Re-climbing the hill

Doing the hard things again, plus my weekly shareables: Kim Mulkey's grudges, Augusta's caddies, and South Carolina's found money

Well, here we go again (Photo by Heriberto García on Unsplash)

A couple of DOGLAND updates to start us off … as the legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross says, business is about to pick up.

• There are still a few slots left for the Zibby Owens book lovers’ retreat in Asheville next weekend … I’ll be one of eight authors on hand for a weekend of intimate conversations, good food and a tour of Asheville bookstores.

• There was a lovely review of DOGLAND in the Financial Times this week … when I call it up on my desktop it’s paywalled, but when I look at it on my phone I can see the whole thing. Maybe some of you more technically inclined can explain.

• The big news is that the preorder copies of DOGLAND have arrived at Park Road Books! Starting Monday I’ll be signing and inscribing the hundreds of books y’all have been kind enough to buy in advance. That gives the store plenty of time to ship them out so you can get them by the pub date of April 23. The inscriptions alone might be enough words to make a whole other book. Please say a prayer for my wrist.

But just because the books are in doesn’t mean you can’t still preorder! They’ll send more books! Here’s the offer from Park Road … and here’s the offer where you can enter a drawing for a signed bookplate and DOGLAND bandana. If you’re on the fence, remember that preorders give a book a huge boost in that first week of publication. I’ll be glad to sign as many as y’all order up. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are just around the corner. You can check them off your list in one fell swoop! (Although you should get them a nice card, too.)

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The other day I was driving down Central Avenue in Charlotte, on the stretch where a big park butts up to the street. Most of the park is on high ground, but there’s a long terraced hill that slopes down to a creek. It’s probably 50 or 60 feet down to the bottom.

There’s a disc golf course in the park. And the other day, as I was stopped to let somebody cross the street, I saw a golfer throw a disc that landed on its edge at the top of the hill, took a hard turn … and rolled all. the. way. down. to. the. creek.

I laughed and winced at the same time. Man, I know that feeling.

My wife reminded me the other day that every time I tackle a big project, there’s a point in each phase where I have a dark night of the soul. This definitely happened with DOGLAND. When I was reporting the book, I had a moment when I thought there was no way I could sort out the flood of information. When I was writing, at some point I thought there was no way I was ever going to make it to the end. After I turned it in, I had a day or two of despair that the book would never find an audience, and even if it did, no one would care.

That last part is still a possibility, I guess. But what I’ve come to realize is that this is a natural part of my creative cycle—it’s the equivalent of the disc rolling all the damn way to the bottom of the hill. What I feel, in those moments, is a push and pull. I really don’t want to climb the hill again. But the only way to finish is to climb the hill again.

I suppose you could just leave your work down there in the creek. Lord knows the thing is littered with all the other ideas and projects that people gave up on. But the thing I have to remind myself, over and over again, is that finishing matters. Completing a project even when you don’t love the outcome matters. Putting your work out there in the world matters. Climbing the hill, all by itself, matters.

It so happens that I love the way DOGLAND turned out, and I think readers will, too. Whether it sells a lot is part hustle, part luck, and if it was easy everyone would do it. I hope it sells a million. But either way it was worth climbing the hill. Your legs get strong that way. Makes it a little easier the next time you have to do it.

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10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. My weekly for WFAE was about shedding a long December. (Yes, that’s a Counting Crows reference.)

2. Lots of sports recommendations this week … I could have devoted a whole essay to Kent Babb’s brilliant profile of LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. Mulkey went ballistic and threatened to sue before the piece even came out. Then, when it did come out, some readers seemed disappointed that there wasn’t anything in the piece that would get her fired. But if you just read the story, what you come away with is a devastating personal tragedy: a woman who got everything she wanted, but lost almost everyone she cared about along the way. This is journalism at its best. (Washington Post)

3. The Masters starts on Thursday, and before it does you have to read Latria Graham’s lyrical piece on the black caddies of Augusta National. It’s about racism and grace and a piece of land where both live side by side. (Garden & Gun)

4. PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT has quickly become one of my go-to podcasts. I was riveted by this week’s episode on a feud between two billionaire mortgage brokers who became NBA owners … and how one of them might have skirted the law to make his fortune.

5. DOG NEWS: I’m sharing dog-related items in this spot until DOGLAND comes out. This week: The cover of last week’s New Yorker, illustrated by Mark Ulriksen, is just beautiful.

   

   
   

6. The state of South Carolina seems to have found $1.8 billion in an old coat pocket. Maybe. (NYT)

7. Brett Martin profiles the guy who has gamed Spotify by writing a song about damn near everything. Seriously. He might have written a song about you. (NYT)

8. Two of my favorite writers and thinkers, Bomani Jones and Spencer Hall, going deeeeep on the new Beyoncé album:

9. Another favorite writer and thinker, Tressie McMillan Cottom, with her own thoughts on COWBOY CARTER. (NYT)

10. In that Bomani/Spencer video, they’re talking about the Beyoncé duet with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted” (which is really good), and Bomani mentions in passing the time when Miley sang “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” at SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’S 40th anniversary show. I had not heard this. Thank you, Bomani.
    

    Have a great week, everybody.