A Normie Author's Pre-Launch Freak Out

The other day I was walking a friend through my sourdough strategy. I was talking about stretching + folding; I was talking about proofing; I was talking about types of flour. But as she scribbled everything down, I quickly reminded her: this is with my starter, and my oven, and my house. You have to learn your starter, and your oven, and your house.

She was not pleased with this information. Of course she wasn’t. She has four young children and no spare time to screw up a loaf of bread. But there wasn’t any way around it—her oven may be a few degrees warmer than mine, and it will definitely have less wild yeast in the air. Plus, I’m trying to explain how bread dough should feel to someone who’s never felt it before. Pillowy, loose, springy—these are not exactly objective words.

The only way to become a good sourdough baker, I told her, wincing at the brutality of this truth: bake a lot of really, really bad bread. Tweak—start again. Tweak—start again. To this day, I’ll open my oven after having done everything I normally do and sometimes that thing is flat as a pancake, or underbaked in the middle. Sourdough starter is alive. You’re dealing with life and all of its complications, here. If you want something simple, make spaghetti sauce. Instant oatmeal, maybe, although I can never quite get the milk ratio right in those little Quaker Oats packets.

I thought of this advice as I sat down the other day with a new story idea bubbling under the hood of my brain. No matter how many times I do this, I still start to feel like I’ve forgotten everything. My verbs are clunky. My characters sound like little AI robots. I start to imagine everyone is now going to accuse me of using Claude or his evil cousin Grok to write stories. I imagine the hideaway I will escape to in Aruba. I pull up Zillow and decide against Aruba.

I suck at this. I need a job. I should have gone to law school.

Ah, yes: I’ve been here before. The only way out is through. Time to bake some bad bread.

We’re less than a month out from The Supper Club Saints.

Let me tell you a little fact about writers: the chillest of us are total nutcases. I have been told many times by various people that I am on the “relaxed” end of authors they know on the lead up to launch, and let me just say…yikes.

You know what’s funny? A few weeks before Each and Every Spark came out, a fantastic middle grade World War 2 historical fiction came out and got all of this attention and buzz and love. And when my little book came out, I was crabby about it. And then—THEN—the same thing happened with Supper Club Saints! A few weeks ago, a book about a tradwife came out and everyone loves it and it’s on every booklist and THE AUTHOR EVEN HAS PART OF MY NAME!

It’s downright goofy, is what it is!!!

This isn’t some grand conspiracy. Tradwives are hot right now, as The Youths would say. And I think Supper Club Saints is about a lot more than tradwives. It’s about family, and what it means when your family fails you in some ways. It’s about the way we’re mothered affects how we mother. It’s about the loss of third spaces in small communities.

But still. It’s done a number on my sanity.

I frequently listen to a podcast by two Very Very Big Deal Authors and it always makes me cackle because while it’s a very interesting podcast, it is not helpful for anyone navigating publishing. It’s like watching MTV’s Cribs when you’re starting to look for a house to buy. Their problems are what they’re packing on their European tour and how nervous they are to speak in front of thousands of people at exclusive conferences you have to be invited to. I’ve long joked that I’m going to start a podcast called The Normie Author that talks about remembering the difference between publicity and marketing and carving out time to write when school calls because your kid barfed in the cafeteria. One of the Very Very Big Deal Authors also has a book coming out the same day as me, and so it’s been a delightful comparison game of all of his accolades.

The president insulted the pope. Why does this matter? Because I’m Catholic, and because I’m kind of (in)famously Catholic, and because whenever That Man has something to say about The Other Man people want to know my thoughts about it and text me about it and are like, can you buh-LIEVE this guy?! (And I’m like, yes? Of course I can? He’s always been this way?)

In The Supper Club Saints, matriarch Remy is kind of (in)famously Catholic. Her grown children refuse to see how important the church is to her, a source of great consternation. She is confused by the Gen Z’ers wearing Catholicism like a costume; she’s aggravated by her children who think going to brunch is more important than going to Mass. And you know what? She was with me in spirit, this week. I genuinely had some What Would Remy Do moments, there. Because she is imperfect and pours a strong drink and doesn’t take any shit, either. She doesn’t have time to.

She’s been here before—the only way out is through.

I tell you all of this to say: I can only bring myself to feel like a self-conscious loser for about four minutes at a time. The good part about being a Normie Author is that I actually have a life and publishing books is one tiny part of it. Mary Oliver can not be bothered by the mustard but I have to be bothered by the mustard because if I’m not, the house doesn’t have mustard. Am I making any sense? Or am I sounding like someone whose schedule has ballooned the past couple of weeks at the same time that one of their children started sleepwalking?

I’m so excited for you to read this book. I don’t care if it sells 11 copies or 11 bajillion1. I wrote Remy’s tale for you, and I hope you love it.

When prodigal daughter Cass Simon returns home after years away, the Simon family’s fragile peace is disrupted. Cass, a young mom previously living in a cult-like “Mommune” and working for a popular mom-fluencer, has come back under questionable circumstances, but is intent on starting fresh. As Cass gets work writing advice for a parenting website, her mother and sisters chip in their own wisdom from personal experience—of troubled pasts, heartache, and issues with infertility. As the story unfolds through past and present, the Simon family women come to understand their own relationships to forgiveness—and to each other.

And Booklist had some kind words to say: “On the verge of losing the supper club that has been in their family for generations, the grown Simon children are struggling with their own futures. Prodigal daughter Cass has returned after years in a Mommy-influencer cult, with a backstory that feels torn from today’s headlines. Hilary is still reeling from the loss of her father, as well as the end of her abusive marriage to an alcoholic. Erin and Thomas are cautiously optimistic about the impending birth of their daughter, although previous miscarriages have rocked their marriage to its core. Meanwhile, matriarch Remy is trying to find a way to let go of the supper club while still processing the death of her beloved husband. The strength of this novel, told in flashbacks from multiple perspectives, is how it parses out the truths of motherhood and family, pain and joy, light against darkness, and ultimately depicts the impossibility of it all. Swinarski (The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, 2024) thoughtfully creates a family who finds its way to grace and forgiveness, both for one another and for themselves.”

Preorder The Supper Club Saints

4/21: Come hang out at Brodhead Memorial Library in Brodhead, WI at 6:00 to talk all things Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County. I’ll be sharing about how the genesis of the book and how community cookbooks play into community care. Free event with no registration required.

4/25: I’m thrilled to be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day in Kenosha, WI with Blue House Books at the Stella Hotel. We’re doing a Breakfast Book Swap and a panel with many authors. Ticketed event—register here.

5/5: LAUNCH DAY! I’ll be in conversation with Olesya Salnikova Gilmore at Boswell Books at 6:30 PM in Milwaukee, WI. Free event—register here.

5/13: I’ll be in conversation with Amy Reichert at Books and Company at 6:30 PM in Oconomowoc, WI. Free event—register here. Books and Company is also hosting my signed preorder sale; if you want a signed/personalized copy of The Supper Club Saints but can’t make it to an event, snag one here!

5/19: I’ll be at Pauline Haass Public Library in Sussex, WI speaking about what the history of supper clubs and momfluencing have in common—it’s more than you’d think. Free event—registration opens May 1.

6/2: A book talk with supper club themed treats?! Be still my heart. I’m thrilled to host a Pages & Plates event with Reads by the River in Waterford, WI at Scungilli’s. Ticketed event—registration opens May 4.

Picture book fans: Safe Crossing by Kari Percival (both words and illustrations, I believe) was the sweetest story of a girl whose family builds a tunnel to help amphibians cross the road. Perfect springtime tale, and the back matter is 10/10 for any animal-loving kids. The illustrations are also delightful.

Middle graders: Every Missing Piece by Melanie Conklin, about an anxious middle schooler who believes she’s found a missing person in her neighborhood, was absolutely fantastic. The perfect amount of heart without being Preachy! About A Kid With Anxiety TM! Also, Where Ella Went by Laurie Morrison is out today. I had the pleasure of blurbing this epistolary story of a girl whose soccer team tries to find her after she moves away.

My kids recommend: Benjamin (10) is absolutely demolishing anything by Alan Gratz. What sort of magical 10-year-old crack does he put in those things?! Benjamin’s favorite was Projekt 1065, which he literally read in two days. Tess (7) is making her way through Gail Carson Levine’s fairytale tellings and quite enjoying them, her favorite so far being The Princess Test (a riff on the princess and the pea). Bridget (4) really loves curling up beside me to read Have You Seen a Flower?, written and illustrated by Shawn Harris. It’s sort of an oddball book but the florescent colors and silly questions make for a good time.

Adults: Everyone and their mother was reading Belle Burden’s Strangers so I indulged. I don’t usually go for a divorce memoir but it was fascinating to read about the world of prenups and trust funds and country clubs on the Vineyard, a world I am very much not a part of. Did I immediately google who her husband was and analyze everything about him I could find? I did! I’m also slowly but surely making my way through Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, which a friend told me would change my life. It’s the story of a village healer in Russia during the 15th century who loses his wife. It’s very…Russian, aka extremely depressing and brilliantly captivating.

Thanks for reading along!