September to remember

Labor Day seems so long ago, and it was not quite a month back that I traveled to Bloomington, IN for a reading of TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES at Boxcar Books. Happily, I was joined by IU creative writing professor Elizabeth Eslami (author of HIBERNATE and BONE WORSHOP).

My cousin and his wife had me to dinner, along with two of my dear high school friends who live in town. Laughing, eating, and telling stories with my friends and family made me much less nervous to read. I pretty much always get nervous before I read.

Hard to say what is happening with my forearm muscle in this photo, but I cannot take my eyes off of it. That particular muscle is STRONG. I have no idea why. Maybe from picking up children?

Here is Liz, reading an incredible short story from her prize-winning collection HIBERNATE:

Later in the month, I had the good fortune to travel to Missoula for The Montana Book Festival. It was a jam-packed weekend of readings, panels, and social events.

I just made it to my Friday afternoon panel with suitcase in tow (possible title for something: Things to Do in Denver When You're Delayed),  and had a great session with Montana mystery writers Leslie Budewitz and Christine Carbo. Our panel was titled, "The Writer, the Mirror, the Map: Mystery Writers Reflect on Identity, Murder and Place."

We had a great crowd & great questions during the Q&A, and the author reception after gave us a chance to chat with festival-goers. A very nice audience member with terrific orange glasses stopped me on the street later to invite me for a drink with her crew; she had some Indy ties and we chatted a bit about Jim Jones. Regretfully, I declined, as I was headed to the next event of the evening.

Sarah Hepola (BLACKOUT: REMEMBERING THE THINGS I DRANK TO FORGET) and Kate Bolick (SPINSTER: MAKING A LIFE OF ONE'S OWN) in conversation was a definite highlight for me. These two forty-something women discussed what they called the "bonus decade" of leisure time - remaining unmarried, without children - while figuring their lives out. Their candor inspired me, and they clearly connected over their subject matter, varied though it was.

Here is the back of my head, bottom right, with the featured authors, mid-conversation:

(This photo appeared on the Montana Book Festival's Facebook page. Festival photos were taken by Claire Kelly Fox and Anna Maria Lopez.)

Other highlights: Talking with booklovers and booksellers. Charles D'Ambrosio's reading. A panel on genre/literary fiction with J. Robert Lennon, Ben Parzybok, Shya Scanlon, and Sharma Shields.

I told Lennon how I'd given his book, MAILMAN, to my mailman, and how he'd enjoyed it. Later that evening, Lennon and I chatted about the story he read during his session, and high-fived in the Missoula VFW.

And here is my book, enjoying the beautiful weather, the "M" tiny on the hill in the background...

 ...which I later hiked to on Sunday morning. Pictures or it didn't happen:

 Subtitle for September: Gonna Make You Sweat. 

Will you think I'm a total freakazoid if I mention that I noticed someone at the festival bookfair picking up and buying my book, and I surreptitiously took a picture?

 

(I also have a close-up version. But I'm not THAT much of a freakazoid to post it here. Jeez.)

At the closing beer & music event, someone asked me my connection to the festival. I briefly mentioned TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES, which he immediately recognized. "My wife bought it," he said. "I think you met her. Orange glasses? She'll be here in a minute."

So I did get that drink with the kind woman and her husband after all. And after? On a whim, I took a pedestrian bridge across the railroad, and happened upon this lucky shot:

My last event of the month was this past Monday at Purdue University, where I received my MFA in fiction writing. The MFA program brought me and my fellow alum, James Tadd Adcox, to campus for a reading. It was an incredible experience.

Super grateful that program director Brian Leung brought us to campus; coordinator Samantha Atkins anticipated our every planning need. Great conversation at dinner beforehand, and a lovely party afterward at thrown by Roxane Gay.

My former professor, Sharon Solwitz, introduced us and showered us with love, and I was reminded of the power of her mentorship. "Are you writing?" she asks, as if inquiring about my health. In a way, she is. This is a woman lauded in Best American Short Stories with a new novel coming from Random House. "What are you working on?" she asks. "How are revisions? How's the family?"

All my Purdue professors gave me great teaching models to aspire to. They shared such excitement for me and Tadd about our first novels (Tadd's is DOES NOT LOVE), and thanked us over and over again for coming to speak to MFA students and do a reading. I wasn't surprised by their kindness or gratitude, but I do have to say, emphatically, seriously, often: No, thank YOU.

That goes for everyone I had the chance to meet and reconnect with this September. When I was scheduling, three events in four weeks didn't seem like a lot. I had no idea how full -- how fulfilling -- September would be. Thank you.


*Closing credits, cue Earth Wind & Fire*

 

IUPUI Parking Services and I Are in Love

In Which I Post Links to Places Where You Can Review My Novel...

...should you be the kind of reader who likes posting reviews. The book is called TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES. I think you might like it.

So if you have the time and the inclination, here are a sampling of sites that offer readers the chance to provide their two cents, each handily linked to my book page: 

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads (I'm giving away four copies of TTYW through the end of August. Find it here.)

Powell's Books

Strand Books (also has signed copies!)


Note: If we are personally acquainted/related, and you haven't read my book yet: IT IS SO TOTALLY FINE. I love you. I'm glad you bought it/want to read it/gave it a passing thought. Stop skulking around like I'm going to give a quiz, and pass the guacamole, for the love of Pete.

2nd Note: If we are NOT personally acquainted/related, and you have read my book: I seriously love you. In a totally platonic and appropriate way. It is still a little unbelievable to me that complete strangers or friends of friends and book clubs (!) are reading the dang thing. I sometimes wondered if the novel would only ever exist in my own head. And now it's in other readers' heads, too, via the page/screen. Maybe through osmosis? However you got it, I'm glad you did.

That said, I know that reviews and recommendations matter to people. They're more likely to check out a book that has been read and reviewed by others. (Says one Goodreads reviewer of TTYW: "I didn't really know what to expect of this one, since it doesn't have too many reviews yet, but I'm glad I took a chance on it, anyway. I first heard of it through Largehearted Boy's Book Notes feature, which is how I have discovered many other under-the-radar books.")

You can also just click a button for a starred rating. The lovely person above opted for 4/5 stars, and for that I am grateful.

Now back to your hammock reading, with thanks to Andrea for this picture.

     

   

Goodreads Giveaway of TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES

Party people, by which I mean book people, by which I mean those who like stories (that would be all of us. No, really): enter to win one of four free copies of my debut novel, TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES. I got free coffee and a donut today; maybe today is your lucky day for free stuff, too?
xo,
SL

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

   

       
   

   

     

          Trip Through Your Wires
     

     

          by Sarah Layden
     

     

         
            Giveaway ends August 31, 2015.
         

         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         

     

   

   

    Enter Giveaway

Summer Reads: Trip Through Your Wires and The Girl on the Train

Some very kind readers of Trip Through Your Wires have compared the book to this summer's bestseller, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

The last one isn't about TGOTT, but does make a train reference I like. What can I say? It's all Thomas and Chuggington up in my house. Trains are the best. Except when Brother knocks them all off the table, which totally just happened. Other Brother was very cross, to use the parlance of Thomas. 

Many thanks to those who have read and reviewed TTYW on Goodreads. I haven't read The Girl on the Train yet; I'm on the IMCPL hold list, which looks like this:

I am now up to number 288 of 477 on the list, because I am a vee eye pee. I am patient, is the real answer. Sometimes.

Library patrons and math whizzes alike will note that Trip Through Your Wires has a much shorter wait time. You could be No. 7 on the list if you place your hold today. Librarians are standing by:

It's thrilling to me to see my book listed -- with holds! -- in my library system. If your local library doesn't have it, you can request it, either in person or online, depending on the place. I would love to see my novel in more libraries, & to increase access to readers. Libraries are among my favorite places on earth. Today I got to be an Art Monster (see: Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation) and sat at a library table, researching and piling up books to read and movies to watch. Letting my curiosity guide me. Writing, and researching, and writing some more. Summer is restorative that way. 

Can't wait to read TGOTT, once my hold comes in. May your summer reads arrive speedily.

Missed Connections: Retail

It's getting late and the kids are going to be up early. My eyes are itchy from too much pollen and too much screen time today. A little while ago, searching for a dresser and a new double stroller on Craigslist, I fell down a rabbit hole of garage sales and missed connections. Let's call it a chipmunk hole.

A Chipmunk Died in Our Double Stroller and Now I Want to Set it on Fire.

— Sarah Layden (@calmoots) May 5, 2015

I wanted to start a missed connections for a shirt I was going to buy in March, but it was really too cold for such a shirt in Indiana in March, and I was traveling to cold-weather climes for TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES book events -- Toronto, Syracuse, Buffalo -- and the AWP conference in April, in Minneapolis, where it snowed. There was a two-story Target where one could take refuge, and one did. Also went to NYC, a whole other post, where it was warmer but not quite sleeveless tunic warm. It was sell-a-book-to-a-stranger-named-Scott-in-Central-Park warm, if that gives you an idea. So the shirt. I went back for it today. It had been on my mind. The weather's warming up. Not just a shirt but a tunic, and it screamed CUTE TOP. It was also $80, and I am many things, but I am not a person who will spend $80 on a cute top. Even if it is a tunic, with the word "romantic" in its description. I am not really a wearer of "romantic" garments, typically. But this tunic was different. I figured that by now it was on sale, but it was not locatable in the store. I hunted high and low. The saleswoman was busy spreading out five dresses on the counter - they were all the same dress, black and white, and she was really scrutinizing them - and the salesman was ordering Jimmy John's on the phone and giving out his credit card number so kind of scurrying to the back room to not be heard, and became flustered that I was blocking his way in front of the racks. I'd had Jimmy John's for lunch today, coincidentally. The Turkey Tom, always and forever.

Maybe I could find the top online, I decided. And I did. In a size 0. Look. I am not a size 0; I have never been a size 0, senator. This is not a point of pride or shame, merely a fact. Now, on the March hunt for a cute top, I found a more weather-appropriate alternative, and the saleslady talked me into a smaller size. She was quite insistent. "It looks supergood! You look superfabulous!" And I was swayed. And then this happened.

Cute top bought for readings has ripped in not one but four places. I AM BOOKISH INCREDIBLE HULK. Cannot be contained by poly/silk mix.

— Sarah Layden (@calmoots) April 19, 2015

So you might understand why I'd re-fixate on the tunic. The flowy, pretty, comfy item -- you were almost mine, had I not been so cheap, and so cold all the damn time. But now, warmer! And more events! (To Cleveland on Memorial Day, 1 p.m. at Chagrin Blvd. Barnes & Noble, and Chicago on June 10 at City Lit Books with James Tadd Adcox.) Of course the shirt was no longer available. That was March, This is Now. That's what retailers say when they're trying to be real tough, like S.E. Hinton characters. Clothes don't just wait two months until you're back from book touring and done with the semester grading and all the gardenhousefamily needs (not in that order, that's outside-in, not inside-out.) Which reminds me:



I've been listening to this song a lot lately, traveling. I'm reminded of the R.E.M. song Turn You Inside-Out - words only, not music. Thinking about how crazy the past year has been, with moving and book and the kids and a full-time job, finally, and home home home. And boy was this a welcome sight to come home to.

I have long known where any book of mine would go in a bookstore, in this case the Barnes & Noble in IUPUI's Campus Center. I have visited shelves and traveled to the Ls. Many times. Oh D.H. Lawrence. Oh John le Carré. You two have no idea, you really don't.

In Which My Mother Blurbs TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES via text message

What I love about this endorsement:

1.) That it is from my mother.

2.) That she would like to keep reading but must pause. Because chores.

3.) That Mom is reppin' that Midwestern work ethic.

4.) That this took place on my birthday.

5.) That the conversation quickly and necessarily shifts to pizza.

Finished paperbacks!

This is what the "finished paperback" of TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES looks like. The official release date is March 17, St. Patrick's Day. Events surrounding the book can be found at my website.

Photo op: I'd set it on the dining room table for better lighting, and saw our Mexico map placemat was nearby. Perfect. The capital city of Guanajuato on the left, and "United States Citizens Visiting Mexico" at the top: I've begun to think of my characters as actual U.S. citizens and Mexican citizens. They feel real to me. 

The little spot of spaghetti sauce on the bottom margin of the map lends an air of authenticity to the semi-controlled chaos of our house.

Reading @ The Vonnegut Library tonight

This is my second month in a row reading at The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in downtown Indy. Going to angle to become their cabaret reader. Maybe the others in tonight's lineup -- James Figy, Georgia Arnett, David Blomenberg, and Justin Heckert -- would be willing to join me. December's wide open, once the papers get graded and gifts get bought and fruitcakes get baked. Does one bake a fruitcake? I've never known.

The reading happens at 6 p.m. It's called Beyond Words. Planned and coordinated by UIndy students, who clearly rock the house. They made this poster:

A moment from my last reading at the Vonnegut, a gorgeous space:

Not part of the Twitter caption: "...points with her freakishly long finger..." It's like a Swiffer duster extender and twice as crooked. #VballMiddleBlocker4Lyfe

I'm planning to read from my debut novel, TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES, out in February from Engine Books. The advance review copies are out, so for the first time, I'll be reading from an actual book instead of manuscript pages.

If you're a reviewer and would like an ARC, by the way, you can contact me or Victoria Barrett at Engine Books. Here are the books from another angle:

Indy Author Fair

If you're reading this on Friday, the Indy Author Fair is tomorrow, Oct. 25, and I'll be leading a session on Blogging for Writers, which is a thing I'm doing right now, blogging, though only for a moment. We're closing on two houses and moving this weekend and life is all about boxes.

I dream of boxes. These are, admittedly, boring dreams, but it's an adrenaline rush to score free ones. To retail and grocery stores I go, asking and asking. Sometimes they want to keep the boxes for themselves, which is understandable. I mean, maybe they are moving. Or hoarding magazines, as I've apparently been doing, unintentionally, over the last ten years. Bye bye, magazines. Thanks for hanging out in the basement for a decade.

 

If you're reading this on Saturday, perhaps you're already at the event at the gorgeous Central Library, a place I haven't visited in awhile. Remember the last Author Fair I attended? Let's hope for better health this year. Maybe you're even in my session, 1:45-3:15 p.m., and we're in the middle of talking about why writers might want to blog, what sort of platform to choose, how to connect with others, finding your material, audience, and scads of other things.

Scads: that's a word you don't hear every day. When I am unpacked, I'm going to hunt down the etymology of that word. Beyond Wikipedia, I mean. Like Oxford English Dictionary cross referencing. I love being a word nerd.

Maybe you're reading this on Sunday, or beyond, and the event is over. Where are you? What are you doing? I imagine that I am surrounded by boxes just like now except in a different house. At the old place, the dust bunnies have been swept and the doors have been locked and the keys handed over. The walls are bare of the art we spent years arranging and rearranging, taken down in an hour.

The empty house would echo if anyone were inside. But it won't be us. We'll be walking through a different door.