UPDATED: OMG, y’all. This whole post is supposed to be numbered as a list but the numbers didn’t work properly so I made sure to note that in the numbered sections but then when I published it I actually don’t see any of the numbers at all and it just looks like regular paragraphs and now even the jokes I was making about my computer fucking things up don’t make sense because my computer fucked this up. Why do I see the numbers in the draft and not on the published post? Jesus. I give up.
Just a couple of lovely little things:
- I gave away my personal arc of HOW TO BE OKAY WHEN NOTHING IS OKAY to a librarian here because librarians are my favorite kinds of magicians and they are going through hell right now. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. DROWN OUT THE BOOK BANNERS. STOP BEING AFRAID OF MARGINALIZED VOICES, YOU ABSOLUTE DOORKNOBS. (Sorry…got a little mad there.) But if you want an early copy of my next book my publisher just let me know that they’re giving away 20 over on Goodreads. Yay!
- HOW TO BE OKAY made Oprah’s list of 10 Books to Help You Make Changes That Stick in 2026. This is especially lovely considering so many of the books in this category are serious books written by doctors and licensed professionals and my book has a picture of a crocheted bears head blowing off and I can’t figure out how to number things correctly. (See number 3.)
- This should be number 3 but my computer insists it’s number 1. *sigh* Aaaaaanyway, HOW TO BE OKAY WHEN NOTHING IS OKAY is starting to show up on lists that readers make of upcoming books they’re excited about or have read advanced copies of and I know there are a lot of opinions on whether authors should comment on that stuff, but generally if I see something nice I’ll “like” it because it really makes my day (for real, it helps authors so much) and if I see something that’s not as nice I just ignore it because I’m not for everyone and everyone should be able to share their thoughts without fear. Author etiquette is weird.
- If you ordered a personalized book from Nowhere Bookshop I just signed it and it’s on its way to you now! As always, if you wrote “go nuts” in the order comments I just entertained myself and here are a few examples to let you know exactly what unhinged madness you’re getting should you choose that route:
- Why are we at “1” again??? Jesus. This isn’t even a number it’s just a note to say that I apologize if you can’t read my handwriting because I do that half-print and half-cursive thing that serial killers do and I don’t know how to stop it. It’s actually even weirder in real life because I don’t write my letters in order because my brain jumps ahead and so I write the end of a word and then go backward and add the other letters and no one understands what I’m doing, including me.
- Sorry, y’all. It’s Sunday and I didn’t take my ADD meds.
- Bye.
Very cool, dude! Um, dudette… Thanks for helping so many searching the world..
I love the post I do the half print half cursive thing oh my God does that mean I’m a serial killer? What have I been wasting my life on them LOL and oh my God the one about wombat poop is for my girlfriend and is so so fitting cuz she’s scatologically minded and would talk about things like Square poop it’s an awesome personalization at a time when she very much needs it
3. Numbered lists are never going to hug you.
1. I can’t wait to be saved by your book!
7.
23. Guess I’ve got to shift through some kitten shit!
42. Congratulations!!
About that serial killer thing… is that definite? I mean, I write like that. Am I, as I have often suspected, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and start hiding bodies? I’ve already thought of several ways to dispose of them. It’s sort of a strange hobby of mine. I probably shouldn’t have told all this online. Shhhh……
I hope you are feeling better and that things in the hospital went okay. I’m really looking forward to your next book!
(No results on the biopsies yet but I’m tentatively hopeful. ~ Jenny)
I’m so happy for all of your successes, you 10000000% deserve it.
Oh, and Gary can be short for Garrison, as in Keillor.
You’re the best! Your books have been a godsend to me! Thank you so much for just being you…
I do the “half print/half cursive” thing too. Once had a graphologist tell me that meant I had tendencies towards insanity! I’m sure you’ve heard this already, but your new book was on Rebecca on Book Riot’s list of the books she thinks will do the best in the first half of the year. She told everyone to read you if they hadn’t already.
(How did I miss that? ~ Jenny)
Oh, I do the serial killer handwriting thing too AND I write letters out of order because my brain is already on the next word…. I’m just used to it now but I get puzzled looks from people I handwrite stuff to.
“I don’t write my letters in order because my brain jumps ahead and so I write the end of a word and then go backward and add the other letters and no one understands what I’m doing, including me.”
AHHHGGGGGGG! i thought i was the only one who did this.
now i don;t feel so alone.
thank you, jenny 🙂
Do you know i love all your books but right now since I stop working I barely have enough for fun for let say fun so I will get your books through my many libraries ( yes i have 3 Brooklyn Queen and Manhattan yes I have 3 library cards ) and I also have 2 fire tablet and 1 kindle so that is perfect for your books so that that I could read the last one since it’s the way I read the first ones but if you want to send me a free one it’s also be great.
I’m not convinced by your serial killer writing, needs more lunacy I guess.
Wish you well, fingers crossed!
Jenny, my dear, you have put enough blood, sweat and tears into this over the years I think you are correctly identified as an expert (as well as a kick-ass writer, Oprah knows a thing or two).
Love taking a look at the super-only-Jenny-Lawson-could-do-that ways in which you sign your books!
Jenny, this has nothing to do with this post but I’ve been seeing this woman’s content for weeks and she always makes me think of you! Insane taxidermy and baffling rich people: https://youtube.com/shorts/h2cTxHN54GQ?si=gnunhliatQAK1P1H
OMG my brain does that jump ahead when writing thing too. Thank you for telling me i’m not alone!
I can’t wait for my book that I ordered from your shop! I hope you went off!
I too have serial killer handwriting! I also jump ahead like you. I’m dyslexic and just assume that’s why?
Ooh, I can answer the orange thing! The color is named after the fruit, not the other way around! Before that I think it was just called “yellowy red” or “reddish yellow” or whatever. But then Europeans started eating oranges, and they started referring to orange things as being the color of an orange!
(Also, I recently saw a video that says that in Japanese the older forms of the language just had words for “warm colors” “cool colors” “light colors” and “dark colors”. The rest of the color words come from things like “the color of a new leaf”)
I am a fellow cursive/print handwriter – I heard that it was a sign of intelligence. I also do the brain goes too fast and is ahead of what I’m writing and then I start writing the word my brain is at and so a lot of what I hand write is a mess
YOU are some of my favorite people!
go nuts! Is that a cheer for squirrel teams? I already preordered your book on Amazon, so you don’t have to send me one if I win. I just wanted to support the squirrel teams.
Thank you! I’ve written a novel and I’m having a pretty difficult time getting it published. Seriously considering just letting it go. But I love your writing and I’m glad you didn’t quit, so maybe I shouldn’t, either.
One time when I was young, I was playing with our kitten and noticed a few of their baby teeth rolling around on the blanket. In our roughousing, playing tug of war, some had fallen out. That was when I found out kittens have baby teeth. I thought I’d somehow managed to break our kitten for a few minutes (horrifying) until I thought it through and came up with “baby teeth!” I was so relieved. The kitten didn’t even notice, just wanted to keep playing, naturally.
I am super happy for you! I’ll be waiting (likely a while, dang) to read the new book but am super looking forward to doing so!!!! Silly fixed income budget, i know, but hey, i need things to look forward to!!!
I’m so excited for this book…so is my hubby!
Bought it for my 1/11 daughter’s birthday. Since I never do much-of-anything in a timely manner, whenever it arrives will be perfect! Keep on being you, Jenny
kittens usually swallow their baby teeth, that’s why you don’t find them lying around very much. 🙂
Yup, I do the print/cursive mix and leave out letters and entire words, handwritten or typed. It’s an ADHD thing, my brain moves faster than my body and thinks I’ve already done it. Some letters are faster in cursive, some in print, I grab whichever one works best in the moment.
(I can have content or mechanics. Not both.
I’m quite capable of producing a piece of writing that’s grammatically correct, with perfectly spelled words, with none missing, every word exact IF I already know precisely what I intend to write AND I’m not in a hurry.
BUT if I am pulling ideas out of my brain and writing them down as I do that?
Complete mess. It’s/its errors, plural/posessive s, homonym substitutions, with the => withe, missing letters/words…you’d think I had no clue about how English works.
Apparently, part of my brain doesn’t. The other part has to go back and proofread. There’s not enough working memory to run both modules simultaneously. ADHD is irritating like that.)
Looking forward to reading your book! I’m broke so it will be when the library gets it in. Wonderful things, libraries.
Holy shit!!! Is that common among serial killers? Now I’m afraid to write anything down bc I totally print/write backwards/forward/in the middle. Well, it’s also the way I talk, which makes anything I’m saying interesting/confusing, depending on the listeners present. My hubby of nearly 50 years isn’t as patient as he used to be, which was not at all.
I pre-ordered the new book! Just a heads up to anyone else also pre-ordering from Nowhere though – you can get a signature, but not a personalized one due to the volume of orders. I completely missed that and am disappointed, but still looking forward to reading it!
Your new book is featured on my highly anticipated new releases list and I’ve entered the giveaway (fingers crossed). I have loved every one of your previous books, so I can’t wait to get my hands on this one!
(Thank you! ~ Jenny)
Dear Jenny,
First off, I’d just like to say that I’m so grateful for you being alive in this world and writing the books you do and for making us all who have a mental illness know that we’re alright just as we are and that that we’re not alone, that means so much to me…
I’m just having a hard week with my anxiety and panic attacks, and today I’m having anxiety, but I’m still at the library doing what I need to do and not letting my anxiety stop me on working on my own book.
Well, I just wanted to say hi since I’m struggling this week, and thank you.
And congratulations again, on your new book. 🙂
4. I love you.
I have seen a kitten baby tooth just once. It literally fell out of my kitten’s mouth into my hand. They are very tiny, and easily mistaken for bits of claw or many other things. I’m glad I’m not the only one who wondered about this.
Also, I started reading your blog a long, long time ago and it pleases me to no end to see you enjoying continued success and joy in your life. I wish you so much more of it!
I need this book because we are very much not okay here in Minnesota.
Say what now “ I do that half-print and half-cursive thing that serial killers do”? This is how I write. World be warned.