In my July newsletter I mentioned my father. He’s a writer with a huge footprint, and he’s only doing more as he grows older. Some years ago when I was promoting my short story collection, I invited him to do an event with me at Community Book store in New Orleans. For as much as he avoids doing events these days, if you put him in front of a mic, he’ll have a lot to say. It was fun watching him open up and share with the community, because he can’t help himself. He’s a thinker, a talker, and he has the gift of gab. I am very much like him. I don’t run after the spotlight and can be quite happy at home doing my puzzles, hanging out with my daughter and making art, but if you put me in a conversation, I’ll have a ton to say.

I’m currently working on promotions for When the World Turned Upside Down, which comes out in November. The publicist has been sending all kinds of things my way: podcasts, IG lives (hasn’t happened yet), panels, guests posts—and I’ve said yes to everything, I’ll do it all. Then he sent me a guest post that was book recommendations, and I ignored the email. A week later, he sent an email about a panel, and I immediately said I’d do it, then said I’d get back to him about the guest post. Why the stalling? I’m not a book recommender. I have some friends who have encyclopedic knowledge of books. I’m just not one of those people. And also, I haven’t been reading much. It’s one of the things I gave up when I was in survival mode of parenting and day-jobbing and trying to keep my hand in writing and art-making.

Instead of just saying ‘no,’ I sat on the email for a while. I thought, if it’s just a handful of books maybe I could do it. I sat on it and sat on it and sat on it. (For context, I’ve been setting on quite a few emails, just because there’s SO much going on, but I dragged this one out.) This week, I finally decided to look at the email. They are looking for 7–10 book recommendations. Seven to ten! There’s not way I’m going to make it. The amount of research and extra work I’d have to do to find those books. I finally emailed the publicist and said, “I can’t do it.”

I didn’t succumb to disaster thinking (If I don’t do this, my book won’t be successful; if I say no, the publicist will stop finding opportunities for me), but there is a part of me that likes to be beyond reproach. I like to confidently be able to say that I did all could so that if/when something fails, it’s not my fault! I am really working hard to train myself not to do it all and not to do it all quickly and on full tilt. I am trying to train myself to have reasonable deadlines and to rest when I’m tired and be authentic about the experiences I accept.

So it was a hard pass. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for talking or sitting on panels or writing guest posts about anything but a book list.

#justsayno

Oh, here’s some fruits of the publicity machine that you may have seen in this month’s newsletter:

• 10 OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED 2021 FALL MIDDLE GRADE RELEASES

• Book Review: When the World Turned Upside Down by K. Ibura

Even though this is my third book (and my first novel), this is my first book with a big publisher. It’s been a joy to have a publicist working to get the book out there. My fingers are crossed for more coverage.

Onward!