My second novel, Shining Sea, came out in paperback last month. In the year between its hardcover and paperback releases, I did the required work of promoting the novel, wrote a number of short and long-form nonfiction articles and op-eds, and began researching and making notes for a new novel.
I also read like a coyote loose among sheep. I devoured recent releases, explored and fell in love with a whole new genre, graphic novels-after cramming into a taxi with a group of riotous graphic novelists at the Miami Book Fair, and consumed huge chunks out of my to-be-read pile. I re-read every book I own by Willa Cather, which is pretty much every book by Willa Cather. Because I was traveling to Uganda, I consumed any work of fiction or creative nonfiction related to Uganda that I could get my hands on. I strolled into bookstores and strode back out with books recommended by a bookseller.
