Hannah Rae's Blog, page 6

Torn Asunder

I know people keep telling me to slow down with my writing, but I can't. You see, I wrote a novel (An Illusion of Control) this summer and it falls at the end of the Hannah Rae Literary Universe Timeline... which means that people who read all my things need to learn two things before that novel if they don't want surprises to be ruined. So Mary and I busted our butts this summer to edit so many books and tomorrow, all of those books will be available on Amazon.

Torn Asunder is the novel that is officially being released tomorrow, but I received my copies in the mail today and placed a few books at Bantam Coffee Roasters this afternoon. Then I texted my number-one fan, Sarah, who responded, "Headed to Bantam now!!!" and promptly sent a picture of herself with the novel exactly thirty minutes later. There are likely still three copies for sale at Bantam, though, so if you need your Torn Asunder right now, that's where to find it.

I have a lot of fun figuring out which novel should be dedicated to which person in my world. Torn Asunder was no exception and I ended up dedicating it to "my favorite NaNo nerds, Percy and Carlie." These two love writing as much as I do and will both be lighting the world on fire with their words in the years to come. This past November, I was attempting to write a novel that I didn't really feel like writing -- I wanted to be writing Torn Asunder -- and when I shared this with Percy and Carlie, they both encouraged me to write what I wanted to write... even though I was trying really hard to write about new characters instead of my old friends.

Ultimately, I listened to the advice of my writing peers and did as they suggested. Torn Asunder flowed right out of me in a tumult of imagery and interwoven plotlines. I love it so much, and I loved writing it so much! I know I say this about all of my books, but it might be my favorite.

Carlie and Percy, if you're reading this... ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BUY COPIES OF TORN ASUNDER . I have copies to gift you and will do so in the very near future!

Because I Can

I'm doing a thing today (Wednesday) simply because I can.

Wanna know what it is?

Okay. I'll tell you: I'm releasing two books on the same day. I know, I know... you're probably thinking, "Just who do you think you are right now, Hannah? Taylor Swift?!" But the answer is, "No, I do not think I am Taylor Swift," even though my friend Mary thinks that Taylor Swift and I have quite a lot in common. Perhaps once Mary finishes the very important (and timely) thing that she's currently working on, she'd be willing to write a short blog explaining why she thinks I'm like Taylor Swift. I'll ask her.

A box of books that arrived much earlier than expected.

Back to the novels I'm releasing... For the majority of the world, they won't be available until August 8, but for the part of the world that lives in or near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, both Dog-Eared Life and Come and Go So Quickly can be purchased at Bantam Coffee Roasters (82 Steinwehr Ave.) any time after 11:00AM (while supplies last, obviously).

If one looks at the Hannah Rae's Literary Universe timeline that appears on the final pages of most Hannah Rae novels, you will notice that Dog-Eared occurs BEFORE Come and Go.

However.

If I may make a recommendation... I think the better order in which to read these novels is actually Come and Go AND THEN Dog-Eared . Just my two cents, but Mary agrees.

A Succinct & Comical Concert Tale

I was dating a guy in the winter months and on our very first date he mentioned that he hadn't attended many concerts, but that he'd someday like to see OAR. So after we'd been dating for a while and it was seeming like the relationship might go somewhere, I bought three tickets to OAR and Fitz and the Tantrums for July 27, intending to use this as a birthday gift. (One of those tickets was for my concert husband Phil, obviously; that should probably go without saying, though.)

A week or so later, the guy and I stopped seeing each other. So I gave the extra ticket to my friend Marc! OAR is his favorite band, after all, and he'd never seen them at Merriweather... which is kind of surprising since OAR is from Rockville and Merriweather is pretty much their favorite place to play. It's like coming home for them; the shows are nearly always crazy-energetic/magical when they play at Merriweather.

Well a week after I gave the ticket to Marc, the guy and I started seeing each other again... so I bought another ticket.

And then we stopped seeing each other again... so I gave that extra ticket to my friend Victoria!

The moral of the story is that one should not go back to dating someone after those someones have broken up.

The other moral of the story is that if one is able, he/she should take friends to an amazing venue (such as Merriweather Post Pavilion) that's not yet been experienced by said friends and watch as they take in the amazingness of the experience. Phil and I had SO MUCH FUN watching Marc and Victoria explore the grounds for the first time. Marc compared Merriweather to a "music park." It was like an amusement park, but there was music instead of rides. Infinitely better, in my opinion. (But then, rollercoasters make me sick so amusement parks aren't really my thing.)

A quick review of the show:

Fitz and the Tantrums were ridiculously fun and energetic. Victoria had seen them twice before--and even met the band!--but this was a first-time experience for the rest of us. Noelle was insanely charismatic and so fun to watch on stage. Fitz makes some very funny faces and has some very interesting dance moves. Their set was awesome; I'd definitely see them again.

OAR brought all the energy. I've been going to OAR shows since the early 2000s and have seen them upwards of ten times. Last night's show was in the top three, I'd say. So many oldies-but-goodies were played and the audience was just FUN. Seriously, everyone standing around us was just FUN .

Overall, 10/10 for the night. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[image error]

Fitz and the Tantrums

[image error]

OAR and friends, closing out the night

Brain Freezes & Autographs

I'm going to be at Mr. G's on Friday evening, selling and signing some books while I eat an ice cream sundae. My fingers are crossed that there will be either a coffee or a fruity cheesecake flavor (or both!), but I guess I'll find out on Friday. Or maybe on Thursday if Marc provides a flavor preview at trivia.

If you've never tried Mr. G's ice cream, you really need to. I like it so much that I reference it in one of my books. I won't tell you which one because it doesn't matter since it's not available yet, but I will tell you that there's a LOT of ice cream mentioned in Time Jumps ... and THAT novel IS available. Maybe you'll want to buy a copy of it on Friday!

I Wrote A Book Really Fast

I think that if I didn't have to work a real job to pay my real bills, I'd be a prolific writer like Stephen King. Because once I get an idea and the characters tell me to write, I write .

Generally speaking, July is my month of wordage... and this July didn't disappoint. I had an idea for a book and I decided to start writing it on July 3rd.

I finished it on July 14th.

That's pretty fast! I actually think it's my fastest book yet... and it's also surprisingly good. Mary and Kathy T. read it while I wrote it, which was a super fun thing to experience. I mean, at any given moment, there might be a reader in my document while I was writing it! So fun.

Anyway.

I think the future is going to hold a lot of fun surprises and not to give anything away, but this novel is going to be one of the surprises. It's probably the most poignant thing I've ever written. It'll definitely make you think.

I need to get back to doing important things. But here is a picture of the first page (as it is now, before editing) of my new novel:

Oops! I cut you off in the middle of a sentence... because I'm a little shit. #sorrynotsorry

Writing: the Process

Honestly, this blog isn't really about the writing process. It's more about how I feel about writing, which sometimes sort of involves the process, but ultimately I'm just going to write what I want to write right now... which is also what I'm doing with this new book I just started writing.

I really like my Lake Caywood characters, you know? But I worry that people are bored with them and so I've tried to write some things that take place elsewhere, and with new characters -- because I really and truly do have other characters that live in my head! There are the Bay sisters out in Radio Park... There are Ollie and Reese in Flickerwood... There are the Wrong Writers in Moonglow... Some of these characters have books that are already written and not published; others are partially written and need to be finished. But while I am nearly always writing a novel on my laptop, I am also always writing a novel in my head... and lately the novel I've been writing in my head takes place in Lake Caywood.

I started the new book today, and while I've been struggling with A Heavy Sky for weeks -- just picking away at chapters and trying to write a few paragraphs each day -- I busted out three pages in 45 minutes on this new one. It has a working title (my friend Kathy T. gave it to me, although I doubt she knows that unless she's right now reading this blog) and some of the characters are familiar while others are totally new. Plus, the format's a little different. I won't tell you why, but know that Ray Bradbury inspired me.

Anyhow.

The reason I'm writing this particular blog is because I'm super excited to be writing this new book. It's the excitement I've been waiting for!!! I was forcing myself to make art there for a while and I wanted to be writing, and then when I finally had time to write, it felt forced too. But now? Now I've figured out the book I need to write, and the characters I need to be spending time with, and I am, like, SO amped up right now and ready to go.

I'll show you the first line because I'm feeling generous, but that's all you're getting:

Just the Highlights

My Thursday through Sunday was filled with music, and while there's no way for me to succinctly recount all that happened, I'm going to do my best to highlight the things that meant the most. Ready? Here we go...

On Thursday, I traveled down to DC to see Trampled By Turtles and Shakey Graves at the Anthem. Concert Husband Phil accompanied, of course. Now, many of you will remember that I made a piece of art inspired by Dave Simonett's first newsletter, Good Record. He writes beautifully---his imagery is utter perfection---and so I created the following piece of art after reading his words:

Notice the red and blue wings? That's because "Red Wing Blue Wing" is my favorite song.

I hung the above artwork at my last show and legitimately could have sold it three times... but I wasn't trying to get this particular piece to anyone other than Dave.

There's a whole long roundabout route to how I ended up where I did, but I'm going to skip to the end so as to not bore you. The gist of the situation is this: I got in touch with Trampled's label, a helpful man by the name of Christian informed me that I should visit the merch table in DC and ask for Carey, leave the artwork with him, and he'd see that the band received the art. So that's what I did... except Carey wasn't at the merch table when I got there and the girls who were selling shirts and hoodies and whatnot said, "We will give it to Carey, but we can't guarantee what will happen to it after that," which of course made me nervous. I mean, that artwork is one of my favorite pieces and the thought of it being lost had me on the brink of tears.

Trampled By Turtles's set was obviously amazing, but through every song, I worried that my artwork was going to be misplaced and end up in the trash. I think I probably would have enjoyed the show more had I visited the merch table after TBT's set... but that's not how it played out.

For Shakey Graves, Phil and I somehow ended up on stage left, on the periphery of the crowd. That's not where we normally stand for a show, but it worked out in my favor because as I was standing with my concert husband and fretting internally about the art, Phil gave me a nudge and said, "Look who's coming." And do you know who it was? Ryan Young, fiddle player extraordinaire! The man is beautifully talented and so incredibly fun to watch on stage.

Ryan was not on stage at that moment, though, and so I walked over to him and said, "Excuse me. I'm Hannah and--"

"Hi Hannah," Ryan said in this very calm and gentle voice. "It's so nice to meet you."

Immediately, I understood that this guy exudes kindness. And this was only reinforced when I explained the art situation and Ryan's reaction was---wait for it---to say, "Would you like to walk over to the merch table together so that you can give the art to me?" So that's what we did. And we talked a little bit about music and the upcoming festival in Hartford, Connecticut, and then he took the canvas bag (there's also a copy of Time Jumps inside) and hooked it over his shoulder and returned to the life of a rockstar. But how kind, right? And how cool!

Phil fortunately thought to take a picture.

Once Ryan had the art, I felt instantly relieved... and then I felt exhausted. There was no time to be tired, though, because I had to drive to New York the next day, meet up with Jody, and then head to Connecticut on Saturday morning for some more Trampled!

This is what happened on Saturday: Jody and I got close to the stage for Trampled By Turtles's set and Jody used her very loud voice that carries well to shout out Ryan's name multiple times. He smiled and waved.

Afterward, while Jody was talking to someone she'd met in the booze line, I noticed Eamonn and Banjo Dave walking amongst the concertgoers... so I approached them and then Jody came over and essentially informed Eamonn that he is now our friend and she wanted to go everywhere with him. (I had to then inform Jody that that's not actually the way these things work.)

Talking to Eamonn was really interesting though. He answered some questions I had about life on the road and told me a little bit about Minnesota. Ultimately, one thing that I would really like to do at some point in my life is sit down with a few musicians and just listen to them talk about their experiences. I want to know all the nitty-gritty details about what it's like to live out of a suitcase while on a tour bus, and what the schedule is for soundchecks and show times and all that, and if all the bands on tour with one another are friends and hang out, and what the musicians do in each city when they're on tour... and how often they stay in a hotel vs. how often they sleep on the bus, and what it's like backstage. Sure, Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish fame answered my 53 questions in a ten-page typed letter ... but those were questions that a teenage Hannah came up with. Now I'm an adult and I have even more questions!

Anyway. Jody's friend from the booze line thought to take a picture with Eamonn and Banjo Dave, so that's been documented as well:

Somehow, because of a nice woman I was standing beside for Trampled's set, I received my first setlist. The nice woman caught it, but she said it deserved to go to a "true fan," so she gave it to me! Isn't that nice?

That's the conclusion of my week with Trampled By Turtles, but I will add a final paragraph here to just briefly say that Guster put on an amazing show on Sunday and Dispatch completely knocked it out of the park. I swear Dispatch gets better and better every time I see them, and I would be hard pressed to come up with a feeling that is better than the feeling I get when that band takes the stage. There's just something about their stage presence and camaraderie that really gets me, you know? Not to mention their pants... Matt Embree never disappoints with his pants, but Braddigan was killing it with his fashion choices this time as well! Also? I somehow managed to get as close as a person can be and so I had a great vantage point for Dispatch and pants viewing.

[image error]

New Book, New Contest

As Amazon packages arrive in mailboxes and readers get their hands on newly-printed copies of Uptempo, Down , keep the contest I'm hosting in mind! You don't actually have to go on vacation in order to participate.

You could go to your local swimming pool!

You could go to a lake or a pond!

You could pack a picnic lunch and head to the park!

You could go for a hike in the woods!

You could sip a cocktail in your backyard! (That's what I was doing when I took the following picture.)

It's been a chill day. I didn't even put on any mascara!

Anyway... it would be much appreciated if some folks would participate in the contest or share the contest details with their friends. The prize is a good one, and even more than that, it makes me happy when people show interest in what I'm doing.

Here are the details once again in case you missed them last time:

Reel Big Phish?

Yesterday Mary and I had to travel northward to visit Cumberland-Perry Vo-Tech for an in-service. It was a fantastic experience and I will absolutely do it again some future summer, but what I want to address in this blog is the conversation Mary and I had on either the drive there or the drive home. I think it was the drive there, but I might be wrong... and that's not really important to the story anyway.

What's important to the story is that last week at trivia, the Educated Friends lost. This has pretty much everything to do with an ill-timed expression of concern for a dying bug. I won't say who distracted the team at such a crucial moment, but I will say that it wasn't me. And I'll also say that because folks were so distracted by the bug, no one remembered to wager fewer than twelve points on the final question (NHL History, of all things), and so we lost.

When I say "lost," I mean lost-lost. We'd been in second. We might've ended up in first... but no. We lost. No gift cards were earned last Thursday.

The winning team always gets to choose the opening category for the following week, you know, and so last week's winning team (I can't remember the team's name and Darren isn't responding to his texts) was in the process of requesting an audio clue when I overheard them and said, "You think you're gonna get an audio clue, but that doesn't mean you actually will. Remember the OAR fiasco?"

(The OAR fiasco occurred just a few weeks ago when the Educated Friends were supposed to have an audio clue and didn't. But it was fine because I knew the answer anyway and also because Adam felt bad that Pour House messed it up and so he therefore played OAR all night. Danielle the bartender loved this because she has good taste in music.)

When I mentioned the OAR fiasco last Thursday, Adam said, "Hey now! You might actually like this one. They want an audio clue for the band Phish."

On the other side of the restaurant, El Duderino booed. I guess El Duderino does not like Phish very much.

Now, all that being said, I was talking to Mary in the car yesterday about how we should listen to Phish on the drive to Cumberland-Perry Vo-Tech. We did, obviously, because we are good students and want to be prepared for tomorrow night's opening category. But in listening to Phish and recounting the comment Adam made last Thursday, I said, "You know, I get that a lot. People assume that because my favorite band is Reel Big Fish, what I actually mean is Phish. But I don't mean Phish. I mean Reel Big Fish."

For those who may not be aware of the differences between these two bands, I will provide a quick Venn Diagram:

In addition to these differences, I have been listening to Reel Big Fish since 1996, I have seen them in concert more times than I can count, I have met the band's lead singer Aaron Barrett on numerous occasions, I have been on the band's tour bus, Aaron Barrett and his wife Crysta own a copy of my book Kick It One More Time (because Reel Big Fish is actually in that book), Aaron and Crysta have a piece of my art hanging in their home, and I own all of Reel Big Fish's albums.

I only started listening to Phish about a year ago, I have never seen them in concert, and I don't own any of their albums. I do enjoy their music, though; I would never boo about having to listen to them.

So in the car yesterday with Mary, I told her about some other times that people have mixed up my favorite band with Phish. Like when my coworker Lynn told me this cool story about winning tickets to see Phish but then giving the tickets away because she knew someone who would enjoy the show more than she would... since she's not a Phish phan. But I'm not really a Phish phan either; I think she was surprised to hear at the end of the story that I've never seen Phish in concert, but that my friend Annie has. Annie has seen Phish a whole bunch of times because Annie is a phan, but she has not seen Reel Big Fish even once because she is not really a fan. Understand?

Also, my friend Charlie who lives in California once posted a Phish song on my Facebook timeline and had this hilarious comment about the lyrics in the song and how they remind him of me and how Phish always reminds him of me... and I commented on the post to say that I was unfamiliar with the song because I had never really listened to much Phish. This made Charlie feel ridiculous and he took down the post.

Anyway, that's today's blog.

.

.

.

.

.

Oh! But I will add this: I went to high school with a guy named Billy and because of social media, we have continued to keep in touch. Billy loves ska music as much as I do (so does Josh from El Duderino, actually; maybe this is why El Duderino booed about Phish) and anytime Billy sees something about Reel Big Fish on social media, he tags me in it. He recently made a very funny video using Reel Big Fish's cover of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" to advertise his brewery. Liquidity Aleworks is located in Mt. Airy, Maryland, and you should obviously go there. So should I.

Another thing I should do is share Billy's Facebook post on my author/artist Facebook page... which I will do in a minute. If you want to view it, that's where you can find it! And make sure the volume is up because that's Reel Big Fish in the background.

A Sweet Beach Read

I'll keep this short and sweet, since "short" and "sweet" are two words that accurately describe Uptempo, Down: the chapters are short and the content is sweet.

Uptempo, Down is now available for purchase from Amazon , and once you receive your copy, you'll be able to enter the contest I'm hosting. Details are included below; I hope you'll consider participating!