Hej!
The past 90 days have been so wildly eventful, I don’t even know where to start. My book tour, the Eras tour, a few once-in-a-lifetime celestial events, speaking engagements, one new country and seeing more friends, family and readers at once than I ever get to… what a crash! what a rush!
This edition of Reflections from the Road has a whole lot of travel, so stow your tray tables and prepare for takeoff!
Highs
THE MANUSCRIPT
The Flirting with Disaster Book Tour sponsored by Medjet has been so much fun! I am in awe of everyone who came out to help celebrate the launch in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. As an first-time author, you really don’t know what to expect out there in the world of bookstores, but I have had such wonderful experiences! Y’all have been so supportive and encouraging and it makes the 13+ years it took to get this book into your hands worth it.
The single best part of this lengthy book publishing process has been connecting with so many of you who related to stories in the book – the relationships with dreamy (often English) men who turned out to be smaller than small, the travel mishaps that make you wish you never left home, the disillusionment that comes with living your dream and then finding out it’s more of a nightmare, sometimes. That’s why I wrote Flirting with Disaster… because I really didn’t have someone who’d been through all that and who was willing to tell the truth about this hyped and monetized lifestyle of perpetual travel. So every time someone comes up to me at a bookstore or DMs to tell me their similar story, it’s a confirmation that I wrote the book I needed to write. There are a few copies left so if you haven’t snagged yours, Amazon actually has them on sale now!
SO HIGH SCHOOL
The last 90 days have been filled with friends from my past lives in Atlanta, NYC, heck, even high school and middle school. Between book signings and the Eras Tour, it’s been a surprisingly emotional way to introduce Flirting with Disaster to the world alongside the people who were there along the way, just living life with me, never knowing they might end up in a book.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
When I bought tickets for Rae and I to see the Eras Tour in Sweden, we didn’t even know Taylor was going to have a new album out by then. We definitely didn’t know that it would be in the show. So even though we’d already been in Tampa, we got a whole new set and new songs, and you know we were on the floor with all the other Swifties absolutely unhinged with the entire Friends Arena singing, “Were you sent by someone, who wanted me dead…?!” We talked about the experience and the economic impact of Tour Tourism in Episode 18 of BUT DID YOU DIE, so if you wanna hear all about it, tune in to that one.
SO LONG, STOCKHOLM 😉
I haven’t been to Europe since before the pandemic, so this visit to Stockholm – my first trip to Sweden! – was overdue and so welcome. We would’ve gone wherever we were lucky enough to score Eras Tour tickets, but now that the trip is over, I’m so glad it was Stockholm. What a magnificent, clean, navigable, friendly city! We didn’t have one single bad interaction with anyone. NOT ONE. (Can’t say the same thing about our return trip home through MIA.) We did some great tours and visited some unique museums, and that’s all here in Episode 19 along with links to everything in the show notes, and Rae made some excellent videos for YouTube if you’re more visual.
THE PROPHECY
Rick and I booked very last minute flights to Dallas to see the full solar eclipse, crossing fingers and toes that the weather would cooperate. It’s a strange cocktail of hope and fear traveling for a celestial event. You just don’t know how it’s going to turn out – all you know is it’s going to be expensive! This was my second time traveling for a big solar eclipse, and wayyyyy more people knew about it and traveled for this one.
It was super cloudy the morning of the big event and But Did You Die?! Disaster Correspondent Jessi was very stressed as we drove toward Las Colinas to post up and watch… but it was SPECTACULAR. As breathtaking as I remember the last one being and so worth the money and hassle to make it happen. Even my ever-stoic husband said it was “Cool.”
In addition to experiencing the miraculousness of a full solar eclipse, this quarter I also saw a hint of the Northern Lights in FLORIDA… what?! And just a few days ago, there was a lil tornado in my neighborhood. What a world, what a world.
Lows
THANK YOU, AIMEE
Bad reviews are not awesome, but they serve a purpose. Fortunately, there have only been a few and they’ve all come from random people Amazon is sending the book to, FOR FREE, because they signed up for some review program. So they’ve mostly been off-base, weird or mean just for fun. The good news: I don’t care what people outside the target audience think about my life story. I would be destroyed if someone who spent $30 on the book because they thought they’d love it was truly disappointed, but Elmer Fudd from Sheboygan wouldn’t like any book written by a dumb blonde Swiftie who belongs in the kitchen or can’t be a role model because she doesn’t have kids, so there’s that.
If you’ve read the book and haven’t yet left me a review, would you mind doing that today? Every good review tells Amazon that they should recommend my book to other potential readers, and it’s wildly important to the long-term success of Flirting with Disaster, and me as a writer. =)
DOWN BAD
My author friends warned me about the post-pub day blues. Of course I was like, “I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my sh…”
So anyway, they were totally right. Post-pub day blues are a real thing. I guess it’s similar to how people feel after planning a big, fancy wedding (not me of course, I was just trying not to get sued/slandered/murdered by our wedding venue). There’s an abrupt change of trajectory and momentum, and coupled with a few other behind the scenes issues, just kinda made me feel a bit MEH at times. It’s not gonna rust my sparkling summer, but I wanted to note it for the future authors out there (and for me, if I ever do this again). And I wanted to use Down Bad as a heading.
Lessons
WHO’S AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME?
Writing about some of the really vulnerable, personal trials and tribulations in Flirting with Disaster appears to have unlocked some Female Rage ™ in me, because I am not that shrinking violet I was back in the days of Lord Voldemort. IYKYK. I kept a lot of that stuff locked away for a long time out of shame. That’s what the nice Christian girls were supposed to do, after all. Stand by your man, etc. And God forbid a woman write about a breakup, know what I mean?
Just getting it out on paper (for the whole world to read) has given me an extra little boost of confidence. Being in my 40s helps, too. I’m just not going to sit in silence while people say stupid sh!$. There are differences of opinion – that’s fine. But being misogynist, racist or rude just is not gonna be tolerated.
I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART
Signings and media appearances are super important in this whole launching a book marathon, but they’re also time consuming, expensive (thank you, Medjet for sponsoring my book tour!) and physically and mentally exhausting (thank you to Heather, my masseuse). Especially when you’re doing most of it solo. Lights, camera, bish, smile.
Do I have a degree in PR? Absolutely I do. Was I expecting to use it full time in the book launch process? Not exactly. So that’s one big lesson. And another one is You’re On Your Own Kid. Be prepared for the fact that the book is a BIG LIFE-ALTERING DEAL to exactly one person…. you.
I learned a lot on this traditional publishing journey and if I do decide to stick with traditional for the next few books, things will be different. That’s how it always is right? You don’t know what you don’t know.
On that note, I’ve linked all my interviews and media appearances here if you wanna get even more insight into why I wrote Flirting with Disaster. And once I catch my breath, I will be adding more signings to the schedule this summer, so keep an eye out.
Next Steps
We can make our plans but God determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9
HOW DID IT END?
For once, I don’t know what the next steps are. AI is stirring things up in such a way that blogging isn’t looking like the best use of time (she says as she blogs). I could write another book. (But is it worth the effort?) I could start the business I’ve been thinking about. (But that’s an enormous investment and risk.) I could create a course on how to be a travel blogger or how to publish a book or how to decorate a She Shed. (Nah. I’m not trying to sell anyone a course on anything.) I could start a new destination-focused TikTok. (But what if TikTok is banned for good?) I could turn my focus to filming new The Jet Sisters episodes and growing the audience for But Did You Die. (But what if my business partner doesn’t wanna do all that?) I could chuck all this and get a completely unrelated desk job that I never have to talk about or create content about. (Ha, yeah right.)
FLORIDA!!!
For the first time in a very long time, I don’t have a clear vision of what’s next. So while I pray about that and listen for an answer, I’m going to try something I haven’t ever done. I’m going to rest quietly, at least, as much as I’m capable of resting quietly while still keeping the lights on at home. I’m recording episodes of Traveling with AAA (coming up on one year as the host!) and But Did You Die at least weekly. I’ve still got a husband, two dogs, an Airbnb, an adult child I never talk about here but only because y’all literally can’t handle the drama and a cell phone that incessantly vibrates with the needs of others, so “quietly resting” probably isn’t the best way to frame my summer. So far the A/C has stopped working, the newly remodeled Airbnb shower exploded in the wall, the grill is malfunctioning and I’m pretty sure I had a gallbladder attack. Life is lifing. It always does.
A few goals for summertime:
- Host the inaugural Figchella, a dinner party based on the fruits of my fig tree
- Read more books than social media (as a published author, I feel like I owe it to all the other authors now that I know how difficult this climb is)
- Paint a whole series of canvases
- Outline potential new book (almost done!)
- Make space for leisurely mornings on the back porch, pressure-free treadmill runs through the Eras Tour setlist and unlimited naps
- Find $200,000 on the ground so I can start my new business without debt
THE BOLTER
I’m obviously not going to stay put for the next 90 days, because that would mean I was actually literally dead. RIP me. While I’m “resting,” I’ll also be speaking at TBEX in Puerto Rico, scalloping in Steinhatchee, helping Rae move into her new house in Orlando, attending Rick’s high school reunion in Long Island, and maybe, just maybe, going on a very long distance, high seas adventure in my No. 1 bucket list destination.
I hope you have a sparkling summer, filled with cool nights and fireflies and popsicles and sprinkler splashes and the Eras Tour if you please. And if it’s rusted instead of sparkling, because, you know, it do be like that sometimes, then I pray God sends you everything you need to get through every moment.
If I make a few videos of some of my most ridiculous reviews, would you be interested in watching? Would you be into a virtual book club for Flirting with Disaster?
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