Southern-Fried Woolf is HERE!! If you want to buy a print copy, I recommend this bookshop.org link for the best price. (I’m all about that.) Here’s the Kindle version.

Thank you to Mythical Books for sharing the first chapter of my book on this first stop on my tour. I appreciate it so much, and I hope you’ll take a look at their site and grab that sneak peek of my novel.

As I thought over what I posted yesterday, I worried that I had made it seem as if everything about this book was, well, drudgery. (I tend to avoid that word for obvious reasons.) That’s certainly not true.

Once I figured out how to blend the essay with the story, I had tons of fun allowing my characters to misbehave and then pulling them back just a bit. I had a tough time not allowing Briscoe to be more sympathetic. She’s 28, and her everything is being threatened. Considering that, I think she’s plenty sympathetic towards those who have wronged her.

(In the final edit, I got rid of quite a bit of profanity, because I realized it was only there as a placeholder as I helped her gather courage. The more courageous she became, the easier it was for her to say what she felt, to confront those she needed to confront.)

Also, that dear friend that I mentioned in my last post who told me I might have to choose a different topic when I got stuck writing this book really did mean well. He’s a musician, not a writer. I think he just felt for me as he and his beloved heard me try to explain what it was I couldn’t figure out.

And I have a lovely group of people in my life who support my writing, who have read early drafts of this book and who have cheered me on. Any hesitation on the part of mentors was more because of the experimental nature of my book. How can you tell someone how to write something when it’s not your run-of-the-mill novel?

It’s the strangest feeling, knowing that something that I spent so much time and care on is out there now. It’s not a pile of pages I am crouched over at the beach, red pen in hand. It’s not something that causes me to eat half a pack of crackers as I try to imagine how I am going to make this palatable, entertaining, and yet, hopefully, smart.

A kind friend just wrote to tell me he has ordered a copy of my book. I remember Barry and me sitting across from him at a restaurant in Greece near Sounion, just after we had seen Lord Byron’s graffiti at/on the Temple of Poseidon, hearing our new friend’s fascinating tales of his early career. (I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to share, so that’s all I will say, but Barry and I were mesmerized.) We shared a bottle of red while we watched the sun set over the Aegean Sea. It’s good to have interesting friends.

I want to thank all of you who have been on this journey with me, in large ways or small. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life who have been patient with me as I’ve grown and changed, as I continue to do so, both as a writer and as a person.

To paraphrase Lily Briscoe says in Lighthouse, for better or for worse, with this novel, I have had my vision.