Point of No Return
Hey party people, it’s been months. I’ve been busy working on final Raver Girl edits and getting blurbs, moming, leading content for jewelry startup Meet the Jewelers, post-pandemic reintegration, training a new Frenchie puppy, and having another miscarriage. Ups and downs for sure. So is life.
What’s kept me afloat during it all, what I keep circling back to when personal disaster strikes (another miscarriage) in addition to my groovy love child, is the book. Yes, the book has been sent to the printers, but there’s still so much work to do.
Because I went the hybrid publishing route with She Writes Press, I don’t have an agent and handle some things personally, like final edits, marketing, and publicity (enter the lovely Ann-Marie Nieves). This is cool because I get more say in matters like my book cover art (though my publisher insisted on my sassy headshot), interior fonts, and final edits. This is often overwhelming because I need to drop everything and turn around edit checks hella quick, make candy bracelets for media kits, and manage RG’s Instagram. I consider myself pretty low-tech, so it’s challenging for me, someone who prefers paper to screens. I have a long to-do list and only two months left before launch month—shit’s getting real.
I’ve also been reaching out to fellow writers to get blurbs, the praise quotes on book covers. It’s been wonderful getting in touch with other authors after we’ve all been collectively hibernating, and it was the first time I shared my manuscript with people outside my personal readers’ circle. I was nervous, unsure if the well-read Deputy Editor at POPSUGAR or esteemed writer Lisa Locascio would enjoy my story. I also connected with authors I don’t know well, like Chelsea-Lousie Berlin of Rave Art and Michelle Janikian of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion. The praise that came in floored me, and I cried reading some. Having the approval of literary professionals who aren’t biased friends filled me up with good vibes, motivating me to keep pushing on. A big THANK YOU to those fresh people who provided blurbs.
"Psychedelic, twisting, and never less than real, Raver Girl is a remarkable work of auto-documentary in which Durbin fearlessly reconstructs the highs and lows of her singular adolescence at the epicenter of `90s Bay Area rave culture. I read this book in one ravenous sitting, wholly under the influence of its addictive voice. Just when I thought I couldn't be more engrossed, shocked, or transported, I turned the page and found myself in yet another new world. With vulnerability, compassion, and a wicked sense of possibility, Durbin has crafted a true life bildungsroman that is a trip like none other."
—Lisa Locascio, author of Open Me
It’s all Exciting with a capital E, and I’m reminding myself to enjoy the ride. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My book has been eight years in the making, almost a whole lifetime if you count the teenage years it took to create my story. I have some second book ideas, but I can’t fathom how I’ll find the time to write another one. I always felt I needed to give birth to my book baby before moving on to my next creative endeavor, so here we are—entering the third trimester.
It’s time to start urging people to pre-order my book, so choose your retailer: Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and more to come locally. I have a box of ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) sitting behind my desk just waiting to be sent to media folk, hopefully devoured. And I’ve started a Raver Girl playlist on Spotify for some NSB (nonstop beats).
More sooner, I promise, KIR, PLUR,
Ms. Red