BLOGCRITICS REVIEW & WORD/SOUND INTERVIEW

This week I’ve been preparing to take off for the mighty state of Texas, where I grew up, to start my extensive tour for Hustle. I’ve got almost twenty events set up for this fall, and I will be gone for about two weeks on this leg, visiting Austin, Denton, Dallas, and Arlington, and doing research for the next book. My suitcase is the size of a dresser: I’m lugging extra copies of the novel and recording equipment for the research, as well as a window a/c unit and an industrial-sized warehouse fan, because the temps are going up by nearly thirty degrees for me  (it’s 68 degrees in Tacoma, 98 in Dallas). It’s my first tour, and I am admittedly a bit nervous. But to add to that, I’m worried I will be swollen and brain-crazy, so I’ll be even more inarticulate than my usual self. But I’m excited to finally meet the bookstore owners and events coordinators who have so graciously put me on their rosters, despite my being a first-time writer with an independent press, and I’m grateful to the kind reviewers who have been giving attention to the book, helping me charge along.

Speaking  of which: This week blogcritics devoted three pages to the novel. It’s an amazing and thoughtful review, and I am far beyond excited. You can read it here.

Also, Word/Sound did an interview, where we talk about the ten years it took to write/revise/publish Hustle, the importance of setting, Tejas literature, my love for the band Centro-matic, and my first Old 97’s show.

Currently Reading: Betty Superman, by Tiff Holland
Currently Listening To: Lullbies to Paralyze, Queens of the Stone Age