to the pain (and the purity) of nostalgia
a romance author's newsletter
#1. Hello! Here’s the first ever flat lay of Breathless. I did it on my entryway rug. The lighting? Eh…just okay. The effort though? Also just okay! What an okay flat lay! #poet
If you can do a better flat lay, please for the love of god send it to me and I’ll happily post it everywhere, lol.
And yes, welcome to another edition of the Good Times Only Newsletter. Your one and only source for this particular kind of nonsense written by me, romance author and person with such bad light sensitivity that I actually do wear my sunglasses at night, Cat Wynn.
Let’s get into it. Here’s what’s up, or scroll down to #3 for pictures:
#2. I’ve been feeling a lot of nostalgia lately, for better or for worse.
And it’s been making me think back to college when I was broke as fuck. I used to be so broke that I’d pool together my money with two other friends just so we could afford the $4 Hungry Howies pizza dorm delivery deal. I used to be so broke that I’d buy a 30 pack of Keystone Light for $9.99 at the gas station and carry it around with me to house parties for weeks. I used to be so broke that I’d skewer marshmallows and roast them on the gas oven in my slumlord-special apartment when I didn’t have money for groceries. And for a while in my early twenties, I used to be so broke that I lived in my car (0/10 don’t recommend!! Not a fun time!!!!)
I couldn’t afford to have good taste back then, and who knows if I would’ve had good taste even if I could have afforded it. And I definitely don’t claim to have good taste now.
But here’s the thing: sometimes style and creativity are born out of necessity. Being low on resources can birth the most authentic expressions of self (although it doesn’t change the fact that everyone deserves to have resources to chase after their self expressions…but whatever you get my point, life will find a way, etc., moving on).
And I was reminded of this the other day, when I received my author copies of Breathless (my Fish Monster Romance as you will recall from the okayest flatlay above). Because as a writer, you constantly have to work on the outward image of your persona, your style, your taste, your B R A N D. And you have to ask yourself what the hell is it I’m trying to say to everyone anyway?
And that means putting in a lot of thought into not just the writing itself but also the presentation and packaging of the writing.
A paperback copy is more than a book to an author. It’s a marketing tool.
How do you use it as such? And honestly, I generally have no idea, I was an English Lit major in college.
But with Breathless, I knew exactly how I wanted to package up my signed copies and I can thank all those years I spent extremely broke without a single dollar to my name for that.
Allow me to explain. Back in the year 2006, my college used to distribute free student newspapers (that I once had a poem anonymously published in). And I also had a huge ball of hemp twine an ex-roommate left in my dorm room along with a bag of beads from some childhood crafts.
So, when the holidays came around and I had to give gifts to all my friends and family, and I couldn’t afford to spend extra money on the wrappings and bows and all the fun sparkling accoutrements, I wrapped up gifts with the free college newspaper, the twine from my ex roommate, and the beads from my childhood crafts.
And, maybe that’s not everyone’s cup of tea style wise, but at the time, I was like wow, this really is the height of artistry. Like, whoa, I really made something outta nothing here. I really turned it out for my friends for once! Lol. I mean, I really loved it.
And so, I brought it back for Breathless.
Except this time, the newspaper wasn’t free, and I had to purchase the hemp off Amazon and go to WalMart to find the beads.
But nevertheless…
#3. Here’s how I package my signed copies of Breathless and here’s all the shit I put in them and why.
I signed every copy with a shortened quote from the dolphins in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I thought it worked for Breathless, too. I’m just not really into using my own quotes for book signings for whatever reason. I believe in always going with your gut instinct, even on the smallest stuff and even when it might seem weird to other people. So, Hitchiker’s quote it is!
I also used recycled cards for the handwritten notes because I like the simple, lowkey but also kinda gritty look of them and I think they go well with the newspaper wrapping. Plus, they were cheap, ayoooo.
And I used all these gold butterfly stickers because everything was a touch too drab and needed a little shine, especially considering the recycled paper for the card. Plus, the butterflies are a particular reference to the book. (Which you can read HERE.)
I got these aquatic related stickers (placed here, on the front of the card) for not only their delicateness but more importantly for their creepiness. Some of these stickers are run of the mill beachy sea-shells and what have you. But the ones I used specifically are these strange illustrations of jelly fish trapped in small glass containers, some of which remind me of candy jars. I find this to be such a fascinating choice by the artist. Also, I feel like it really fits well with the themes of Breathless.
These Fortune Teller Fish make perfect sense within the context of a fish monster romance, but they have sentimental value, too. One of the first weddings I attended with my partner was at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and at the dinner, each plate had one of these fish on it. And mine said that I was in love.
I also threw in some Tall, Dark & Fictional swag even though these were designed by my friend Naileh and purchased by SJ Tilly (I did none of the work here and take none of the credit) but they happene to coordinate well with the colors of the cover and a plug is a plug, so why not!
Here’s the final product. Just like a fish wrapped up in newspaper from the market. Everyone’s beads are different, and every page from the New York Times is different as well, so no two packages are the same. And it feels like I’m twenty all over again handing out Christmas gifts to my college roommates.
#4. Back to the pain of nostalgia because it really can be uncomfortable to not just relive the past but to re-feel it too...
Because even though I’m a boring middle aged lady who lives in a suburban house with two elderly dogs now, I really haven’t changed that much. I’m still the person who would chose to wrap their presents in newspaper. And I’m still the person who would be absolutely fucking geeked to learn I write dirty books as a job.
Okay, so that’s all she wrote, folks. If you’d like a signed copy of Breathless, hit me up.
And let’s close out with all my plugs:
Socials:
Full Length Novels:
Novellas:
LOVE YOU BYE
Cat
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