Sharing my debut year here on this blog has been a huge privilege. I loved sharing the experience with my fellow debs. I loved “meeting” book bloggers, other writers, and readers in the comments. I learned how to blog, how to use WordPress, how to tweet. I’m grateful. If you want me, you can find me at my website and my blog. Starting next Monday, The Debutante Ball has a…

…you may also like: The Secret History by Donna Tartt I had the pleasure of being in college when The Secret History came out. I think that is the ideal age for reading it. It’s set at a fictional college in Vermont (based on Bennington, I believe, where the author wrote it). The narrative gives away the murder it’s leading up to right on the first page: “The snow in…

This is what I learned about invitations from my recent flurry of book events: I have an e-newsletter. In the months leading up to my book launch, my newsletter mentioned the places I was going to visit and generally when I would be there. Eventually, I specified dates for events in each place. I received many replies assuring me how much people were looking forward to attending. Yay! Then, weeks…

Growing up in New Jersey, we had “junk week,” I think twice a year. It was when you could put anything you didn’t want anymore out on the curb, and the city would come pick it up. It turned the whole town into one giant free yard sale. Amazing! My two favorite junk week memories: 1) My elegant mom dragging a mattress across the road calling triumphantly “It’s a Beautyrest!!”…

The stereotype is that writers are cat people, not least because of the stereotype that writers are introverted and independent, like cats. I’m proud to fulfill those assumptions on both counts! I’m like a cat, and I’ve always had cats. This is my Minky: She’s had a rough year, culminating in surgery for kidney stones. It took us a year to get from “cat suddenly starts peeing all over the…

We’re back! And jet-lagged. 34 book events/activities in 35 days; 10 states. Whew! I significantly underestimated how tiring it would be. But had a great time 🙂

I grew up in New Jersey, in a town that celebrated the fourth of July in a BIG WAY. We woke up to a twenty-one gun salute we could hear from our house, then spent the day in the park, wandering among a local pet show, contests, and circus sideshows, petting llamas and even riding an elephant. The centerpiece was a big circus under a tent, putting on two or…

I haven’t been counting the autographs. But I can tell you: out of 34 promotional activities scheduled for my month of release, I only have five left. Yes, I have so far done 29 promotional verbs of one kind or another: signed, read, talked, dropped-in, interviewed. I’ve been to bookstores and book club meetings and local TV stations. I have signed a fair number of books. This is what I’ve…