An April Love Letter to the Best Readers in the World!

Can you believe it's been a year already?! and also, is Love is Blind the best or the worst show on television?!

Tomorrow on the 18th, my book baby will have been in the world for a whole year. (My firstborn actual baby turns 8 on that day as well!)

I am so incredibly grateful to y’all for all the support you have shown me in the years preceding this book and the past year that it’s been in your hands. What an absolute gift y’all are!

This photo from my book signing always makes me want to cry. A room full of people, but look at my daughter’s face. *insert crying emoji here*

I especially love that y’all sent me photos of you with your copy of the book!

I wish Substack would let me put more than 9 photos in a gallery to show y’all, but here are the first 9 that popped up for me. Sometimes if I get sad, I like to look at all of these photos and it cheers me up. Y’all don’t realize the impact these kinds of photos or 5 star reviews have on an author! Seriously, y’all are the literal best.

In the last year, I have published A Kudzu Vine of Blood and Bone, (A #1 New Release in two categories thanks to y’all and all the preorders!) and I have been published in three anthologies! And I will be in a fourth one soon! Isn’t it gorgeous?!

The Future of Us comes out April 24th! I have two poems in it, one of which has never before been seen (except for a select few that I frantically sent it to in order to get an outside opinion on it because I was lowkey convinced it was not great. Imposter syndrome is real, people.) “The Weight of It All” is close to my heart for a number of reasons, and I hope you’ll buy the anthology, and let it speak to you.

This weekend, I went to the Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference with my friend Deena! It was held in a beautiful historic courthouse.

And speaking of beautiful, look at me and Deena!

I also had the privilege of selling my books in the Richard Low Evans Gallery at the Art Center.

I learned so much from so many talented authors about honing our craft and connecting with readers. I am excited to attend again next year!

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LISTENING/READING/WATCHING/WRITING

LISTENING:

I’ve been listening to Charles Wesley Godwin’s “Strawberry Queen” on repeat for days. It’s nearly driven Jared insane, which is part of the appeal, but it’s also so dang cute when Joy and Jubi sing along. “Seneca Creek” is also a really great story song, but it might make you cry, so grab the tissues beforehand, okay?

READING:

I’ve been all over the place, reading-wise. I am currently reading a Love Inspired romance called Danger in the Shadows. It’s actually two books that were republished under this new name. The first one was cute, but I haven’t finished the second yet.

I restarted Women Who Run With Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype while Jared and I took the girls to the mountains earlier this month. I say restarted because I have tried to read this book several times, but sometimes I don’t think I’m smart enough to understand it lol! I was an English major so I know I am capable of understanding it, but it may take a while to gather the focus to do so. I love wild women in stories and poems: the ones who do what they feel in spite of what others may say or think, and this book talks about those types in various cultures from around the world.

When we go to Jared’s family cabin in Bryson City, we always stop at the Friends of the Marianna Black Library book store. The most expensive book I’ve ever seen there was $5, and all of ours were $1.50 or less. We loaded up on children’s books and magazines because the magazines are 50 cents or less. I told Jared that if we didn’t care about reading the magazines when they came out, we could just wait and get a whole subscriptions worth for pennies on the dollar!

WATCHING:

I cannot stop watching season 4 of Love is Blind. It is so terrible and cringy and I am enthralled by every second. Sometimes at night, Jared will be on his computer crunching numbers and mumbling to himself, so I just watch what I want, but I noticed that even Jared cannot ignore the siren’s call of Love is Blind. I was so disappointed to not be able to see the finale in real time. Thanks, Netflix! I figured it would break the internet though, so I had mentally prepared myself. If you’ve seen Love is Blind, reply to this email or comment and tell me your thoughts. I HAVE MANY.

We’ve also been watching Ted Lasso and it is so sweet. I love seeing the surprising nuances of Ted’s character, Roy’s tender heart blossoming, and I have to see how the Nate plotline plays out.

WRITING:

It’s happening, y’all. I am furiously typing ideas into my phone every day and when I sit at my computer sometimes words come out! And sometimes they’re actually good. For this next collection, I’m planning on a mix of the regular poem format and also mixed media art, black out poems, photos, etc. I find it interesting since often poetry is meant to appeal to all your senses, so why not add an actual visual element? It’s fun experimenting. I’m also using those same cheap magazines from the book store in Bryson City to make blackout poems. It feels like magic to search the words for a poem and then it appears.

I love y’all!

Tristan

P.S. Mother’s Day is coming up, and my book makes a great Mother’s Day gift! Amazon almost always has it on sale, but it’s available to order everywhere! Tell your mama you love her, and give her a kiss from me :)