Today I was feeling really meh because I’ve been in a funk and have fallen way behind on deadlines because I can’t focus, but then I just opened the mail and found a proof of the UK version of Broken (coming out in April) and because they used a different cover (you’re killing it, Fleece Witherspoon) it almost feels like it’s a whole new book and now I almost feel like I’ve accomplished something special today even though I’ve literally done nothing.
So yay for magic mail and yay for this hesitantly strange emotion I’m starting to feel, which I think is maybe…hope? Maybe that’s too strong of a word. How about…cautious optimism?
Yep. Cautious Optimism in 2021.
That feels about right.
PS. That link was for the UK but if you’re in the US this link is for you. You can preorder it at your local indie bookshop.
Such a great looking book cover, Jenny.
Congrats! That is an amazing accomplishment – and a very cool cover.
If we order it from Nowhere… is there any chance it will be signed??? ❤
So excited for this book!!
Thankyou Jenny!!
Are we supposed to be able to focus? Damn… You’re killing it Jenny!
A welcome piece of good news!
It’s just been announced that the whole of the UK is going back into full lockdown, so I needed something to look forward to, thank you.
Fleece Witherspoon is quite the looker.
I love how Fleece’s pearls are holding the “OK” together. Clever.
You feel about right!
Fantastic, Jenny!! So happy to see you accomplish great things! Can hardly wait for this and I agree the key words for 2021 are “Cautious Optimism” which I will now steal to incorporate into all my emails……..telling you upfront protects me from charges of plagiarism, right?
OOOOO perfect! it reminded me to pre order!
So now my goal is to get a copy of this version of the book…. I MUST have friends in the UK….
Looking good! Can’t wait to read it. <3
Is it wrong to want the UK cover even though I live in the US?
My wish today is that everyone could receive smile-worthy news. And if you haven’t, know that I’m sending our a universal hug. (Wouldn’t mind getting one in return.)
Focusing is so 2019….
So the 2021 catchphrase is “cautiously optimistic?” I love it!
Dorothy Barker looks like she is laughing uproariously at Fleece Witherspoon on the cover. I can’t wait to get my preordered copy of Broken!
(We are all a little bit broken right now.)
Gah! I need both covers!
We’ve been using the “nauseously optimistic” term a lot lately. You know, cause anxiety.
Love the cover, but I really love the dog in the background yawning – Exactly how I feel today ! Made me smile! Thanks!
This is a fabulous cover. Loving the hat, very Jackie O.
Yay for happy mail days! My 2021 Bloggess calendar arrived today (I ordered late, bc time is meaningless), and I too am having a better day now!
Feeling this so much. My mind cycles through everything I should/could be doing — chores, work, exercise, shower, taking down xmas decorations (getting them out and up was HUGE — now I gotta take em down?!) etc — but then both mind and body fight against doing *anything* but sitting and watching TV/staring at phone/staring into space. Getting even one thing done is a struggle. I keep fighting with myself over what is self-care versus just being lazy/procrastinating. What is depression versus being overweight and out of shape. On and on. Glad you’re feeling a glimmer of cautious optimism and hope it gets brighter and brighter for you. In the meantime, cyber hugs and solidarity.
Congratulations! Cool cover. How many different covers will there be? Can you make a “choose your own” cover mock-up? I would love to have a copy of the UK cover.
Dorothy is yelling……HOORAY!!! Fantastic news.
“Nauseously optimistic” — I love that. I was “cautiously optimistic,” but there are too many things still happening to make me feel even cautiously hopeful. But I can manage a queasy sort of optimism.
I’m with Darlene; I want both versions.
What great news! And April can’t come soon enough for me! I didn’t get the memo that we were supposed to have it together at this point. All I have in me is and endless stream of Supernatural and the leftover Christmas candy.
Here’s to a not-quite-so-terrible 2021.
I think we should all go ahead and hope. Cautious optimism is an oxymoron after all and I don’t know about you guys but I’ve had exactly enough of morons.
Thank for this!! I didn’t realize how much I needed a laugh until I opened this! It’s it weird or wrong to say that Fleece Whitherspoon for the UK cover is ridiculously perfect?
On a separate note, write your own definition of done (like they do in Agile/scrum methodology – zero create goes to me on that). “Done” doesn’t have to me “she did all the things today”. It can be “get out of bed today” . Boom. There’s like no one policing this at all. You opened mail & wrote this post, which just putting this post together is a lot of work. Don’t undersell what that takes just cuz it’s like your thing. And you clearly got out of bed to do so. That’s like a whole lotta done right there! Get this fabulous a woman a cookie! 🙂
I read the title as “intentionally broken” & I was 100 % all in for breaking stuff 🙂
Always rocking it Jenny!!
Yay! Great cover. I pre-ordered from Nowhere Bookshop! Can’t wait!
You totally earned this sense of real accomplishment! It’s as if you made a double batch of brownies and handed two different people a pan. One of the people has a convection oven so that batch is done first. You still poured all of yourself into making the delicious batter for BOTH of them. The one I’m burning the top of my mouth with now (if we’re sticking with the brownie comparison) and the one I’ll hide when it’s done and have for all 3 meals tomorrow.
Or, like that book in England was Sous Viding. You prepped, it did it’s thing and POW!
It’s a BOOK!
Fleece Witherspoon, totes genius Jenny!!
My heart needs this book now. I can’t wait to read it.
“Cautiously optimistic” is EXACTLY how I described how I feel to a couple of my neighbors yesterday!
Yahoo! Will Fantastic Strangelings receive your book in April?
That UK cover is EVERYTHING! I live in the us and I wish that cover was an option for us. I’m sooooo getting this book, I’m just saying I LOVE Fleece Witherspoon.
If I order mine from Nowhere, can I get it signed & shipped to me?
I was in a funk but my cat was laying with me and I passed out. She slept with me the whole three hours so that was a happy thing. Sometimes we have to hold on to the little things.
Keep the taxidermied cover art coming! I wish I could remember if I preordered your new book from Nowhere. It’ll be a surprise. https://possumscatsthingsgnawingatme.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/little-adventures-a-lino-cut-christmas-and-a-happy-new-year/
Hooray for cautious optimism! Hold on to it Jenny! You deserve to feel that way! So psyched for your next book too! Also yay for Fleece Witherspoon-she’s such a glamorous beast 😉
I get the funk you’re in-I’m clawing my way out of a funk too.
Yesterday I had a desire to jump entirely out of my skin and flee Southern California. The numbers are stupidly high here, and the stay at home order continues.
I just hit a wall yesterday-like, I can’t do anyyyyy of this crap anymore…the isolation, the fear… the whole fucking Covid enchilada.
To help combat my squirrel brain (depression/anxiety), I’m trying to find my joy again or as you would say being furiously happy ;). I’m trying out a new recipe via Smitten Kitchen
today. Deb Perelman is a culinary genius. Here’s the recipe if anyone wants to cook it too! Love to you Jenny and tribe…please keep going and be nice to yourselves. Sending many hugs!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/01/crispy-rice-and-egg-bowl-with-ginger-scallion-vinaigrette/
OMG…now I need a friend in the UK to get me that version!! 🥰
Jenny M., I totally get that. I felt that way starting about 3 weeks ago but it has slowly gotten better. Not sure why, but maybe it’s just sitting with the feelings for long enough. I still dream of escape. I have written detailed lists and done extensive research for my temporary solitude when covid is gone and money is no object.
I love the cover, Jenny! Take care and find hope.
I love the cover, too! I would love a hard copy of my favorite book in the world!!!!!
Here’s to Fleece Witherspoon & Jenny Lawson! Thank goodness to magical mail. I too found a gem in my mailbox today. Some music arrived at my door, so the cats and I had a dance party. Cautiously optimistic is indeed a fine way to enter this new year.
Sending you love and dancing thoughts! Even if a dance is not quite the ticket, a little gentle sway might be in order.
Woke up this morning to the news you have a new book is literally the only light I can see right now…another lockdown announcement for us last night and as a teacher this means chaos. Then my dog ate my cats specially prescribed incredibly expensive food and I want to stop and get off this ride. April can’t come soon enough xxxxx
I am heading to my library app RIGHT NOW to get on the waiting list. And when they don’t have it, which they won’t, I will fill out the request so they will order it! So excited. I LOVE your books.
That’s so great!
I love this cover as much as the US version. 😀 Yay!
~SPRH–when it gets released, I’m going to put it on my library’s purchase request list too. Because dadgummit, if I can make them purchase a copy of the unholy hell that was the theatrical release of “CATS” from last year, I can make them purchase this too. 😀
Also, one of my best friends in the entire world is the one in charge of the library’s purchases, so she’d probably buy it anyway, just to make me smile. 😀 Yay for friends!
I mean… you didn’t do nothing. You did write the whole freaking book, so really this is a gift to present you from past you!
I love the cover, too! I would love a hard copy of my favorite book in the world!!!!!
I think I am going to need a copy of both the U.S. version and the U.K. version…
Did anyone else notice that the necklace goes over the broken to isolate the “ok”? Was this intentional? Because it spike to me in the best of ways as an “it’s okay to be broken” it’s okay. Love it.
Half way through on a review copy (audio book). Brilliant, funny, piercing, an invitation to commiserate and to put mental health disorders into perspective. I have Bipolar 2, OCD, etc. and love all your work, but this may well be your best.
When I saw “Picador Proof” at the bottom of the cover the first thought was “Just what Jenny’s new book needs—-in case anyone gets all stabby.” But maybe Picador Proof is the name of the proof printers. So glad your new book and Fleece have broken into publishing houses around the world. There is no doubt it will steal many hearts and boggle a few minds.
Hats off to you, Leah R, for pointing out the OK in BROKEN. I enjoyed seeing the pearls link the two letters, but didn’t notice that the word BROKEN has OK right in the middle! Now the title feels doubly perfect for Jenny’s messages of furious happiness amidst moments of mental mayhem.
IS IT APRIL YET??!!
Alex K, #42 thank you so much. Your lovely response uplifted me so much. I thought it was abnormal to feel like a caged animal in the middle of all this. I also think your idea is BRILLIANT and wonderful to make
travel dreams lists/dream excursion list. I’m going to start doing that myself and I think it will help. I hope that your feelings about all this continue to improve as well.
I hope for you that you stay well, and that all your travel lists comes true. Cheers to flying the coop someday! Wishing you a very blessed 2021!
when it is safe to travel again I would dearly love to come down to SA and visit Nowhere.
This is really great! I would love to read this book
Great post!! Thank you very much for sharing.