Back to School // Goodbye from Nowhere
As a kid growing up in 1970s San Francisco, I went to a year-round public school. I don't remember the details of how the schedule worked but I know that between shorter breaks and the relatively chilly climate of life on the ocean side of the Bay Area (oh how I miss it!), I don't have "summer" embedded in my childhood psyche as a thing in the way many others do.
When we moved to Pacifica just in time for seventh grade, I had a greater sense of the rhythms of a more traditional school year but I really can't remember how I spent most of my time when school was out. Our family usually went camping once per summer on the Russian River and a couple of times I wound up at summer camp. I have vague recollections of riding my bike around with a pack of friends and I read a lot, of course. But overall, I missed the ❤️routines❤️ of school and was always glad when things got back to normal in September.
I'm still that way. I can do without the summer heat and lack of routines during summer, and I love school supplies, cardigans, jeans jackets, crisp mornings, making big plans and the sense that life is real again now. (Note: it's 95 degrees in SLC as I write so I'm not feeling any of this just yet, but the possibility is there.)
On this Labor Day, I'm laboring very gently over my to-do list, which includes sharing the announcement and cover of my April 2020 book, GOODBYE FROM NOWHERE. And, well, here it is!
GOODBYE FROM NOWHERE is a story of first love, first heartbreak, cousins, California, adultery, baseball, and old movies. Like all my books, it's a lot about family. Unlike all my books, it's got a male lead, a very basic SoCal white kid named Kyle Baker who drives around a lot. ("Plot")
Anyway, it will come along in the spring and I hope to be out on the road or at least in your inbox to talk more about it when that time comes! If anyone out there is truly desperate for an advanced reader copy of the book - though it is riddled with typos and some formatting issues and this one time a character's name changes from the first section to the second section - reply to this with your tale of desperation and desire! I've got a few ARCs I can spare.
Meanwhile, I hope you're enjoying the approach of fall and all that comes with it.