I enjoyed this book for some of the fun stories of what it was like to tour (like how often they had to forgo their own stuff to pack merch in the early days; how they do laundry on the road; etc.), but it did give me a few tips. For example, I had never thought about ensuring that you pack your heaviest stuff toward what will be the bottom of the suitcase when you stand it up. Maybe that is super obvious. It had never crossed my mind.
My main tips for packing: if you do it a lot, have a designated toiletry bag you keep stocked with travel-size backups of all your daily toiletries. That way you’re not moving your deodorant from your sink at home to your bag, worrying about packing a toothbrush that’s still wet from you using it, forgetting your toothpaste at home, whatever. I use packing cubes now and they’ve kind of changed my life. Separate bags for any extra pairs of shoes and dirty laundry are a must. The main thesis statement of the Rock Star book seems to be that you should fold your clothes and store them sideways so it’s like a little filing cabinet of your outfits and easy to take one out without having to dig through piles, but I’ll admit that I’m not very good at this part yet! Also much like John in Never Been Shipped, it’s almost always a suitcase full of black t-shirts so it can be hard to tell them apart without unfolding them regardless.
Also: DON’T FORGET YOUR PHONE CHARGER because one will cost you $53 at the airport and they’ll leave the $29.99 price tag sticker on the box just to taunt you and remind you how much it would normally retail for. And then finally, ask yourself, REALLY ask yourself . . . are you going to use that laptop? The one with several broken/stuck keys, the one you now have to pack with a super clackety detached keyboard, thus ensuring that the one place where you’d be most likely to get work done (the plane) is the one place you’re least likely to take out your entire rig?
If you look deep inside you’ll know the answer is no and you should leave it at home instead of letting it take up precious real estate.
All the Tropes Romance Bookstore (Atlanta, GA)
My first out-of-town stop was All the Tropes in Atlanta, which I’d never been to before so I was really excited to see the space! Right away I was able to take the MARTA from the airport practically right to the doorstep of my hotel, which I felt thrilled about, although me and this other guy did get a little “Spinal Tap under the Cleveland stage” at one point trying to get out of the station. We were so excited when we saw blue sky lol.
Before the event, I dropped by Eagle Eye Book Shop, which is one of my favorite bookstores in Atlanta. The aisles are all themed around different local streets and it has a wide but curated selection and it’s just got a really great feeling to it. All the clerks wear aprons. I don’t know why but I’m a sucker for a clerk in an apron! They’re artisans! I also kinda just love a bookstore with books outside. When I was standing in front waiting for my rideshare this man was trying to get into his car after the one next to him had parked too close and it was hilarious — he was like, “I’m gonna make it!” and we both cheered when he did.
Then it was time for the main event at All the Tropes! I had dinner with my conversation partner, Kate Goldbeck, at the Mexican restaurant across the street right before, and it was really sweet because our server said she’d wanted to go to our event but couldn’t get the night off.
If you haven’t read Kate’s debut You, Again, take this as your sign that you really, really should. It’s a gender-swapped When Harry Met Sally complete with witty banter, interesting characters, a bickering-turned-friendship-turned-more relationship that develops over years, all set against the backdrop of New York City. It really blew my mind when I read it a couple years ago, and I’m looking forward to Kate’s follow-up Daddy Issues with the ferality of someone eyeing the Chili’s appetizer menu (iykyk).
Kate is an incredible conversation partner because she’s in general so smart and easy to talk to, but I was especially impressed by how much PREPARATION she put into it! She’d read through past newsletters! She came up with a GAME!
The game: Kate found a bunch of real life music-themed cruises and wrote them on sentence strips (the benefits to being a former kindergarten teacher lol). Then I had to put them in order ranked from 1 (most likely to attend) to 5 (least likely to attend) and an audience member had to try to match them on their own board, guessing what order I’d put them in. The options: The Smooth Jazz Cruise; Runway to Paradise with Jon Bon Jovi; Creed Summer of ‘99 Cruise; David Foster: The Hitman Cruise; and Knotfest at Sea with Slipknot. What order do you think I ranked them in?1
It was a great event where I got to see some old friends and familiar faces, and the bookstore had a very cool goth romantic vibe I was into. On my rideshare back to the hotel (I’m sorry, you’re going to hear a lot about my rideshare experiences) the driver had this weird tweeting sound that kept happening, and she was like, “You hear that right? I’m not going crazy?” She thought maybe a bird had gotten stuck under her hood but then it seemed to happen more when she turned her steering wheel one way, so we thought maybe it was a squeak in her steering wheel, but then other times she’d turn it and nothing would happen. I admit she was yanking on her steering wheel while driving in a way that made me think, “if this is how I go, please god, at least let me know what the tweeting sound was.” We never did figure it out.
(I am very bad at taking pictures, so the pic on the right of me and Kate is from victorias_library_ on Instagram!)
A Novel Romance (Louisville, KY)
Probably the most baller move I made on this entire trip (well, not really — that’s coming up!) was when I had to check in for my next flight while still sitting on my current flight. I’ve never flown back-to-back this much! I can’t say I enjoyed it per se, but it wasn’t so bad.
My conversation partner for my event at A Novel Romance was Xio Axelrod, who is one of the coolest people on the planet. She’s not only a romance novelist with some of my all-time favorite rockstar romances out there (The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes is a great entry point into the Lillys’ world, but Ty in Girls with Bad Reputations will forever have my heart — he’s the band’s bus driver, he’s thoughtful, he reads, he’s pansexual, he wears a utility kilt, he has the most endearing relationship with his Pop Pop, if you haven’t yet met this man I need you to meet this man). Xio and I had time to grab lunch before the event, which I’m telling you only because I tried a blackberry and Brie sandwich because I was like fuck it, why not, I’ve never had this before, and it was . . . all right! It was okay. I did also have a cup of some Kentucky stew for some more protein, don’t worry.
I felt so at home in this bookstore! I mean, look at it, it looks like a little home. I think they said it was a converted veterinarian’s office, but someone can correct me if I’m mistaken about that. They even have a bookstore cat, which I caught a glimpse of but she was mostly in the other room. The Novel Romance also gave Xio and me custom pink Louisville Slugger mini bats! Engraved with the bookstore’s name and our names! They’re ridiculously cute.
Xio and I got to chat about romance and writing but a LOT about music, which was exactly how I wanted it. I was also really excited by some of the people who came out to support me at this event, including fellow romance author Madge Maril (you may remember me raving about her F1 romance Slipstream a few months ago, it’s SO good), a friend from grad school, and a woman with her grandmother who wanted to hear my entire life story and what brought me to being an author! It was charming. Afterward we ate dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant just around the corner and I know it seems like I was eating nothing but Mexican but I’m not mad at it! Every bookstore deserves a nearby Mexican place.
The song this week — “Kentucky Rain” by Elvis — is an homage to being in Louisville and to this page from the zine Micah makes for John at the end of Never Been Shipped. It reads: “WELL?!?! Did he find her?!?!?” which is a reference to the song, and then “Did we ever tour Kentucky? Is it wild that I can’t remember?” You’ll see this zine referenced very briefly toward the end of the book, and you may remember that I made up a bunch of them at a RISO workshop last summer when I was *supposed* to be finishing up my developmental edits on this book. Someday soon I’ll do another giveaway of one.
(Once again — forgot to take many pictures, and the picture on the right of me and Xio is courtesy of my aforementioned friend, Jay Vera Summer!)
The Novel Neighbor (St. Louis, MO)
Last stop of the tour! At least this little out-of-town leg of the store. I ended it with a bang in St. Louis at one of my favorite bookstores, The Novel Neighbor, in conversation with one of my favorite people and writers in the whole world, KT Hoffman.
But first.
I was so tired and hungry that I got to my hotel and just ordered pizza right to my room. “One cheese pizza just for me.” Except, you know, technically it was a Margherita. Episodes of Friends were on (they’re ALWAYS on, this is why it’s a hotel comfort show for me), so I watched a couple and ate my pizza and just relaxed.
Okay, THEN all I wanted was coffee. I was desperate for it. There was a little Keurig in my room and in retrospect I JUST SHOULD’VE DONE THAT, but I had no way of knowing the adventure that was to come. Instead I thought, I’m here in St. Louis, KT’s here, let’s meet at some local place before we head over to check out the bookstore.
It was a real comedy of errors. First, the coffee was just out of this big carafe. Okay, I admit I was hoping for something a little fresher (especially for the price . . .), but all right. I’ll drink it. As it’s pouring out into the paper cup I can FEEL the way my palm isn’t heating up at all, which worries me a bit because . . . coffee should be hot, right? Sure enough, when I go to sip it it’s room temperature. I ask the clerk if they have any hotter coffee, and she says they have a little Keurig and she can make me some. I’m definitely thinking longingly of the Keurig back in my own hotel room at this point, but I’m like whatever, as long as it’s hot coffee! She can’t figure out how to work the machine, so I have to show her, and then once she puts the little pod in and presses the button water just starts spurting out everywhere in every direction. Like you know those cartoons where the washing machine keeps making more and more suds, while the hapless cartoon animal tries to close the lid like that’s going to do anything? It was like that.
I don’t know why I told you that whole coffee story when I’m already getting the warning that this post is too long for email, but whatever. I did eventually go to another place and got coffee, and then we were off to the store.
Truly I could spend hours in The Novel Neighbor, just wandering around. It’s that kind of store. I love a bookstore with segmented rooms and new stuff to look at around every corner. It just feels cozy and homey and like the kind of place you want to spend time in. I also love the staff at this store — they’ve always been so supportive of me (and of KT!) and so we were so excited to be there and meet so many of them.
The Kirkwood Public Library was gracious enough to host us for the event itself, and it was a dream, getting to be back in the bookstore among a lot of people I consider friends (both just because they’re readers I’ve met several times or because they’re actually people I know, like fellow writers Samantha Markum and Emma Mills. Speaking of I have GOT to find new bits to talk to them about instead of always bringing up the time Sam creepily took a picture of me in the hotel lobby from her atrium-view hotel room (hilarious, but c’mon Alicia, you’ve worn it out) or just fangirling over Emma in the most awkward way where I don’t SAY anything I just kinda spew First and Then changed my life at her and then walk away).
If you’ve followed this newsletter for any length of time, you already know that KT Hoffman’s The Prospects is one of the best romances I’ve ever read. It’s Pride, and it’s baseball season, so it’s the perfect time to pick it up if you haven’t already, but also every time is the perfect time as far as I’m concerned. I think about Gene and Luis like they’re real people.
And KT is one of my best friends. We send each other these long emails about each other’s books, analyzing them down to the sentence level, and it felt SO GOOD to have that kind of conversation in person, as part of an event, where we got to dig down into friends-to-lovers (I was a late convert! I’ve since seen the error in my ways, partially because of KT’s perspective on it! This might have to be a whole separate newsletter at some point!). I could say so much more about this event, about all of it, but I’ve kept you here long enough already so I’ll wrap it up. I just want everyone to know that if there’s one thing I never take for granted in this industry, it’s the friendships.
There is a lot that goes into these kinds of tours behind the scenes — stuff *I* don’t even know, on the publisher side or the bookseller side. And I know we all have a lot going on, and sometimes live far away, or have limited budgets to spend on books, or whatever. I really do value everyone who came out, and everyone who made this whole thing possible. It means a lot.
On the way back to the hotel from the event, I got into a rideshare where the guy was playing a podcast episode, some interview where they were talking about how Bruce Springsteen wasn’t a REAL working man, he actually was a famous musician from a fairly young age, unlike [whoever the interviewee was, from context it sounded like some alt-country guy], who had the cred. I admit I had a minute of like, okay I guess we’re just listening to this? but I also kind of like it when a driver just leaves on whatever they want to listen to. If I was driving your ass around I’d be subjecting you to Third Eye Blind, so go for it.
Anyway, at first I was actually digging the interview. The alt-country guy was talking about a lot of stuff that actually felt very thematically linked to Never Been Shipped, and the newsletter I sent out last week. How you need to make art for yourself first. How sometimes when corporations get involved that’s when it gets compromised. He said someone wanted him to post a congratulatory post to Beyonce for her country album and he wouldn’t do it, which was my first little alarm bell but I was like, okay, well, I get his point maybe. Nobody likes being told what to do.
And then I don’t even need to tell you but man did it just devolve from there. I’m not even going to get into it because I don’t repeat rhetoric that ill informed, but can I just say, based on that podcast episode but also some research I did on the guest/host afterward (I was able to figure it out from a few context clues) — I am so fucking SICK of people who claim they are in the middle, both sides have their issues, whatever, but then they vaguely condemn the right and specifically condemn the left. It’s a thing. It’s a rhetorical strategy, and I see right through it. “I’m not picking sides, but on the one hand, sure, we don’t want a king. That’s true. On the other side, there are these protests that have been bought and paid for by . . . [insert incredibly specific criticism that is built on a faulty premise anyway.]”
The only reason I’m bringing up what turned out to be a MISERABLE ride back to my hotel is because it highlighted for me again just how insidious this shit is. How it can creep up on you. One minute you’re enjoying a conversation about music and creativity (although that Bruce criticism ACTUALLY was the canary in the coal mine a bit, looking back), and then suddenly it’s veering into conspiracy theories and anti-[insert group] rhetoric and it’s just so casual. These are the things I try to talk to my kids about especially because I want them to be vigilant for it.
I flew back home June 14, which was a day of mixed emotions as I followed all the protests around the country and also the news that Minnesota lawmakers had been shot. It was a lot to take in. I was so moved to see so many people around the country showing up, especially in smaller towns and red areas, like my own home state. I was so devastated by the continued violence and overwhelmed by the constant influx of bad news. Honestly it’s hard to care much about book stuff, in the scheme of things.
I wanted to share with you my last rideshare story, which was the woman who drove me to the airport in St. Louis. Right away when I got in her car I knew it was going to be a good ride. She was an older lady who was born and raised in St. Louis, moved 45 minutes away for a while, then came back. She asked if I was in St. Louis for work, and I said “kind of,” and then I thought about it and I said, “no, I am. I’m a romance author, and I was here for a book event.” She liked that. She said she’s studying to be a relationship coach. We talked about how the ways people behave in relationships often tell a lot about the way they were raised, how they saw love modeled for them.
She talked about her two daughters, who are about my age, and I told her about my kids. She was surprised I had teenagers, which — flatter me, Myra! I’ll take what I can get! I asked if she had any grandkids. She just struck me as someone who’d be very happy to talk about her grandkids if she had any.
“You know,” she said, “I didn’t think I’d get any. Once they got to a certain age . . . well, that’s okay. They’re doing their thing.”
We were at a stop light so she turned to look at me and give me a smile. “But now I’ve got one on the way,” she said. I don’t think I can even describe to you her smile and how she said it, but I think I might cry whenever I think about it for a little while. I’m glad there’s still things to care about, and ways to connect with people. In thge scheme of things, I had a great book tour.
Currently reading . . . I just finished Abolish ICE by Natascha Elena Uhlmann, which is a relatively short (136 pages) book that packs a lot of informative punch about the agency, its origins, what it does, and why it’s so harmful and dangerous and wholly unnecessary. It also gets into some history of immigration in general and how the U.S. has been complicit for a long time in causing the very unrest that makes people flee in the first place. The book is a few years old, so it’s not going to be your source for the most up-to-date issues going on, but that’s what your everyday news is for! Man is it bad!
watching . . . When I got back from the tour, I went and saw The Materialists with a friend! I have thoughts, a LOT of thoughts — some positive, some negative, it’s a real mixed bag here but the thoughts they are a-flowing! All I’m going to say is I’m relieved that my “Ask Me About Any Dakota Johnson Movie” business cards are up to date again, and that I’m a little saddened that now my go-to Gattaca reference may have to be updated to include The Materialists and if you’ve seen both movies and know what I mean, a tip of the hat to you.
listening to . . . I’ve been listening to the audiobook for Fintan O’Toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland for what feels like forever only because it’s a 22-hour audiobook and I got busy with a bunch of stuff so had to mainline it on all my tour flights just to finish it before it was due back to the library. It’s a great book, though! I really loved the format, where it’s mostly about mid-century Ireland through the present, but with occasional anecdotes and stories that help put some of the bigger events in a more personal context. I learned a lot! After my trip to Ireland earlier this year, I had a friend who’d been there before comment that it always seemed more “American” to her than other European countries, which I thought was an interesting observation and which I admit I kind of read this book through the lens of. Like I was basically gathering points to take back to my friend to say, okay, these are specific historical reasons why it might feel that way beyond just, a shared language and the large wave of Irish immigration to America.
Answer: 1) Creed: Summer of ‘99 Cruise (I’ve actually seen Creed live before! I thought this one had the most hilarity potential and also the summer of ‘99 had some good music, this is my era); 2) Runaway to Paradise with Jon Bon Jovi (I admit I am not super familiar with Bon Jovi other than the hits, but you know he’s got some good musical friends and the lineup would be solid?); 3) Knotfest at Sea with Slipknot (I’m scared ngl but could be an experience); 4) The Smooth Jazz Cruise (I’m not even at the shows, I’m lounging by the pool letting the music waft over me, but that’s all right, it’s a vibe); 5) David Foster: The Hitman Cruise (without “Wallace” attached to the end of this name I had no idea who this even was but Kate introduced him as a creepy old man so that didn’t help him climb the charts).
Your eye is so so good - never get tired of hearing you talk about the things you notice <3
Thoughts on Friends to Lovers, you say?? I'd love to hear more on that!