Author life + excerpt from 24 Hours in Italy
It's been a ride! Also, I wish there were 75 more hours in each day.
It pains me to type “I hope everyone’s summer has been great,” not because I don’t mean it, but because it’s a phrase that signals the right-around-the-corner end of summer.
Sigh.
Now that I’ve come to grips with my end-of-summer anxiety, here’s what’s been happening since we last hung out.
Prancing around under the Tuscan sun (and in Rome)
More specifically, a lot of time in Italy was spent lounging by the pool at a wonderful olive oil farm with lovely apartments you can rent, or sitting on benches in the most darling little towns, or wine tastings in Chianti, or doing a pasta tour in Rome that would make Stanley Tucci proud…needless to say, it was magnificent and incredibly inspiring for the sequel 24 Hours in Italy.
Breaking the book launch obsession cycle
Not only was a vacation needed after the double-life exhaustion of the day job and book launch, but it was also needed to break the cycle of obsessing about post-launch sales! As someone who comes from a self-published background, I am used to being able to tracking my sales, multiple times a day if I so choose.
Now? That ability does not exist. I can only be hopeful that something’s happening if I hear from a reader or gain a new follower, or—if I’m desperate, obsess over Amazon sales rankings, which I’d been doing (a lot).
But once I arrived in Italy, I was all like “F**k sales, let’s have pasta and Prosecco!”
Since leaving Italy, I no longer have access to top-shelf pasta and super-affordable Prosecco, but I am very much still concentrating on the things I need to do, and not obsessing over sales figures I can’t control—and thank goodness for that!
Hometown book signing and ALL the nostalgia
My first official Indigo book signing was back in my home town of Kitchener, Ontario. It was such a nostalgia-rich and amazing experience. Smashing Pumpkins on my playlist, my nerdy high school graduation photo assaulting my eyeballs…luckily I got to meet some really sweet readers and reunite with a couple friends from high school.
By the way, there were so many books in the store that I signed some copies before I left—so if you happen to be in Kitchener, stop by the Indigo and grab one!
PS: shout out to my cousin for taking some photos during the signing. If you ever need to get some photos taken, contact him on Instagram (@gulurai)!
Upcoming book club + word of mouth still matters!
Through the mysterious process of readers slowly but surely finding my book, The Canadian Wine, Women & Well-Being community selected my book for their August book club pick! They’ll be doing a virtual book club on August 30th at 9pm ET! So put the kids to bed or whatever else you need to do and join me for FREE on the 30th (yes, I’ll be popping in to!) You can sign up for free here.
In the meantime, a big part of making the sequel successful is making sure 24 Hours in Paris keeps selling, so whenever you have a moment, tell a friend , and if you can, leave an Amazon review too!
Next up: my attempt to break the sequel curse
Speaking of the sequel, I am really getting in the weeds. There’s so much to do and so little time, and occasionally it just feels odd that my number-one passion can only be squeezed into free time, when truly it deserves all the time! Then there’s the whole sequel stigma. People seem so confident when asserting that a sequel is never as good as the original, and it’s hard not to let that mess with your head. Still…in a way it makes me work that much harder to prove that a sequel can soar.
I don’t know how good my chances are, but I am currently trying my best—pray for me!
Exclusive excerpt from 24 Hours in Italy
If you made it this far, your reward is a never-before-shared excerpt from 24 Hours in Italy! Hope you enjoy it, and I’ll be back with my next update this fall, once I’ve survived the endless task of writing the sequel draft. Ciao!
Two years, two months, and two days after 24 Hours in Paris (not that Mira’s counting . . .)
The night before
Mira watched the sunset from a sprawling villa terrace that was serving up European ambience to the max; the rustic outdoor dining set, an archway of overgrown wildflowers . . . the works.
Streaks of orange sun disappeared behind the terracotta rooftops of Greve, a Tuscan town just a twenty-minute walk from the villa. The rolling hills of Chianti formed the horizon beyond it, a gorgeous backdrop she still hadn’t gotten used to, despite having just marked her fifth month of living in Tuscany. On this particular evening, there was also nostalgia floating in her midst, as her mind drifted off to a different sunset from a whole other time and place.
Pont des Arts.
It had been so long, that no one would have blamed her for forgetting. Only, to forget would be an impossible task, given everything that was in store for the coming weekend.
Mira took a long breath and glanced at her watch. Her eyes widened as she scurried to the swimming pool, a strip of turquoise heaven on a hilltop.
As the pool came into view, Mira found her best friend Sophie still stretched out on one of the lounge chairs, soaking in that perfect late summer Tuscan weather, the delicate balance of warm-but-not-hot ushered in by the start of September. Sophie was clad in a patterned one-piece swimsuit, her thick brown curls forming a crown around her head.
Mira hovered over her, arms crossed and annoyed. “How are you still by the pool? It’s not even sunny anymore.”
“Just enjoying the onset of dusk.” She lowered her sunglasses. “You look gorgeous in this light, by the way.” She grinned. “Magic hour.”
Mira was momentarily distracted by her own appearance; tanned arms, longer hair, and the overall sense of feeling much more alive in Italy. She recovered quickly. “We have a dinner reservation in Florence and you’re still in your bathing suit.”
“Don’t worry, I already packed.” She hopped up. “Just have to throw on a dress; five minutes.”