What I'm Up To
Sticky summer heat, artistic explorations, etc.
Hello dear reader,
I hope your summer has been hot and sticky and full of afternoons spent lazing about in the sun! In NYC & Jersey City, summers are humid and sweaty but full of magic. The city gets a little quieter, the parks get busier. Trains run overtime to the beach. Mornings are spent in the shade sipping coffee, and in the evenings we loiter on hot sidewalks as we avoid saying goodbye.
I used to hate summer until I moved into an apartment with decent air conditioning. Suddenly I love it! Weird, right? To be fair, city-dwellers do run errands covered in sweat and the subway is disgusting during a heat wave and without a doubt I’ll be thrilled when I feel the first hint of fall in the air. For now, though, you’ll find me biking along the water and avoiding my responsibilities!
It’s been a few months since the last Secret Spy Society came out. Every time I see my books included on a summer reading list I’m elated! When I was a kid, my family spent the bulk of the summer at the library checking out fat stacks of books and soaking up the air conditioning. Summer is for the library. Those are the rules! I hope you can spend some time at yours, and if you find my books dressed up in their library jackets please send me a picture! It’s my favorite thing.
I used to feel pressured to read books that felt “important” or “educational,” but all that meant is that I wasn’t reading anything at all. Now, I feel that the best book is whatever will get you to sit down and read. Fiction, non-fiction, young adult, celebrity-sensation, pulp paperback, steamy romance, or the user manual for your new ice cream maker. Audiobook, kindle, dog-eared thrift find, who cares! Personally, I love a sci-fi novel that takes me to a totally different place (hello, Octavia Butler) but it doesn’t matter to me what you read! Go forth and cozy up with a book, ideally outside or next to an open window.
With my Lady Spies wrapped, I’ve been having so much fun diving headfirst into something new. Yet again, I’ve found myself gravitating towards a non-fiction project which means that most of the year has been spent researching. I don’t want to share too much since this project is in the early stages. This isn’t a hard and fast publishing rule, but sharing too much feels like I could jinx something. So instead, I’ll tell you a few things I’m excited about:
1. Learning more about a person that I’ve been drawn to since I was a child. Past-me would be so proud of current-me!
2. Exploring new areas of art and music, which are for the book but also for me. This also means tax-deductible trips to museums and the ballet. Right? I hope?
3. Painting! I’m still sorting out the visual language (aka style) for this book, but I know that it will be very different than the artwork for the Secret Spy Society. This book will be COLORFUL. I’m aiming for something lyrical and painterly and literary… but those are big ambitious words, so we’ll see where I land. Not every book can be moody and spooky like the Spies! Also, graphite really hurts my hand.
This project has lead me down some exciting rabbit holes and opened the door for artistic meandering. I’ve been taking trips to local NYC museums (a treasure trove, obviously) with no real purpose other than exploring. I haven’t done this so intentionally since my BFA thesis project at Parsons and am always delighted by when I discover with no particular goal. (Well, I guess there was one goal for this trip, which was just to look at big paintings. My favorite!)
I started writing about a month ago and am trying to get this thing nailed down between vacation and the general summer-stupor that’s glazed over my brain. I can’t wait to share more when I can. Fall? TBD!
Bye for now!
Veronica
