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On Moving—

Oh, hey, hello! Welcome to my love letter, where I talk about creative life, writing life, and life in general. 

Hello! Happy July! 

Greetings from Jersey City! Things are, ah, a bit chaotic over here. In addition to planning a wedding, Josh and I are also moving out of our apartment and arranging a four month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, followed by two months in Hawaii, followed by....TBD?? 

Long-term travel is something we talked about doing for a while, but not something we actually thought we'd get around to. To be honest, travel makes me fairly anxious, so while I've always been enchanted by the idea, it is way out of the comfort zone.

But the timing just...worked out. We knew we wanted to get married this summer, Josh was ready to leave his job, I'm able to work remotely, and we have a full year before Josh is in grad school next September. 

So...holy freaking cow, we're doing this.


A year ago, planning a wedding, a move, and a backpacking trip all at once seemed ambitious, but doable. A month out, it feels a bit like throwing ourselves headfirst into a tornado. 

But that’s all right! All good things, and we’re just putting one foot in front of the other—stuffing clothes into boxes, ordering wedding decor, applying for visas.

The hardest part, maybe, has been remembering to appreciate these moments. There’s so much that I love about my life here, right now, in this city:

--> the neighborhood coffee shop, where I'm typing this letter, with its tucked away second floor and enormous broken clock that makes time feel irrelevant;

--> our Monday night Bachelor viewing ritual, watching trashy TV with some of our favorite people, on a laptop balanced on cookbooks, skin sticky with sweat as our fans lose a battle to the summer heat, eating the same tacos every week because somehow, accidentally, we've created a tradition that feels like home;

--> and then, afterward, when we step outside and walk along the river, drinking in the nighttime view of Manhattan, where the city looks like stitched together stars, and we take a breath and say, oh yes, we get it. We get this city.

It's hard, in this whirlwind of to-dos, to hold these moments close. But when these days feel brim-filled with stress, I remind myself: I love the place that I am, and I'm excited for the places I'll be. 💙

Because I’ll be getting married and honeymooning, I won’t be sending a newsletter next month. In the meantime, I’m giving away an early copy of When You Trap a Tiger. 

Reply to this email to enter, and I’ll pick a winner next week. 🐯 

That’s all for this month. I’ll write again in September, from Malaysia. Stay happy and hydrated in the summer heat.

All the best always,
Tae

Click here to pre-order When You Trap a Tiger
Click here to buy The Science of Breakable Things
[img: the full front and back cover of WYTAT!]


Some stories refuse to stay bottled up…

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now, the tigers want it back. And when one of those tigers approaches Lily with a deal—return what Halmoni stole in exchange for Halmoni's health—Lily is tempted to accept. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice… and the courage to face a tiger.
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TAE KELLER grew up in Honolulu, where she wrote stories, ate spam musubis, and participated in her school’s egg drop competition. (She did not win.) After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, she moved to New York City to work in publishing, and she now has a multitude of books as roommates.
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Copyright © 2019 Tae Keller, All rights reserved.


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