Good morning Sunday Letter friends,
I can’t believe my new book—Gene, Everywhere—will be out in 17 days. After all the thinking and scribbling and typing and editing and grinding of teeth, it only took 9 years and 17 days. LOL.
If I’m being honest, this is when the doubt creeps in.
A Healthy Dose of Doubt
This is when I start to worry no one will like my next book. That no one will read, or if they do, they won’t relate. ThisiswhenIstarttodoubteverythingI’veeverwrittenordoneorsaidorbelieved.
I suppose this is human nature? Or better said, those who never doubt themselves probably don’t see themselves clearly.
Doubt aside, this is also when I get excited because I’m proud to share Gene, Everywhere with you. I believe our society is quick to disregard the elderly. We focus way too much on the superstars, the actors and athletes, the infamous who become so in ways that should never be acknowledged, much less celebrated. Gene, Everywhere is a quiet, honest story about my father-in-law, an ordinary man who was extraordinary in the simple way he lived his life, the way he loved his family and his God. The way he affected me (and Lucy).
Will it be for everyone? Of course not. No book is. But I have faith that those of us who are in mid-to-later life will relate. Those of us who are facing our own issues with aging and health and the empty nest and change of career and retirement. Those of us helping aging parents. Caretakers everywhere.
Even when doubt over my writing or editing skills or my storytelling abilities creeps in, I remind myself that regular people deserve to be honored and real stories deserve to be written. Gene, Everywhere is my way of doing this.
Nightbird Books
I’m disheartened that our local independent bookstore, Nightbird Books, is closing. I don’t know the reason(s). I can only imagine the owner, Lisa Sharp, who has been very supportive of local authors in Northwest Arkansas, is ready to move on to other ventures. And I imagine owning a bookstore during the time of Amazon is like paddling upstream on a windy day in a leaky canoe.
What sort of society supports a vape shop on every corner but not one indie bookstore? Ours, evidently.
Y’all. If you are lucky enough to live near a local bookstore, do what you can to support it. It costs nothing to attend bookstore events and to share the bookstore’s posts on Facebook. If you plan to buy a book, why not order and buy it there, at least on occasion? It’s all part of being a good literary citizen.
On Friday afternoon, John and I went to browse Nightbird Books and say a final goodbye. Everything was 30% off. The shelves are beginning to empty.
I found a few new treasures.
I wanted to buy all the inventory. Really, I want to buy the store.
I’ve always wanted to own a bookstore.
It seems my dreams have always bordered a bit on the illogical side. No doubt about that.
The Saturday Train
Well, this is embarrassing.
I despise typos as much as the next grammarian. But it happens, y’all.
My latest Delta Child article in Front Porch magazine has a typo in the title.
?
If you are a subscriber, just know the article should be titled The Saturday Train.
That is all.
Daffodil Years
We still don’t have the first daffodil bloom at our house, but they sure are trying. I go outside to check on them every day. And yes, I talk to them a bit, give them a few encouraging words.
I’ve seen a few blossoms around the neighborhood, but we only planted our bulbs 4 years ago. In daffodil years, they aren’t very old. They like to wait until it’s safe to come out. And they may not completely trust us yet.
Things Momma Says:
Momma is still at the farm, but my sister and I are going to fetch her this week. More from Momma soon!
***
Thanks for reading another Sunday Letter.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Oh I cannot wait for your new book. My dad lived his last years, before memory failed, with us. We went from him taking the kids places to them taking him to store. It was a lovely experience for everyone.
Come on daffodils! I need to see sunny yellow with these gray days.
The news on Nightbirds is sad. We are losing a good homegrown business.
Agree a out bookstores! I love spending the day there! I’d much rather spend a bit more to keep them open! Tell me about Delta Child? It’s funny, that is one of the names I have in the running for my RV! My husband and I are taking off to slowly see and reaquaint myself with the southern places of my childhood! I hear everyone names their RV, it’s a new thing, so I dont really know! Anyway good luck with the new book, looking forward to it!
Delta Child is the name of the column I write for Arkansas Farm Bureau’s quarterly magazine, Front Porch. Have fun on your southern RV adventure!
I have no doubt!
Thank you! I can always count on you to lift me up!
Impostor Syndrome and I are OLD buddies. Actually, he won’t LEAVE. He just camps out in my house, eating my self-esteem and my confidence and never contributing ANYthing to the mortgage. I wish he’d go away.
I still find typos on blog posts I wrote in 2003. So…yeah. And, for me, the BEST way to find a typo in something I’ve written is to submit it. Then I find ALL THE TYPOS. ALL OF THEM. 🙂
Yes. Hit the publish or submit button and see what happens. Let me tell you it’s TERRIFYING when a 300 page book is involved…
Yahoo! I’m a winner! Looking forward to Pocket Change AND Gene of course?
I read Saturday Trail , knew immediately it was supposed to be Train. I blamed the error on Front Porch, not you. ??
Regarding daffodils…..mine won’t bloom. Any advice?
It was a joint mistake. I submitted it with a typo, immediate corrected it, but the correction wasn’t picked up… Oh well. Yay you for winning! I know you’ll love Pocket Change.
It shocked me just a little to read of your feelings of self-doubt in terms of your writing. I’ve always been slightly envious of your quiet yet understated self-confidence. Your writing is like a big breath of fresh air slicing through the sultry intense heat of an Arkansas summer – billowing through an open window arriving just in the nick of time for the reader to inhale a desperately needed long, deep guttural breath. Crisp and fresh sweet hints of late summer garden blossoms follow the fresh air in through the window like putting a cherry on top of an important moment in time.
I’m really sorry about the local bookstore. It is (indeed) a crying shame that a bookstore ever has to close its doors. But I’m really kind of surprised you didn’t buy the store. I mean, if anything was ever ‘up your alley’ it would be owning a bookstore. On the other hand, I can only imagine all the work you’d put into it and I think it’d be a bit much to operate a store and do all the writing and publishing that you want to get done. But if anyone could ever do it – that would be you, Talya.
I also love daffodils- or as we always called them, buttercups. My first memory of them were those my momma grew in our front yard on the farm. I remember she had them growing in a big circle. I use to sit in the middle of that circle and in my minds eye, can still see them from every position I turn – standing there blooming in all their glory. I can almost still smell their delightful fragrance.
Just got and read the latest Delta Child…loved it. I never even noticed the typo and since the word (trail) was spelled correctly, I likely would have never made the connection. I realize now that you wrote about the long train but I thought the article captured just another wonderful Saturday adventure on your many Happy Trails.
Safe travels to MissCo and back. God Bless!
Cindy Lu
Just keeping it real here, but thanks for seeing me in such a positive and calm light:)) “Trail” probably still works in a big picture way…I guess. I call them buttercups too, or did once upon a time. Yes, I think owning a bookstore would be fun but I would probably kill myself LOL.
Talya, I found one typo in blog (“can’t only imagine”)?. The “Trail” typo kinda works because of symbolism in train’s rails. I think you should stick to that story. Is the Harrington book you bought by THE DONALD? About the bookstore. Definitely you should buy it. Definitely. And decorate it like Debbie Archer’s in Pocket Change ?.