this one is fast!
Hi Friends!
This email is going to be short because things are crazy out there, and who has time for long emails? NOT US!
I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves in whatever way you can. For me, that meant buying a sweatshirt with a hedgehog in a teacup on it. You might find a way that does, in fact, not involve hedgehogs or cozy glassware and that is fine but in my opinion this is the best way.
I’m mostly writing because, after months of talking about it, THIS WAS THE WEEK MY BOOK “EVERYONE GETS A SAY” CAME OUT. It was so exciting and overwhelming, and my amazing publisher set up twelve radio interviews, so by the end of the day I was so exhausted I had no idea what I’d said about voting to whom, and just had to cross my fingers that I hadn’t said anything terrible. See how long that previous sentence was? That’s how long my day was. But it’s two days later and nobody’s mad, so I don’t think we are in the clear!
Now that the book is out, I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite illustrations. As you can probably guess, I write the words to the book with some vague idea of what I think the pictures might look like. But my illustrator E.G. Keller blows me away every time, and this picture in particular makes me tear up every time I look at it:
(lotta hedgehog content in this newsletter, I know. I will not apologize.)
I also offered a deal on twitter that I wanted to make sure to offer to you guys too:
If you order (or buy at your local bookstore) a copy of “Everyone Gets a Say” by Monday the 31st, I’ll send you an “I SAID” sticker like the one in this illustration.
I figure a lot of people will be voting by mail this year, and after this hell-slog of a year WE ALL DESERVE VOTING STICKERS.
Once you’ve ordered, just reply to this email with a screenshot of your receipt and where you’d like me to mail the sticker, and I’ll send it! (And before you ask, if you already ordered it and still want a sticker, that is ok too. Who am I to be stingy with stickers??? That is not who I am in my soul.)
Last thing: I was on a couple of great podcasts this week and I wanted to share. First I did, “Make My Day With Josh Gondelman” where we did some rapid-fire animal naming, talked about a court TV show staffed entirely by penguins, AND I got to give a pep talk to my favorite people in the world —theatre people. Josh’s podcast always puts me in a better mood, and I was so excited to be a part of it.
And second, I got to talk a lot about how I became a writer and how I learned to get better at writing jokes on “First Draft with Sarah Enni.” Hers is the podcast I would go to when I wanted to learn more about the publishing process, and she asks such insightful questions.
You are all the best people I know. Wear a mask and save someone’s life, you heroes!
Kisses (metaphorical!)
Jill Twiss
p.s. Follow me on twitter here or instagram here.
p.s.2. My books are for sale here: