5 things leading up to "A Last Time for Everything"—out July 21st

Hey! I've been a little quiet around here, I know. I'm slightly more active over on my Instagram, which you should definitely follow.

But since we're a little over two months out from the release of my new novel A Last Time for Everything, I figured now was a good time to blow the dust off this old blog (that's right, a BLOG, not a Substack... how quaint!) and let you know a little bit about what's been cooking behind the scenes with my novel, life, and career; and how things are different this time around vs my debut year.

If you're new here, here's the quick pitch on ALTFE: "With a surprise baby on the way, a couple races against the clock to complete the Bucket List they wrote when they first met so they can squeeze in a lifetime’s worth of adventures before bellyflopping into parenthood." – Learn more about the book here.

One. Day job

I'm a lot busier this time around, for starters. When I wrote Dad Camp, I was self-employed as a blogger and freelance writer. It was easy to shelve a lot of my usual work in favor of investing in my longer-term career as an author.

I wrote the large majority (and rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote it) while also writing full time at Upworthy.

I like the work I do there, and it's really nice to have a steady paycheck for the thing I do best. I also really like the perks. Early last year, I went to Disney World with my family to cover Disney's "Magic of Milestones" event. We got to pre-rope-drop Magic Kingdom and ride Space Mountain before the park was even open. We also had a private dance party with Mickey and Friends in Hollywood Studios. I was Dad of the Century that week.

Just last week, I interviewed THE Mark Rober. We got to talk about his work with Make-A-Wish and Disney, along with his other philanthropy. I was able to find out he's releasing a huge, free science curriculum that takes all of the things he's learned from YouTube about how to make science fun and fascinating for kids, but still meets national educational standards. It was a great conversation and definitely a career highlight. He even gave my oldest daughter, Hannah, a shoutout in our recorded interview. Which she promptly cut and sent to her friends.

All that to say, let me state the obvious: It's a lot harder to write when you're writing all day for work. Add on kids, dogs, marriage, family, household responsibilities... I really don't know how people do it. I don't know how I did it. It took a lot out of me. It was a lot of late nights, early mornings, sitting in the car at soccer practice hunched over my laptop, and even going away for the weekend a few times, leaving my wife with the kids. Whatever people think of the book I'm really proud of it for all the hard work it represents.

Two. Blurbs

Blurbing is a really fun and exciting part of the publishing process. It was a little different this time because, as a sophomore novelist, I know a few writers now. As a debut, I knew absolutely no one except people whose books I had read and enjoyed. I met a lot of great writers through my debut group, and many of the people I met there have continued to do amazing things. Best-sellers! Movies in production! 2nd and 3rd and 4th books! I've stayed in touch with more than a few of these amazing folks.

My editor and publishing team reached out to a few authors on my behalf for blurbs, but I also did a few more of my own this time. I'm not the social butterfly but I am really grateful to see my professional network grow in the form of so many authors I admire and just flat out like as people: Like Laura Piper Lee and Natalie Sue. Not only great writers, but really kind people. I was thrilled and stunned that they both said Yes.

Getting blurbs back is so gratifying. It's really the first time my book has left the safe little nest my editor and I built.

I've been rolling these out on my Instagram—come take a look!

Three. Netflix and Dad Camp

If you're new here or new to my work, my debut novel Dad Camp is in development as a feature film at Netflix with 21 Laps and Happy Madison producing. Insane, I know. Hopefully one day I'll be able to tell the whole story of how that deal came together.

Meanwhile, I can't really say much of anything about what's going on with the Dad Camp movie. In fact, I didn't know if the word would ever get out before an article on Deadline dropped out of the blue. I was in the middle of my daughter's birthday party back in August when I suddenly started getting emails and pings from my authors' Slack channel congratulating me.

What I can say is that the movie is in active development. There is a script. I've read it. They're still working on it. It's all incredibly surreal and all I can do—and I would kindly ask you to join me—is to keep my fingers crossed.

Four. Audiobook narrators

One of my absolute favorite parts of publishing Dad Camp was getting to listen to audiobook narrator auditions. The email from the Penguin Random House audiobook producer dropped randomly in my inbox and had audio samples from around ten different narrators. My wife and I had a blast listening to all of them (with a glass of wine) and debating our favorites before we landed on the iconic Sean Patrick Hopkins. He knocked it out of the park, of course.

A Last Time for Everything is a much different book. It's a dual POV novel, but the main narrator voice is a consistent, third-person perspective. So it could have been done with two narrators, but ultimately we decided to just use one. Because of the structure of the book, it also could have worked with either a male or female narrator. That made the choices even more difficult! The auditions I listened to displayed so much talent. I had an incredibly difficult time narrowing it down to my favorite. Luckily, my producer, Dan Zitt, is an expert and really helped make the final choice clear. I can't wait to hear how it comes together.

Five. What it's like publishing a sophomore novel

Your first book is aspirational. It's something you do for the love of the game, and to see one of your biggest dreams come true.

After that, it's still about goals and dreams and love of the craft, but it's also a business and a profession. So that changes how you experience things a bit.

I'm a lot more chill about the process this time, for starters. Everything felt urgent and important the first time around. When the book listing first goes up on the Penguin Random House website, it takes a little while for all the information to populate and for all the links to work properly. I remember frantically checking everything—"Why isn't the link to Target working? Is something wrong? Does Target hate me?"

I don't care about stuff like that anymore. I have enough experience to know that it will either sort itself out, or it didn't matter that much in the first place.

Also... I have fans? ALTFE doesn't have many early readers reviews quite yet, but there are a few people popping up because they read and loved Dad Camp, and they wanted to check out more of my work. That's seriously so cool.

I'm at peace now with my voice, my books, and what publishing is all about. I'm not the Chosen One with a seven-figure deal, a billboard in Times Square, and an appearance on Good Morning America. Of course, I've had my bouts of terrific luck, too—which led me to Hollywood producers who loved my book. But this time around is also kind of about accepting my place in the bookstore, wherever that might be.

What comes next is completely open and full of possibility.