Squeeze Out Every Possible Drop of Joy!

My new book, CALLIOPE CALLISTO CLARK AND THE SEARCH FOR WISDOM, comes out in ten days. 

Right now, I have NO next book under contract, NO next book in the pipeline to publication. I have other books I have written or soon will be writing. But there is no guarantee they will ever become published books for children to hold in their hands.

This might be my last book ever.

WAAHHH?

No! Instead of moping and whining (and I am actually very good at moping and whining!), I need to squeeze out every possible drop of joy from the birthday of this beloved book child on March 10. I need to celebrate with all my might and invite the whole entire world to celebrate with me. 

In the book, Callie (who wants a more extraordinary name for the extraordinary person she plans to be and so renames herself Calliope Callisto Clark) has a beloved dog whom she might lose forever if she doesn't become perfect enough to please her guardian grandparents who are threatening to take Archie away.

So, for my book launch at Boulder Bookstore on Thursday, March 12, at 6:30 (flyer below), I ordered three dozen of the MOST ADORABLE DOG COOKIES EVER from my former grad student in the Hollins University Graduate Programs of Children's Literature, Amy Glendinning, who happens to be an ASTONISHING COOKIE CREATOR. She shared some photos of the cookies today. Note that the purple scarves adorning each dog echo the purple scarf on the bust of the Stoic philosopher Epictetus on the book's cover.

I am so happy, so happy, so happy, with these cookies! I have very cute dog-themed prizes for the event, too. And the store made very cute postcards advertising it.

I'm also doing a virtual launch via ZOOM at Fallen Leaf Books, the delightful indie bookstore owned by my sister and brother-in-law in Nashville, Indiana. That event will be on Saturday, March 14, 12 ET, 11 CT, 10 MT, and 9 PT. Email me at cmills@colorado.edu for the ZOOM link if you want to attend. I even convinced the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado to let me give a talk there later this week. I will give a talk about this book to anyone anywhere! 

Friends, whenever you have something in your lives to celebrate, fling yourselves into joy with all your might. The world is a troubled place right now. It's probably always been a troubled place and always will be. So every scrap, tidbit, and crumb of joy is needed. And if these come with cookies, all the better!