Kirsten Hubbard author of Like Mandarin talks Release Day

Spotlight Blog and Author:

Welcome Author, Kirsten Hubbard dropped by A Writing Process or a Write of Passage

Learning the craft of writing,
for her Release Day Interview: Like Mandarin available today!



Some of you know I'm a travel writer as well as a YA author. I've been fortunate to visit some pretty colorful places, and certainly, I'd love to celebrate my release day in Thailand or Tikal (or more appropriately, the Wyoming badlands!). But I'll be spending it right here in San Diego, mostly in my house and home office. My launch party isn't until Saturday, and my friends and family won't come down until Friday. So it'll be and the dog til the husband gets home. Maybe it's a little mundane, but it fits, since it's the site of my most exciting journey of all: writing and publishing LIKE MANDARIN.

That all sounded really zen, didn't it? Really, I expect my release day to go like this:

7:30 - Wake up (if I ever got to sleep), butterflies with harpy eagle wingspans twirling in my stomach. Linger in bed and check my email on my iPhone while Husband heads off to work. Like every morning.
8:00 - Shuffle (bounce) into the kitchen and make chai. Like every morning.
8:05 - Sit at my computer, in my office or at my kitchen table or coffee table, and prevent myself from checking Goodreads/Amazon/Bookscan. Except really I'll check all three, immediately.
9:00 - Repeatedly.
10:00 - Eat some Thin Mints. Get stressed about launch party Saturday.
10:15 - Read some Metafilter and CNN and so forth, and talk to my YA Highway co-bloggers, but every fifteen minutes head back to Goodreads/Amazon/Bookscan.
12:00 - Realize how ridiculous I am being, and that I need to get out of the house. Take shower and sing "Afraid of Everyone" by The National at the top of my lungs. Decide to leave my iPhone at home. Except really I'll bring it.
12:30 - Treat myself to a Thai iced tea with boba.
12:45 - Take my Thai iced tea with boba somewhere scenic and relaxing, like Balboa Park, or the beach, and walk around a little bit, maybe for ten minutes, until early sense of refreshment is replaced by debilitating sense of off-the-grid terror, and then I will sit on a rock and check Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon and Facebook on my iPhone.
2:00 - Arrive home and head straight for my computer.
2:30 - Eat more Thin Mints. Call my mom. Get stressed about launch party Saturday.
4:00 - Walk the dog -- but only a couple blocks. The internet awaits!
5:00 - Put on An Outfit and get bouncy waiting for Husband to release me from my own head.
5:30 - Husband gets home! Talk a SoCal mile-a-minute about all the internet things that happened today. Like every evening.
6:00 - Get in car and head to indie bookstore.
6:10 - Locate my book.
6:11 - Cry.
6:30 - Head somewhere with happy hour margaritas or mojitos.
8:30 - Arrive home and head straight for my computer. Intend to spend some time working on third book, but instead, get wrapped up in great conversation with great friends.
12:00 - Can't believe it's over! Fully initiated. I am an author.