BOOK TOUR!! 🎉

It's happening! Celebrating a decade-long dream in the making 🥂

I have long dreamed of saying I’m going on “book tour.” I’ve dreamt of going on book tour, too—of course! I couldn’t be more excited!—but the idea of saying I’m going on book tour offers a particular thrill.

When I tell people I have a book coming out, especially people not in the literary world, people in tech, for example, many don’t know what to make of it. It sounds impressive, but also far-fetched, like, what’s this chick’s deal? I imagine them picturing a hand-drawn zine, thinking something like “cute,” and patting me on my head. This is obviously projection, but what I do see is confusion in their eyes, with a dose of skepticism, and the most frequent follow up question is, “So, are you, like, going on tour or something?” This is often delivered with a laugh, as if the notion is absurd.

But every time I was asked, I’d say, without hesitation, “yes, definitely I’ll be going on tour,” even though there was absolutely no guarantee that this would be the case. The opposite, actually, given the state of publishing and IRL events. Setting this up was almost entirely self-driven, even with a big-five publisher. But I wanted so, so badly, to do events for this book that I’ve poured my heart and soul into for so many years.

Alls to say, I’m out of my mind excited to have events scheduled in my favorite cities, at my favorite bookstores, in conversation with my favorite people, and I hope you’ll join me!!

The release of my novel is arguably the biggest milestone of my adult life, and one a decade in the making. I joke with friends that it is my wedding. Except this is not really a joke. I’m fairly certain I will never get married (I have zero desire to do so) or have kids of my own (as I’ve written at length, there’s not zero desire here, but it nets out to the negative). To give credit where credit is due, a ‘wedding’ is also the analogy my idol used for the taping of her live comedy special (which, obviously, I attended).

Feb 18th, the book’s release date, marks the culmination of the years I spent learning to write, navigating the entirely-new-to-me literary world, and trying and failing and trying again to create a book that I, myself, loved, yes, but also that was commercially viable. It is the end of being in my head, in my own world with this story, in the 100+ versions of it that sit on my computer, and the start of it being something out in the real world, separate from me, for anyone to consume. It is a celebration of this specific transition, as well as—I’ll say it—my own dogged hard work, and, like any good wedding, a celebration of love, specifically discovering my love for writing, a discovery that, a decade ago, drastically shifted the trajectory of my life.

With the utmost sincerity, I hope everyone reading will join for an event if you’re able. Each one will have an afterparty, because what I want most is to celebrate the joy of this moment by being with the friends and family I love and who have supported me for so long, but also online acquaintances, strangers, anyone who is interested in this bizarre journey and maybe, possibly, connects with what I’m putting out into the world — please, come out!!

The New York City launch event will, particularly, be a real sob-fest—in the best way. I’ll be in conversation with my very first writing teacher, Chloe Caldwell, who changed my life and has since become one of my closest friends. Our early email exchanges inspired core scenes from the novel. I can say without a doubt that I will cry. I might cry before I start talking! But it will be fun, a blast, I think, and I would love to see you there, and share a drink—or many!—at the party after (all are welcome!).

The book is set in San Francisco, and so celebrating in SF is a “must-have.” When I confirmed the San Francisco event at Green Apple Books, the first bookstore I ever went to in SF and the most classic (IMO), it felt unbelievable. I hadn’t yet gotten into writing much when I was living in SF (2007 - 2014), I was fresh out of business school and mostly quenched my creative itch by going on OKCupid dates with men who read a lot; creating something of my own felt delusional. So to come back and do an event here, with the people and places that lay at the heart this book, is really a dream come true.

And more! I’ll be at the iconic Skylight Books in LA (!!! Wed, Feb 26), where I’ve attended events and walked the aisles so many times dreaming of having a book on their shelves. And I’ll be in Boston (Fri, Feb 21st at the Harvard Book Store!!) in convo w my dear friend and closest writing partner,

Sara Petersen

, who I could talk with for weeks on end. I’ll be in Baltimore Thurs Feb 20, where my sister lives, who the book is dedicated to, and Cleveland March 8th, where so much of my extended family lives, and Upstate NY—Kingston (March 11th) and the Adirondacks (March 13th)—where I spent so many days locked up writing this book.

This is all very exciting for me, clearly. For those interested, I’ll share that this is basically all self-organized—me cold-emailing bookstores, using my network to get conversation partners, and, yes, paying out of pocket (courtesy of years working in tech). It’s wild what new authors are expected to do (even with the support of a major publisher!). I’m actually so grateful for my startup experience bc this whole book release is giving real “app launch” vibes.

Anyway, the more the merrier—please bring friends, lovers, single 30-something women who will hopefully (fingers-crossed) understand this book in their bones, and that one person in your life who’s not looking for anything serious 🙃 I very sincerely hope to see you in Feb / March!!! ❤️❤️❤️