Very exciting news for today: I can at last announce that the title of my new novel (coming out with Bloomsbury in 2018) will be:

Invitation to a Bonfire

Hooray! I’m extremely happy with this title, despite the fact that titling things is one of the trickiest part of writing, as far as I’m concerned. Either I come up with a title that feels right almost instantaneously, or it takes ages (possibly forever) to come up with something that fits. A writing professor of mine in grad school told us that the right title for something should feel “both surprising and inevitable,” and though that doesn’t necessarily help me find a good title when I’m looking for one, it’s a pretty dead-on description of what I’m always looking for.

I found out that Invitation to a Bonfire was going to stick yesterday morning, and by yesterday afternoon I’d also received proofs of my new head shots from photography genius Jade Beall, so now I’m just going through the delicate process of figuring out which image not only looks like “me” (as, I suppose, I imagine myself? My “residual self-image,” to put it in terms straight out of The Matrix?) but also the image that looks like the version of me that I want to project for this project and for my career, which is…moderately daunting. Luckily I have many great options to choose from.

In other news, Dave and I are going to Madison this weekend to visit Greenbush Donuts  some good friends who are there for the summer, and so there probably won’t be a comic next week. As a heads up, there may also be a (longer) dry period later this summer, as I’m going to do a residency at Jentel Arts from mid-August – mid-September; my current plan is to try & bank some comics before I go so I’ll have something to post at least intermittently, but if not I’ll probably at least post a sketch and an update now and again. Just letting you know, so no one (hi dad) crumbles in despair.

That’s it for now! Many exciting things coming soon!