It’s really hot, and what have been doing with myself? Stalking the herons in the neighborhood, daydreaming for hours, working out, obsessing over the sequel I’m writing to The Adventures of Miss Vulpe, making Canva collages (and videos too! Y’all really should follow @missvulpe on Instagram otherwise all this creative energy is wasted). I’ve also been painting, but only a little bit, and slowly. I’ve been slow in other ways too. Kind of giving myself a little time to think and reevaluate some of my options. There are a few exciting things on the horizon, including a creative collaboration I’m really looking forward to, but mostly I’m allowing myself a little breather. A little time to just be. To daydream. On the elliptical, because I need the exercise and the endorphins and something to quiet the inner voices that tell me I’m not doing enough. Do you have voices like that? I used to think they were helpful, a bunch of peppy cheerleaders fueling my ambitions. Now I want them on mute. The creative life is not meant to be all hustle. The creative life should include long naps, long walks, and chicken salad sandwiches. And an occasional reckless disregard for productivity.
I did, despite the heat and the daydreaming, do a thing yesterday. I had my very first book signing for Lola Is Never Drinking Again at G. Lee Gallery in Galveston. It was Art Walk and it was hot and my friend helped me carry a box of books in the heat. He also got to listen to me share some of what my inner critic came up with for the occasion, but overall it was a nice day. I met new people and I saw some familiar faces too – friends and readers who came out to see me in the heat. It felt good to connect with people who celebrate my propensity for daydreaming and the books I write as a result. They are out there! My readers are out there and they’re awesome! And despite being more suited to thinking up stories than learning SEO or other such things, I have managed to connect with a whole bunch of them. I firmly resolve to quit giving myself a hard time, to enjoy my summer of daydreaming, get back in shape, do a little more travel in September, and start outsourcing some of the marketing stuff I simply don’t want to do.
I also stopped by the Tremont House real quick before driving home because sometimes a girl needs to see her art on the wall in her favorite bathroom – and one of her books in the lobby too.
