Last night, I celebrated the release of The Three Mrs. Wrights, the latest novel by “Linda Keir”—AKA the writing team of Linda Joffe Hull and Keir Graff. We were joined by the best-selling Victoria Helen Stone, a prolific and wonderful writer you probably know already!
Technical difficulties forced a late start and a last-minute scramble to change the platform, but hopefully the forty or so viewers who stuck around enjoyed the conversation as much as we did!
Just this morning, I put the finishing touches on the layout of an amazing curriculum guide for The Tiny Mansion that was written by esteemed educator Christina Hoover Moorehead. If you are a teacher considering my new book for classroom use, I urge you to download the guide and take a look!
Want to bring me to your school? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I am waiving my honorarium for virtual visits for the foreseeable future. Whether you’d like me to meet with a book club for a Q&A or present to all of your fourth- and fifth-graders, please get in touch!
Recent tragedies have proven yet again that our country polices its citizens unequally, COVID-19 continues to spread, and cities are in turmoil as our wannabe strongman leader auditions for autocrat. It feels strange not to write about any of it this month, but the last thing anyone needs right now is another white guy sharing his feelings. My job is to listen, learn, and actively educate myself, and that is what I am doing. We all have a part to play in making meaningful change.
I didn’t even notice that Sunday, May 17, was the one-year anniversary of my last day as executive editor of Booklist. Funny that I would forget to observe such a personally significant date: at the time, the decision to leave my employer of 17 years felt momentous. I knew it was time to go, but leaving behind the security of the job I knew so well was both exciting and frightening.
I shouldn’t have worried. While the past year has had ups and downs, it’s been personally and professionally fulfilling. I’ve celebrated the publication of two books (Drowning with Others and A Million Acres) and completed two others (The Three Mrs Wrights and The Tiny Mansion). I’ve found rewarding sidelines as a ghostwriter (a natural for someone who already enjoys using pen names) and freelance editor. I’ve had conversations about some very interesting jobs—I’m not at all ruling out a return to the office—but I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can wait for the perfect fit.
I now run a small business, and while I still have a lot to learn about that, it suits my skills and interests because I enjoy balancing creative solo work with collaboration and even sales, marketing, and (gasp) accounting. At the moment I have all the work I can handle while awaiting green lights on several creative projects. For my morning “me time,” I’m taking a break from writing poetry to revise and complete a desk-drawer novel I dusted off at the start of lockdown.
The Graff home office has become larger as Marya works long days at a desk in our bedroom and Felix and Cosmo finish out the school year at the dining-room computer, on a laptop that travels from room to room, and using their ubiquitous phones. Each cat is adjusting in her own way to the sudden influx of coworkers: Toothless carves out her own space to snooze quietly, while Totoro indulges her need for constant dialogue and fights tooth and nail for my office chair.
Unable to enjoy in-person cocktails with my human colleagues, running has been more important than ever to me over the past three months—but more difficult to enjoy, due to Mayor Lightfoot’s lockdown of the Chicago lakefront. Long weekend runs with my friend Peter—part exercise, part therapy—have been taken off the table. Looping a homemade mask over my ears, I’ve taken to side streets, alleys under the L, and other less-than-ideal routes where I have to remain wary of both vehicular collisions and invasions of personal space.
Just last week, my family made the difficult decision to cancel our annual reunion in Montana. Sure, it’s probably safe, but who wants to use the word probably in conjunction with their loved ones’ lives? Just to pretend I’m visiting my home state, I set myself a summer goal of running the length of Highway 93, from Chief Joseph Pass at the Idaho border, to Roosville, British Columbia, in no more than 93 days. #93in93 has a nice ring to it, I think.
And just yesterday I reached Darby. As I mentally plod my way up the Bitterroot Valley, if you are actually in Montana, please send me a virtual wave—or even better, a picture.
life list: a record kept of all birds sighted and identified by a birder
The world may have turned upside down, but spring is here and the birds are returning to Chicago. I love watching them, even though I can name precious few. (I’m too embarrassed to admit when I stopped calling sparrows “parking lot birds”—they always seemed to be hopping around on the asphalt.) A few weeks ago, I was out on a (safe, socially distanced) walk and worrying about my friends’ bookstores when the twittering of birds gave me the idea of starting a bookstore life list.
Nerd alert! But bear with me: you feel embarrassed if you haven’t seen the obvious ones. You feel a sense of accomplishment at watching your collection grow. There’s a distinct thrill in discovering one you never knew existed . . . and genuine anguish when any of them go extinct.
So I’ve started mine. This first draft has shameful gaps and I know I’ve forgotten too many. But it gives me something to look forward to, after all this is over—getting back on the road, exploring, meeting people, buying books I may never have time to read. And what could be more life affirming than that?
(u) = used, * = out of business
California
City Lights (San Francisco) A Great Good Place for Books (Oakland)
Colorado
Second Star to the Right (Denver) Tattered Cover (Denver)
Florida
Gene’s Bookstore (Sanibel Island)
Illinois (Chicago Area)
57th Street Books After-Words Anderson’s Naperville Armadillo’s Pillow (u) Barbara’s (Wells) * Book Cellar Book Stall Book Table Centuries and Sleuths City Lit The Dial Gallery Bookstore (u) Lake Forest Bookstore Madison Street Books Myopic Books (u) Open Books (u) Powell’s Quimby’s Ravenswood Used Books (u) RoscoeBooks Sandmeyer’s Seminary Coop Transitions * Unabridged Uncharted (u) Volumes Bookcafe Women & Children First
Louisiana
Beckham’s Bookshop (New Orleans) (u) Faulkner House (New Orleans)
Addendum (St. Paul) * Common Good (St. Paul) * Magers & Quinn (Minneapolis) Once Upon a Crime (Minneapolis) Red Balloon (St. Paul) Wild Rumpus (Minneapolis)
Mississippi
Lemuria Books (Jackson) Square Books (Oxford)
Missouri
Left Bank Books (St. Louis) The Novel Neighbor (Webster Groves)
Montana
The Bird’s Nest (Missoula) (u) The Book Exchange (Missoula) (u) Bookworks (Whitefish) Cassiopeia Books (Great Falls) Chapter One (Hamilton) Country Bookshelf (Bozeman) Fact and Fiction (Missoula) (u) Freddy’s Feed and Read (Missoula) * Montana Book Company (Helena) River Break (Fort Benton) Ron’s Roost (Missoula) (u) * Shakespeare & Co. (Missoula)
New York City
Books of Wonder McNally Jackson Mysterious Bookshop The Strand
Oregon
Annie Bloom’s Books (Portland) Cannon Beach Book Company (Cannon Beach) A Children’s Place (Portland) Green Bean Books (Portland) Jupiter’s Books (Cannon Beach) Powell’s City of Books (Portland)
Tennessee
Parnassus (Nashville)
Texas
Brazos Bookstore (Houston)
Utah
Ken Sanders Rare Books (Salt Lake City) (u) The King’s English (Salt Lake City) Weller Book Works (Salt Lake City)
Because, apparently, I miss more frequent deadlines, I have launched a new monthly newsletter: Graff Paper.
No, this will not be a regular excuse to indulge myself in blatant self-promotion by quoting from my reviews, touting my public appearances, and generally going on about how fascinating I am! This publication exists to give me a fresh creative outlet and to connect with readers.
Each Graff Paper will include an extremely short essay about whatever’s on my mind at the moment (pop culture, publishing, parenting, writing, running, soccer, travel, Montana, Chicago, cats, and who knows what else), as well as links to other writing. I also plan to include occasional interviews of interesting people, lists of what I’m reading and watching, and playlists. These are things I won’t share anywhere else!
The first one mailed February 11, and subsequent issues will mail on the second Tuesday of every month. (After lunch, just so you know.) I hope you’ll read issue #1, “It’s Never Too Early to Blow Your Resolutions.” If you like it, please subscribe below—and tell a friend!
