Pub Week Diaries
Book events, cupcakes, and anxiety!
One month ago, my second book hit shelves in North America, the UK, Australia, and a few more places. Which meant, for the second time in my life, I was in the midst of publication week!
When I used to daydream about being an author, nothing seemed more romantic or joyful than pub week. Events! Signings! Meeting readers! Posting about your book being out in the world and all your reflections on what it means to you (see: my last Substack)! What could be better than celebrating the culmination of years of hard work with friends, family and readers?
The reality is a little more complicated.
As a deeply anxious person, I worry a lot during pub week. I’m still not used to the idea that I have books out in the world that I can never edit again. Almost every time I open THE GLITTERING EDGE or THE NEON SKY, I find something I would change if I could. Would it make the story better? Almost definitely not. Would I edit the books again anyway? Until the end of time. And knowing I can’t makes me feel the cringiest cringe all the way down to my bones.
This isn’t to say it’s not exciting or that I’m not grateful to have a complete series on shelves. But it IS part of the vulnerability of being an artist.
What was different about this most recent pub week is that I’ve done this before. I kind of sort of knew what to expect. So, to alleviate the anxiety I knew was coming, I decided to keep a daily diary during pub week—both as a way to focus my thoughts and to remember all the good parts of this moment in my career.
This exercise ended up being more helpful than I anticipated. I wasn’t planning to share these diary entries publicly, but then I remembered the author blogs and Livejournals I read and loved growing up. When I was an aspiring author, there was nothing I enjoyed more than knowing the minutia of an author’s daily life and imagining how my days would go if I ever achieved this dream, which seemed wildly out of reach at the time.
But here I am, an author. And I have a blog! So why not post my quotidian diary entries on the off-chance they’ll comfort some aspiring authors—or anyone who’s curious?
So here you go: my unfiltered pub week diaries.
Day 1: Wednesday, May 13
THE NEON SKY comes out in less than a week. I don’t know how we’re already here! I feel such a mix of emotions. Excitement, anxiety, dread. I suppose I have to accept that these feelings coexist right now.
Today I woke up at 7:30, ate a protein bar, and hauled my ass over to the gym. My personal trainer Jess put me through an amazing workout. We’re always talking about being small business owners—since, as an author, this is essentially what I am—and we trade nonfiction book recommendations and social media strategies. This workout really pushed me, but it felt great. Weightlifting has been very important for my mental health, and I’m grateful that I made time for a workout at the beginning of pub week.
Once I got home, I had quite a few administrative tasks to take care of. I’ve cleared the decks by making sure I don’t have any writing deadlines this week. I’m still working hard on Royal WIP, but I finished the latest draft last Friday and sent it to beta readers.
Already this has made me feel lighter. I won’t have the time or brain space to really dig into my next project in the lead up to TNS’s publication, and I’m grateful that I planned out my writing calendar in such a way that my attention wasn’t split between pub week and any WIPs.
My publisher asked me to draft a piece for their “1 Author, 7 Questions” article series [note from present-day Alyssa: you can read my responses at that link!]. I also prepared for my two launch events for THE NEON SKY. I already went over questions from Dahlia De La Vega, who I’ll be in conversation with at Vroman’s on May 19, so today I opened the shared document I have with Autumn Krause. We’ve been drafting questions for each other in the lead-up to our event at Barnes & Noble Tustin this Sunday, and I spend some time refining those.
In the late afternoon, I had therapy, which is helpful during such a stressful time. I’ve decided not to go to therapy next week and to focus on resting instead, but it remains to be seen if that will be a good choice.
I took the evening off, watching Hannibal (I’m in season one) and enjoying some downtime.
Day 2: Thursday, May 14
I got my nails done for the week! I love a visit to the nail salon. It forces me to slow down, which is especially helpful during a stressful week.
Once I got home, I worked on social media planning and editing. I normally limit social media prep to Mondays, but pub week is an exception! I want to make sure I’m thinking on my feet a bit more in terms of trends, and I’m planning to post more than I normally would, though not as much as I did last year. On IG and TikTok, the algorithm has shown me diminishing returns when I post every day. Which is great, because I hate doing that anyway!
This evening, we had a few friends over to belatedly celebrate my husband’s birthday. I love throwing birthday parties, but this year he wanted a lowkey celebration, so we drank good wine (including this sparkling rosé, which is one of the best I’ve ever had), and we ordered sushi from KazuNori.
Day 3: Friday, May 15
Today I finalized my responses to “1 Author, 7 Questions” and sent them back to the NOVL team, followed by a bit more social media prep. I’m feeling excited about the events, though that excitement is still occasionally swapped out with uncertainty. Will people come? I have no idea.
In the evening, I drove down to Fullerton to have dinner with Autumn. I met her last year when my publicist connected us, and she was my conversation partner for THE GLITTERING EDGE’s launch event. She’s super smart and an incredible writer. Her wardrobe is also a thing of gothic beauty. There’s nothing I love more than grabbing dinner with her and talking about the publishing industry and our ambitions and our families.
Day 4: Saturday, May 16
I tried to take the day off today, with some success! My husband went out with his mom, so I did pilates and got cozy on the couch. I felt tempted to scroll Instagram or listen to publishing podcasts, but when I’m stressed about a deadline or pub day, I need to think LESS about publishing, not more. Too much publishing talk just makes me spiral.
Instead, I caught up on some YouTube videos (mostly I watched Moya and Léa), read THE JASAD HEIR by Sara Hashem (so good), and wrote in my journal. I haven’t had much time to myself lately, and today was a reminder of how important it is to have a few hours where you don’t answer to anybody. Still, the anxiety started creeping back, so I’m glad I had evening plans: I celebrated a dear friend’s birthday with pasta and wine at Angelini Osteria. It felt like the final moment of rest before my events, and I soaked it in.
Day 5: Sunday, May 17
My first event was today! I woke up and it was all I could think about. When my anxiety gets really bad, I avoid coffee, which can make it so much worse. I drank a matcha and ate a breakfast of my new favorite Trader Joe’s oatmeal.
My husband drove me to Tustin this afternoon for my first event. It turns out it’s in a big, beautiful Barnes & Noble. The store felt absolutely gigantic to me, though the booksellers said that’s because the shelf setup is literally designed to make you get lost in the stacks. I was warmly greeted by the team, including Cordelia, who is a fan of THE GLITTERING EDGE and organized the entire event. Booksellers are, as we all know, the best.
I wasn’t sure who would attend since I don’t know a ton of folks in Tustin, but every seat was filled! And the entire time Autumn and I chatted, our husbands were busy on content creation duty. A few of the booksellers and readers commented on it—they were impressed our men knew to get all the angles.
Autumn and I signed some books, and this was my first time signing my own backlist. I saw the US hardcover, paperback, and the Fairyloot editions of TGE, which was exciting. And the readers who came out were absolutely lovely. One reader had four kids, but she managed to get a babysitter so she could join us, and I was SO flattered by that. Then we signed stock for the store, and just like that, the event was over!
To celebrate, my husband and I met up with some friends and ended the evening at Damon’s, an iconic tiki bar and restaurant in Glendale. One event down, one to go.
Day 6: Monday, May 18
After a good night’s sleep, I woke up early to do social media planning and content creation. Mondays are always my content creation days, and my work consists of everything from updating my content calendar, doing a social media audit, scripting videos, and designing graphics in Canva (ugh).
In the afternoon, I picked up cupcakes for my next launch event from NIN Cupcake Shop. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m obsessed with Thu and her baking. I didn’t even know I liked cupcakes until I attended one of her workshops with a friend. If you’re in the LA area, I highly recommend ordering a dozen of the blueberry cheesecake cupcakes!
After this, I did some more work on social media and then relaxed before tomorrow. I’m an extrovert, but book events really deplete my social battery, so I tried to be careful with my energy today.
Day 7: Tuesday, May 19
THE NEON SKY is out in the US today!!!
I woke up feeling happy and relieved. I really am proud of this book, and I’m excited for readers to spend time with these characters again. Writing a satisfying ending is tough, but I think my protagonists ended up exactly where they were supposed to be, for better or worse.
In the morning, my husband made me breakfast, and I received some flowers from my lovely agents. I did some admin work throughout the day (mostly social media and some emails) before getting ready for my Vroman’s event. It’s funny, because I was so nervous for Sunday’s event, but today I felt calm and rested.
The audience for this event was a mixture of friends, fellow authors, and readers. It was also at Vroman’s, which feels like my home away from home because of how much time (and money…) I spend there. Dahlia and the audience asked great questions, and after that, I spend an hour signing books and chatting with everyone.
That’s when it hit me for the first time in months: This really is my job. I get to write books and talk about them for a living. And as I write this down, I’m wondering if I should share these diary entries on Substack after all.
When I first started writing this last week, it was just for me, as a way to center myself and manage my nerves. But when I was growing up, I used to spend hours reading authors’ blogs and daydream about being able to share the minutiae of my days. These blogs brought me comfort. They fed my daydreams. They motivated me to keep writing, writing, writing, even when I wasn’t sure if I’d ever sign with an agent, let alone get a book deal.
The immediate reaction I have when I think about sharing these entries is: NO! Nobody will be interested! You’re not like the authors you read growing up!
Except I am, actually. I’m doing the job I’ve dreamed of since elementary school. Most days it feels like I have a long way to go before my career looks the way I want it to, but I can’t let that hold me back. Maybe someone out there will find comfort in reading about the minutiae of my days, too.
xo
Aaaand we’re back to the present! Congrats if you made it this far. Now for some fun updates!
For any UK readers out there, the audiobook for THE NEON SKY has been delayed, but it’s coming out on June 25 and is available for preorder now.
I’m also very excited to share a first look at the French cover of THE GLITTERING EDGE! Or, as it’ll be known in France, IDLEWOOD.
How pretty is this??? It’s ironic that I have a Stephanie Garber blurb, because honestly this feels like a Stephanie Garber cover: romantic, floral, magical.
As for why they changed the title, my French publisher said the translation of THE GLITTERING EDGE wasn’t compelling, and they suggested IDLEWOOD instead. We’ll see how readers over there like it!
In non-Idlewood Duology news, Royal WIP has been revised and is now with my agents, so we’ll see what they have to say about it. Now I’m toying with a new YA fantasy standalone that I’ve dubbed Candelabra WIP. It’s the kind of gothic dark academia story I’ve always wanted to write, and I’m having so much fun with it. Less fun is all the time I’ve spent wondering if I’m capable of writing a standalone. We’ll see!
I have MIDDLE OF NOWHERE by Kacey Musgraves on a constant loop right now. My friend played me a few songs while we were waiting in line to park at the Renaissance Faire (which, if you’re unfamiliar, takes FOREVER) and it’s the only thing that got me through that line of cars. Favorites are “Mexico Honey,” “Dry Spell” and “Abilene.”
I’ve also started reading SABRIEL by Garth Nix, which has been recommended to me for years. I might be the last person on this train, but it’s really fucking good. The worldbuilding is entirely original, it’s a super quick read, and honestly I’m shocked Miyazaki hasn’t made a film adaptation. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to animate Mogget, Sabriel’s cat who is actually a Free Magic construct. He’d be the cutest, most ominous little fluffball.
Speaking of being behind on things, a friend got my husband and I addicted to TED LASSO. All I can say is: I get it now.
As always, thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next time!
I will read your diaries any day of the week