How do you promote a thing when the world is collapsing around you?

Oh. I hope you weren't expecting me to answer that question. This isn't one of those "smart advice" or “good insight” blog posts. 💡 This is more of a I-don't-know-the-answer-and-I-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-I’m-doing-and-I'm-trying-to-write-my-way-through-it situations. 😱🤯

It's weird having a book out when I'm so concerned about the democracy and about the climate and about basic rights for women, the LGBTQ community, people of color, and anyone else who doesn't fit neatly into a particular group of entitled, unempathetic men. With all this stuff going on, how do I walk around saying, 📣 "Hey! I know the house is on fire, but check out my book about these awkward people who go out on awkward dates!" 👩‍❤️‍👨 💑

I don't mean to diminish my book—I'm pleased with it and proud of it. And I do think it is relevant today, even if it doesn't directly fight these problems I've mentioned. It's more about learning to be a decent human, which underlies some of this crap. But even so, it's hard to know how to talk about my thing when I'm watching the January 6th hearings and trans existence is being challenged all over the country and Putin is bombing civilians in Ukraine.

🚧🚧 TO DO: insert graceful segue so I can momentarily shift from war to book readings 🚧🚧

I had a fun time reading at 🍏 Green Apple Books 🍏 in San Francisco last week. You know, I kind of loved not having the home field advantage. It made for a smaller and more intimate event. And I’m starting to realize that I kind of love speaking in public in this format. Showing goofy videos and joking around about all my struggles. Having a conversation with thoughtful people in the audience. And appreciating the adorable dog in the audience who asked why my main character doesn’t like pets…

But I guess I still find it complicated knowing how to behave as a creative type in 2022. Some days, it feels simple, where I can write or make videos or blog or do a reading at a fabulous bookstore. Sometimes I can even come up with a fun or funny way to share some info with y’all about what I’m up to (cute dog pics don't hurt). And some days, it feels impossible to break through the noise (or even want to).

But no matter what is happening out there in the world, being creative feels important, and sharing creative things feels important… Even if I can’t come up with the concrete formula for how or why it matters, I know it matters.

❤️️❤️️❤️️ 🤯 ❤️️❤️️❤️️

And for a slightly related topic (in case you missed it), here is my recent video about my attitude/mantra/theory/rambling about promoting things these days…

MOST PEOPLE DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR THING