Listening

Dear Daughter

With everything that has been going on in my life (let’s see, hm… how’s 2012 been for you? Yeah? Cool.) I forgot to mention that I have a book coming out in April. How does something like this slip one’s mind? I’m not sure. You ever use a purse so much that it gets a hole in the lining and suddenly you can’t find your phone because it crawled through that space and ended up in New Jersey? That. My book is in New Jersey. Along with a wad of receipts and four tampons.

Don’t tell me that has never happened to you. Purses are wormholes in the universe.

I wrote Leta a letter every single month for the first five years of her life (60 in all [I had to break out a calculator]), and this book is a collection of the best of those letters. And so, obviously, we decided to call it Dear Daughter: The Best of the Dear Leta Letters.

That is not Leta on the cover. In fact, I don’t know who she is, and her mom is probably freaking out right now. HOWEVER, the letters have been edited so that you could give this book to your very religious grandmother or conservative aunt and they wouldn’t hit you over the head with it. It’s still colored with my signature voice, but now even my dad can read it without closing his eyes.

All of that to say that I’m proud of the work that my editor and I did to make this happen. Thank you, Jeremie. You were only a little annoying.

I’m not going on a tour for this book, but I am having a local launch party at my favorite indie bookstore The King’s English on Monday, April 2 at 7:00 PM. I’d love to see you if you want to drop by. Chuck will be there, too, to sign autographs. He told me to tell you that his favorite treat is cheese.

If you’d like a signed copy of the book you can order it through The King’s English and we will make that happen for you. Be sure to specify if you’d like your book personalized and to whom. If you ask me to address it to Ms. Jackson, I’ll forego showering that day or maybe eat an entire jar of peanut butter without using my hands. To be nasty.

(I’ve also updated my shop with links to other places you can order it.)