“you can’t go home again”

That’s what my father wrote over and over in his unfinished memoir. Of course, you can revisit the place you’re from but it won’t be the same. I’ve had a lot of homes in my 53 years and in general, I try to keep moving forward but sometimes you have to go back. In mid-June it was Brooklyn, and last weekend I went back to Chicago for ALA. This was the first time a publisher paid my way to this major conference of authors and librarians, and I got to catch up with some of my closest friends. We met in Hyde Park for dinner and my former neighborhood looked as beautiful as ever. It wasn’t a stress-free trip…some of my plans fell through and our panel was on the “Diversity Stage,” which was tucked away in the farthest corner of the exhibit hall. But the signing line was wonderful and folks had lovely things to say about A Song for Juneteenth and books that I published a decade ago. My Brooklyn buddy Katie suggested we check out the new Obama Presidential Center and so we got to catch up while spending a sunny hour on the lively campus. There was a DJ, an emcee, and a line to get into the new, small branch of the Chicago Public Library. Lots of authors on social media were posting photos after finding their books in the Presidential Library, and a friend urged us to sign any copies of our books that we found on the shelves. But there weren’t any, of course. Quite a few of my titles are in the CPL catalogue, but not in the OPC library. I lived nearby for 4 years, I wrote the neighborhood into my bestselling Dragons in a Bag series. Was I disappointed? Yes, but not surprised. When I visited the Poetry Foundation library a couple of years ago, none of my books were in their collection either but their catalogue shows a few of my titles now. I don’t think there’s any point reaching out to the OPC library. Not for FOMO.

I managed to leave my power cord in Hamilton so I’ve been without a computer for most of this week. Yesterday I made myself write poems by hand because I was five days behind on my daily quota. I’m pleased with the neoclassical verse I’ve produced so far and hope to get some prose chapters written this month. I see this book as a sort of graphic novel—like the size of a picture book with black and white sketches that burst into color when Glory finally reaches the magical Fifth Province. Will a traditional publisher want to make a book like that? Probably not. But it doesn’t hurt to dream…

Mercury went retrograde on Monday and I’ve definitely been having some technical trouble…KDP won’t let me order proofs of the Huguenot book so I’ve missed my June 30 pub date but hopefully I’ll have the two books out next week! Merci de votre patience…