In the Thick of it

Last week I had three book interviews, which is a lot for me. But I did it! Sometimes you just have to lean into the good things and accept the mental consequences. I tried to carve out a three-hour window for each one hour interview so that I had time to get ready and be calm and then rejuvenate myself afterwards. It didn’t work like that, as I only carved out a two-hour window. On the day I didn’t have an interview I slept until I had to go to an appointment just before lunch. What I liked about the interviews is that one was science-based and the other two were creative nonfiction and memoir-based–it shows that my book can speak to a broad audience.

Now people are reading and talking about it, which feels completely surreal. Someone commented on a friend’s post about my book, saying she was reading it now and it was “gripping.” The book reviews editor at Science said “I suspect your candor and vulnerability will resonate with a lot of readers!”

I’ve been wondering about in-person events that include public presentations and readings—you know, the things all new authors do. But I don’t think I can. My anxiety will go through the roof and I’ll have a wavering voice and shaky hands and forget what I want to say. I wanted to do an event through the University of Victoria’s Geography department, as that was my undergraduate home. Maybe if I practice enough I can do one in-person event. But I’m not convinced.

I expect things will slow down now. Literary Hub published a book excerpt , and Science published a review. There’s also an article in BC Bookworld magazine. I hope Nature will publish a review, as my friend Erin Zimmerman said they wrote the best review of her book, Unrooted. I’ll also have a short piece about my book in the “Advance Copy” section of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) website. Next weekend I have a signing event at my local bookstore, Volume One Books. I’m looking forward to going for lunch with my writing friend Frances afterwards. Munro’s Books in Victoria has asked me to come down to sign a few books to put on their shelf. I’m happy to do it, but I get so overwhelmed driving outside of my short local routes—even driving 25 mins to the pool is a big deal—so I have to get up the nerve for it. The reward for doing it would be coffee with a writer friend afterwards.

I’ll be glad to slide into oblivion again after next week’s book-signing event. I just find it all so exhausting – more work than I have the energy or the brain matter for. I’ve been sleeping so much lately, trying to manage all that’s going on. Part of me wants to do it all, as I’ve seen other debut authors do, but the other part of me (the rational part) knows I can’t. So I’ll just putter along and see what happens, taking each event as it comes. Sleeping or having downtime when I need to.

But yay me for publishing a book!