One Month of The Alchemists

October 27, 2026 | 1:25 pm

Well, here we are on the other side. The Alchemists wriggled its way onto the material plane one month ago, and my oh my, what a month it has been. What a year it’s been. 2026 tried to break me, but it also remade me. I’d like to think that I’m a slightly different, slightly better, and slightly more empathetic person than I was this time last year. Forged in fire or was I drowning? Which alchemical process is that again?

One month in, I’ve sold somewhere around 260 copies of this book to glorious humans as far away as the UK and Australia. It has over 100 reviews and 4.4something on Goodreads. I’ve done six events (two launch parties, talking to high schoolers, a Halloween party, a fall festival, and a book fair), three of them this weekend alone. My dad’s doctor apparently heard about the book from his internet friends. I lost count of how many people this weekend told me they saw my book on TikTok, where I haven’t posted since February. This isn’t a humble-brag; it’s me trying to make sense of it all. It—whatever it is—is happening.

I’m still very much trying to find my footing. A lot of this is insane timing: releasing a book, starting school again for the first time in many years, and heading off on a two-week trip (partially with no Wi-Fi) all in the same week was both unavoidable and insanity inducing. Most days right now I’m working from the time I wake up to the time I shut my laptop around 11pm because the only time I can free my brain enough to you know, work on the next book, is when I’m usually already asleep. My ‘me’ time is the inevitable daily crash nap somewhere in the early afternoon when my brain does a hard reboot (today it was 11am). None of this is a complaint. All of it feels like a fever dream.

I can’t believe how well it’s going, but also this moment feels like the culmination of a life’s work and completely inevitable. This is—albeit a slightly different version of what I imagined—exactly what I wanted. Some of it is lucky timing, some of it is just luck, some of it is writing an objectively good book (insomuch as an artist can ever objectively judge their own work), some of it is occupying a position of great privilege, some of it is the metric-ass ton of research I did before diving into the process, some of it is being good at design and having a good eye, some of it is being a nice person (all things being equal, kindness begets kindness), and some of it is being a very clever ~~sausage~~ fox.

Here are some of my favorite things from the last few months of this process:

· Standing on a table at the Ordinary launch event to give a toast and then playing pinball and wandering the streets of New Haven.

· Finally curating a wardrobe that sings the song of myself.

· Drinking a lot of really good custom cocktails.

· Getting approached by random people who’ve seen my book on the internet.

· Packing up dozens of books like lovely little presents for all my new and old friends.

· Connecting with people I haven’t spoken to in years.

· Seeing my friends walk around in their Alchemists merch.

· Getting to connect with other members of the local bookish and literary scene.

· Not having to look at reviews because I have a nice husband who looks at them for me.

· Getting screenshots and DMs of tear-stained faces about needing therapy and crying on international flights.

· Talking about the craft of writing with the seniors at my old high school.

· Mixing my old friends with my new friends and my book friends at the launch party and having them get on like gangbusters.

· Making online friends with other wonderful readers and writers who I wouldn’t otherwise meet.

· Scrolling through book recommendations on Instagram and getting jump-scared by my own book.

· Having a friend and former student fly in from California for the launch.

· Seeing The Alchemists on the shelves of people I’ve never met in person.

· Listening to Dire Straits and The Last Dinner Party very loudly while packing books.

· Getting chased into the parking lot by my PT’s office manager because she ordered a book and not because I forgot my co-pay.

· Handing my kindergarten teacher her own copy at my hometown launch party.

· Dropping off a second shipment of books at my favorite indie because they sold out of their first order.

· Getting asked by a bartender at the launch party if the book is ‘super queer’ based on her read of the room.

· Getting to share this whole process with my dearest friends who have shown their love infinite times over by reading the book, asking about it, loving it, modeling merch, helping me pack book shipments, and keeping me company at events and making sure I am properly fed and seasonally cocktailed.

I’m not sure what month two is going to bring, but gosh I’m ready.