A Reader’s Guide to A Single’s Guide
Guess what! I have a new book coming out next month called A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways. A lot is about to be happening with it in the next few weeks, including an announcement of the official release date and the cover reveal. If you’re signed up for my mailing list, The Collective, then you’ll be the first to know as each important tidbit becomes available—this includes any promotions, giveaways, etc. You should sign up, is what I’m saying, because this is going to be a big year for my personal brand (I’ve officially become the thing I hate).
Because A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways is a little different from the previous books I’ve published, I thought I’d hold a little Q&A with myself regarding it, so we all know what to expect.
Q: What is your book called?
A: A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways. I just told you that.
Q: What’s your book about?
A: Okay, this is both the most common question I’m asked and one that I hate more than hearing people call it a “li-bary.” I’m not saying it’s an unfair question, just that describing your own book to someone who’s really just vetting your first sentence to see if they should tune out or not is about as fun as scratching nails down a chalkboard while smuggling Africanized bees in your pants across the US–Mexico border. But because I asked myself so nicely…
A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways is a comedy that follows Natalie through her college years and beyond as she travels through the six major geographical regions of Texas searching for… love? No. Sex.
Q: Is this one of those sex-porn books?
A: No. Natalie is not very good with men, so unfortunately for her, this story generally lacks any sex.
Q: Then what good is it?!
A: I don’t honestly know.
Q: Who should buy this book?
A: Everyone. Everyone should buy this damn book. Buy your friend a copy, too.
Q: Who should read this book?
A: I don’t care. No, I do care. People who like leaving bad reviews on Amazon should not read this book. And people who can’t handle the realness of being a young, single woman who doesn’t feel like turning to Tinder to solve her dating woes should also not read this book. (They should still buy it, though.)
Q: So this is a book for women.
A: That’s not a question.
Q: So this is a book for women…?
A: Yes. It’s also a book for men who don’t believe that books about men are for everyone while books about women are only for women, you chauvinist asshole. But yeah, I think women might generally enjoy this read more so than men, but only because the protagonist is a woman and she experiences things unique to being a woman that women might relate to directly. You know, sort of how white men can leisurely enjoy most of the accepted western canon because the protagonists are almost all white men experiencing things unique to the white male experience. But somehow non-whites and non-females somehow figure out how to enjoy those books, too. Mine’s kind of like that.
Q: So wait, your protagonist is non-white?
A: Oh no, she’s white. About as white as they come. She’s white, I’m white, write what you know, etc. I will say, though, that on the cover, she appears ~blonde.~
Q: What was it like writing a blonde character when you’re a brunette?
A: I’m not going to lie, this was one of the greatest professional challenges I’ve faced.
Q: So what made you do it?
A: I couldn’t find anything on Bigstock I liked that included a brunette.
Q: Rumor has it that the stories included in A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways are based on your own experience. Is that true?
A: Somewhat. Especially the part where she’s not great at dating. But honestly, I could go on and on about how fact and fiction overlap entirely all the time anyway. So are some of the gentlemen readers will meet in “Single’s Guide” based off of real men I’ve dated? OF COURSE NOT, LEGALLY SPEAKING.
Q: Lastly, where can people go to stay updated on all the latest H. Claire Taylor fanfare?
A: I had no idea I would ask that! Good thing I happen to have a whole treasure trove of links to chuck at you. Take your pick!
H. Claire Taylor’s Official Website – Browse my life in a super invasive way!
The Collective – Sign up for my e-mail list so that you don’t have to be social media’s slave!
Facebook – Already social media’s slave? Great! Like my Facebook page!
Twitter – I mostly just write my random thoughts and neuroses on here, but if you tweet at me, I’ll tweet you right back in your stupid face! I don’t take no tweet from nobody!
Amazon.com – Here’s where you buy my stuff!
A Single’s Guide to Texas Roadways will be available for download to your Kindle device February 2016!
