Book Freaks

Two weeks after my book, Mother Noise, came out, I was invited to be a guest on the Tamron Hall show. When my publicist called to tell me this, I had to google Tamron Hall. I don't watch a lot of TV. (Nothing against Ms. Hall- she is very good at what she does and she is absolutely lovely.)

I brought one of my favorite writer friends with me, Hurley Winkler. You can subscribe to Hurley's wonderful substack here:

The show sent a car from Manhattan to my home in New Haven, which was incredibly nice.

When we got to the studio, Hurley wasn't allowed in. It was May of 2022 and Covid protocols were still in place and Hurley hadn't had a nurse show up at her home the day before for testing like I did. I went into the studio alone while Hurley did NY things. 

I was very nervous. I didn't know what to expect. The pre-show process was like a conveyor belt. They had a dressing room for me with a bag of swag and the producer stopped by to go over some things and then I was escorted to hair and makeup. The two women who worked on me were not only excellent at hair and makeup, they were amazing conversationalists, which helped me relax. 

One of the nicest things about that day was my publicist meeting me at the studio to keep me company. (She even endured the nose swab the day before the taping.)

If you've never published a book before, you might not know how incredible the people are who work at these big publishing houses. Everyone at Simon & Schuster impressed me, these young, polished, interesting professionals. My publicist included. Her name is Abby and she sat in my dressing room with me up until the time I had to do the interview. It was there that we discovered we both loved books about mountain climbing disasters and frozen expeditions in Antartica. This is a very specific genre and Abby is the first person I've known who shares this niche obsession with me. I don't even remember how it came up. I only remember how delighted I was to discover it. 

The actual 6 minute interview is a blur. I mostly remember walking out to the set and being surprised by the studio audience, which I somehow didn't picture ahead of time. Someone in that audience called out, "I like your shoes!" before the camera started rolling. And listen, I'll take a shoe compliment anytime anywhere. 

After the taping was over, Hurley met me outside the studio and the car service brought the two of us, plus Abby, to the Simon & Schuster building and we all went inside and ate donuts in my editor's office. 

This is a story about lucky breaks and publishing and becoming a writer but it's also a story about just loving books. Whenever I think about that experience, I go back to the dressing room and the way Abby and I joyfully talked about frostbite and hypothermia and sled dogs and Sherpas and how much we loved reading about these things. We were just two book freaks swimming gleefully in our obsession and the rest of the world dropped off for a moment while we lost ourselves in the books we loved. It's taken me a long time, but now I live a life that is shaped and formed by books and it's difficult to find words for how grateful I am.

Thank you so much for reading.