Can I admit something to you guys, today, on Galentine's Day?
In high school, I was one of those girls who didn’t like other girls. You know the ones: the girls people make fun of in YA books because they say things like, “I just get along better with guys.”
But the thing is…I did. I had a few close girl friends (who I am still close with today!) but for most of my teenage years, it was easier for me to make friends with guys. I’d meet a group of people and immediately gravitate to the dudes while not even trying to talk to the girls, who were (to my eyes, at least) looking at me meanly. It happened so many times that I finally just accepted it—I was not a girl who got along with girls. They didn’t like me, and I didn’t like them.
This is ridiculous, of course.
Looking back at it, I can see that there was an ugly feedback loop going on—I was always more comfortable with guys, so I felt nervous about what other girls thought of me, and I didn’t try to make friends with them. This made me look snobby, so they didn’t try to talk to me either, so my feeling that they didn’t like me was confirmed. And so, I became one of those people who said things like, “Ugh, girls are bitches.”
I know. *cringe* I am not proud of this.
Happily, it’s not true anymore. One of the many things you learn as you get older is that the way you feel now is not the way you’re always going to feel. We change. We grow. That’s something I saw in Avery in the Conspiracy series, too—at the beginning of the books, she was afraid to make friends, because she was afraid to lose them. And she was lonely. And by the end of the books…well, you’ll just have to see!
And in real life, I’ve realized that I have gotten over feeling awkward/unfriendly/weird because I learned to act differently: I’ve started to reach out first. I’ve started to assume that most everyone feels like I do, and wants to be friendly, but it takes a little effort. And so I put in the effort. In almost any situation—with the person on the next mat over in yoga class, or the cashier at the grocery checkout, or when meeting a new (possibly intimidating) group of people, if I smile first, there is like, a 98% chance of them smiling back. The person won’t always turn into a BFF, but going through life in this open way makes life so much nicer.
So if you’re feeling lonely or misunderstood or blah this Valentine's/Galentine's Day, maybe try reaching out first. I’ve met some of my newer best friends this way—honestly. (One of my very best girl friends right now I met when we started chatting in line for a book signing!) And even if it’s not romantic partners or best friends you’re meeting, a little bit of friendliness is always appreciated by the person on the other side—and it makes you feel good. Right?
So while V Day can be the-day-when-everyone-feels-like-they-have-to-be-coupled-up, it can also be for celebrating all kinds of love, right? So happy Galentine’s Day from me to all the ladies on this email list, and a happy, friendly week to all of you. (And if you’re totally anti-the whole thing? We can at least all agree on happy 50% off candy day on Wednesday.)
I adore you all. <3
PS - This month is a little lighter on Big Book News, since we had so much last month. But next month, I’ll tell you about the ENDS preorder giveaway!!
Cheers,
I’ve been into great TV lately. I’ve talked about some of my faves before, but here are some new ones:
I finally watched PITCH. Guys, it was a revelation. It was the antidote to feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and sad about the world. It’s about baseball, yes—specifically, it’s about the first woman to play in the MLB. But even more, it’s about this girl’s journey through sudden fame after a lifetime of hard work, and the growing pains along the way. Ginny Baker is one of my favorite heroines in a story in a long time. She’s the hardest worker on a team of professional athletes. She’s sometimes arrogant—and sometimes insecure. She’s incredibly charming, with a quick smile and sometimes a quick temper. She couldn’t care less about how her hair looks on game day—but doesn’t mind looking fabulous in a fancy dress. She’s so real. I love her. (And yes, there are plenty of shippy moments, too.) :)
Next, RIVERDALE. This slightly campy, stylized, CW-ified update to the Archie comics could have gone either way for me—and I’m happy to report that I’m loving it. I was never a huge Archie fanatic, but I’m really enjoying the small-town intrigue, the Pretty Little Liars-style noir murder mystery, and the characters—especially the friendship (and maybe more?) between the two female leads, Betty and Veronica. And mostly, I’m enjoying that it’s a lot of fun, and fun is something I really love in my entertainment these days.
What have you guys been enjoying?
First pass pages for THE ENDS OF THE WORLD are finished and back to my editor! One step closer to the book being out in the wild!
A little publishing lingo: “First pass pages” could be called the proofreading stage. They are the stage of the publishing process where the book is already edited, and (usually) already in ARC form, but there haven’t been enough sets of eyes to catch certain problems yet. There are always typos in first pass pages. There are very often sentences that accidentally use the same word twice, and would sound better another way. (Because when you’ve edited a thousand times, changing words and paragraphs and sentences here and there, and copy-pasting all over the place, you can easily miss small stuff, like a sentence that says, “She went out the door and shut the door.” Or you can miss a place where a character is sitting down, then two paragraphs later, she sits down again.) This is the time when relatively small—but important!—stuff is caught. (And it’s also why ARCs always have the disclaimer that it’s an unedited version, because in the finished book, these will be fixed!)
And it’s also where we get to see the title page and such for the first time! Hmmm, what could this symbol mean???
Thanks, guys! Talk to you next month!
xMaggie
Just in case, here are more links to Map of Fates where you can review, if you’re so inclined: on Amazon and BN. And here's Conspiracy on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. (You do NOT have to have bought the book on Amazon or B&N’s site to review there!)
