|
|
This year I have decided to re-adopt my garden, or my gardening habit. I got into gardening over a decade ago and over the last few years I have not kept it up due to various world and personal concerns.
|
I am starting again with what is sort of “cheater” gardening, where I buy plants that have already been started, and put them into the soil. I am trying some blueberry bushes again, and adding some companion herbs (sage and thyme) near them. One of my dear friends and mentors is recovering from major surgery. She is a master gardener, and I wanted to start growing things again in tribute to what she has given me and so many others.
|
But I also planted a few nasturtium seeds, because they are beautiful, and relatively easy to grow, and they attract garden pests away from the crops you actually do want to eat. It really is amazing to observe what emerges from something as small and humble as a seed: all that lush foliage, or vibrant flowers, or delicious fruit.
|
While I was gardening an hour went by and I barely noticed, except that my legs and my back started to protest. I’ll need to build up some stamina again. But to plant anything now, especially from something as improbable as a seed, feels like an important act of hope. Spring is springing gorgeously here as usual, somewhat ignorant (or at least nonchalant) of world events. There are several kinds of flowering cherry trees in my neighborhood, as well as pear and plum and apple blossoms. Daffodils have mostly passed, but bluebells and tulips and (my favorite) grape hyacinths are having their season. All of that growth that feels like energy I could use. Touching the ground, touching plants and nature, also feels like a good way for me to connect back to something that I love and that is not on a screen or even on a page.
|
Last week I got the chance to “touch writing,”though, and it was a great reminder of why I’m doing this in the first place. I was at a newly formed writing group, and it was so good to be in community with other BIPOC writers and create something new. Twenty minutes went by while we did some free writing, and it was incredible how refreshed I felt afterwards. I might be able to write a couple of new pieces for publication, even. Most of the writing that I have been doing lately is for and about the book, and while I’m glad to do this writing, it felt so good to stretch my brain again into something new, something playful, something speculative.
|
I hope you have your own chances to do these kinds of activities, too.
|
I’m writing this one week before A Place For What We Lose enters the world officially, and it’s been quite the ride already. I’ve done interviews and photo shoots and podcasts and written several “companion pieces” (essays that are meant to accompany the publication of a book and serve as additional publicity). More reviews have come in, including this beautiful profile/review from my friend Vince Schleitwiler at our shared publishing home, The International Examiner in Seattle. I am buckling in for the ride of these next couple of months, or what I’m calling “Pacific Northwest Book Tour Part 1.” If you live near one of these event locations, please come say hi. And please consider wearing a mask to help me protect myself and other loved ones who are immunocompromised.
|
|
Please check out my “news and events” page of my author website for the most up-to-date details about events in Tacoma, Seattle, Olympia, and Portland. There will be other waves in the tour: we’re planning a PNW Book Tour Part 2, as well as a Sacramento/Bay Area wave in the fall, Southern California in the early winter, and the East Coast in Spring 2027. But I have already decided that I will need rest between the waves. I hope the publishing (and political, and world) ecosystem will allow that rest, while still ensuring that I can help my book have a good long shelf life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Special Newsletter Giveaway
|
|
Amazingly, my publisher has informed me that preorders have been pouring in and they have had to order more copies of the book already! If you are one of those people who has preordered, THANK YOU. We anticipate those arriving to you sometime next week.
|
|
As a small thank you for those who have ordered the book, I have a few bookplates for newsletter subscribers that the press made for me. Aren’t they pretty? They are designed to match up with the cover of the book, but you can remove the adhesive backing and place it inside the book. I’d be happy to sign one and send it to you from the press. Just reply to this message with
|
|
2) either a receipt screenshot or a picture of your copy, and
|
|
3) any personalized dedication requests (e.g., “For Hanako”).
|
|
Then we’ll mail that out to you.
|
|
|
I am actually rereading a few books at the moment. I think this is because my brain is in need of solace and rest. Knowing what will happen next and knowing the worlds my brain has built for these books already is comforting. Oh, and my husband Josh is reading Anne of Green Gables for the first time, as part of bedtime reading for our youngest kiddo. Anne is such a core part of my reading identity that she must have sparked my rereading of a few childhood favorites.
|
- Apple Bough (aka Traveling Shoes), Noel Streatfeild
- Rose In Bloom, Louisa May Alcott
I might reread I’ll Give You The Sun next, by Jandy Nelson—it’s a dual-voice YA novel that I loved for its fleshed-out characters, its plot twists, its treatment of grief, and its wonderful use of imagery.
|
If you can’t afford a copy of the book, which I understand, please consider requesting it or placing a hold on it at your local public library. Usually there is an online form you fill out with some information to request a title, but your librarians would also probably be happy to help you make a request.
|
All of it helps me and the book! If you have other authors that you like, consider doing the same thing: request their book at your favorite bookstore or from a public library.
|
|
I hope to see you on the road at book events, eventually! Thank you as always for reading, for being part of the community that is catching the book as it comes into the wider world.
|
|
For an archive of my past newsletters, please visit my archive page.
|
|
|
|
|