Over the course of my writing career, people have often asked me what a release day is like. It really varies. Some years, I’ve had Facebook launch parties with trivia, give-aways, and games. A few times I’ve just done live videos on Facebook. One year I had an actual launch party in person at my favorite local tea shop. That was for A Refuge Assured, and it was probably my favorite launch.

Drawn by the Current, my tenth novel (nineteenth book overall) just released on Feb. 1, and is my third consecutive novel to release during a pandemic. You may have picked up on this, but it’s been really hard to plan in-person events for a while now, and I feel like people are getting burned out on zoom things.

**However, if you’re not, I did do a 30-minute zoom interview with romantic suspense author Cara Putman last week that was so much fun. You could watch this and pretend it’s a release party with special guest Cara, although it was really Cara’s Book Talk Show with special guest me. Ha.** 

So what’s a release day like during a pandemic?

Other authors have been doing a much better job. I’ll just tell you about my own release day this year.

5:40am I wake up and realize I didn't put together a newsletter to announce the release of Drawn by the Current. Ha! Time to get busy on that. I have never, no never, forgotten to do this before.

6:30am I am done getting ready for the day and get going on formatting the newsletter. 

7:00am I’m ready to send it, but my newsletter provider informs me I’m out of credits and only have enough left to send to half my subscribers. I realize that my monthly billing cycle is scheduled for the first of every month, and today is the first. So at some point today, I’ll be billed automatically, and after that, I can send the newsletter to everyone. OK, fine.

7:05am Time to get the kids up and hustling for school. Breakfast time.

7:40am I take the kids to school, where they take the first two periods of classes. This semester, they are dual-enrolled, which means that they homeschool most of their stuff, but still go to school for art, choir, P.E., etc.

8:04am After dropping the kids off at school, I arrive at Panera Bread, which has become a satellite office for me. I take advantage of their unlimited coffee/tea monthly subscription and almost feel bad about the amount of hot beverages I consume. I am getting way more than my money’s worth. Also, the mayor of our city frequents this place too, and he always says hi, refills my mug for me, and asks if he can treat me to something to eat. I am the only one in the world he does this for.* I open my laptop and start a writing sprint on the book that is due March 15. [Sidenote: it was actually due today, but since I lost a month to covid last fall, my editor was gracious enough to grant me an extension. Hallelujah.]

*The mayor is my husband. 

9:41am Drive back to school to pick up kids. Find out that my son got a part in the school play (Clue) as Unexpected Cop. He gets to speak a little, I think, and then play a dead body, which sounds like a fairly low-pressure way to make his theatrical debut. I love it. Daughter has a choir concert the same week of the play. Cool.

10am Drop kids off at home and return to Panera (see? satellite office) to meet with a friend and research source for my current work in progress. He’s a special agent of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and his office is just down the road from the restaurant.

NOT PICTURED: I'm getting into an earnest question, but he stops me to let me know I have something on my face. Under my nose. A true friend. But did it just come from my nose? I hope not, I really, really hope not. I vote for lint. But I swipe at it, he assures me it’s gone, and we carry on. He lets me interview him for almost two hours since I have a NYPD detective character in the novel I’m writing now. (He also helped me for Drawn by the Current, since there is some investigative work in that book, too.) Amazing, invaluable meeting.

He invites me to his office to see how things are set up for all the cases he’s juggling. So after a quick call to let my kids know they should proceed to feed themselves lunch, off I go for more information and inspiration. The day is a win!

12:30pm I stop at the gas station to fill up my filthy minivan on the way home. Decide to clean the rear and front windshields while I wait for the gas to pump. Somehow, while in the process, disgusting muddy water ends up flinging off that squeegee spongy tool provided by the gas station, and getting ALL OVER the right side of my cream-colored winter coat.

Why do I have a coat this color? I have no idea. Probably it was on sale.

12:45pm Toss my coat and mittens in the washing machine, eat lunch, and open the internet for the first time today, except for when I formatted my newsletter that still hasn’t sent. Am reminded that today is a release day by all the kind messages on social media. Thank you! Thank you so much! Thanks!

The above images are from various friendly Instagram accounts! Top row, left to right: @books.n.blossoms, @kristycambron, @gwendalyn_books_. Bottom row, left to right: @alittlebitofbrandy, @msdarcyreads, @thebeccafiles. 

Try to send my newsletter again. Failed again. Sigh. I care less this time.

I spend an untold amount of time responding to social media messages. This is fun. I realize the local paper didn't bite for the news tip I submitted about this book, even though we have a local resident who has a relative who perished on the Eastland Disaster (the event my novel revolves around). Bummer.

At some point, I consider washing the sheets, but lose interest.

Instead, I remember to email some other folks who had helped me find information for Drawn by the Current, to let them know the book has released: a chief medical examiner for the state of Iowa, staff at the Chicago Maritime Museum, and a producer of a DVD documentary on the Eastland Disaster. I received help from other people too for the book (see acknowledgments) but all of them already know about the release.

Honestly, the next stretch is all a blur. I respond to emails. I update some graphics on my Web site. (See the sidebar on the right! Check out those wonderful sponsors at the top of the page!!) Pay some bills online and then spend too long on hold trying to pay another bill.

I try one more time to send my newsletter, to no avail. This time I do not care at all. Tomorrow it is!

At some point I decide that I really should change the sheets and rotate the mattress and start another load of laundry. So I do.

3:30pm I leave with my son to take him to his team’s basketball game an hour away. We need to be at the school by 4:45. No problem. My coat is clean and dry. Snacks are packed. (So is my laptop.) I’ve got this.

4:41pm The GPS tells us we have arrived at the school. We most definitely have not arrived at the school. What in the actual heck? Where am I? The middle of nowhere, that’s where. So I drive to a nearby Dollar General, dash inside and open with the charming line, “Excuse me, I’m not from around here . . .” The nice thing about small towns in Iowa is that everyone wants to help you. The cashier and the woman checking out both give me SOLID directions to the school.

4:44pm We pull in the parking lot. We are on time. I am so good at this.

5:15pm Still waiting for my son’s game to start. Pull out the laptop and start typing up this post. It feels a tiny bit rude, since the JV game is playing right in front of me, so I just look up and keep typing. That’s right, I am watching the JV game at the same time, totally following the ball and players up and down the court. I am a master. I am literally typing and not looking at my laptop right now. If anyone sees me from the shoulders up, they might not even know what I’m doing. I am so impressed with myself.

5:29pm My son’s game is about to start. I’m going to close this laptop and be done. I’ll predict what happens next. We’ll get home between 7:30 and 8pm. I may or may not find fast food for dinner on the way home.

I will be exhausted. We’ll probably watch something together as a family and then I will collapse into bed.

[Time passes] We did end up watching an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, a darling, favorite show. And then I got a call from my credit union’s fraud detection center asking if I really tried to make a payment to my newsletter service provider. Yes I did. And I have no idea why a $37 payment would be so suspicious, but here we are.]

Happy Release Day!

How’s that for a day in the life of an author?

Epilogue

Months ago, I really did have my heart set on an in-person event for some kind of launch party, because Drawn by the Current really is important to me, and so are the first two books in the series, Veiled in Smoke and Shadows of the White City. But there was no way to plan anything for February with any kind of certainty that I wouldn’t have to cancel it. So that’s why I decided to put together a giant weekend tour of Chicago for my readers in late April. The Windy City Saga Tour will be better than the best launch parties for all three books rolled into one. I can’t wait. We have two spots left if you are thinking about coming! Registration deadline is Feb. 15!