👋 If they can, so can you.

It's Monday. I'm here for you.

Hi, Friend! It’s me, Jen Glantz

People always tell you to surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to do.

But come on, that's not always so easy, especially if what you want to do is odd or super creative or just anything different than what your world is like right now. Every kid's dream is to be an astronaut. Gemma is already saying she wants to be one for Halloween and then for the rest of her life, so if I'm supposed to follow that golden rule, how am I supposed to get her surrounded by astronauts? My best bet is to take her to a Katy Perry concert…

That's extreme, I know she's only two, but this is about me too. This is the reason I spend soooo much time inside of bookstores. I want myself to feel like absolute shit.

And I walk in there and I do. The doors open and to the left and right, I look at stacks of hundreds of books, but all I see are regrets. I am supposed to be writing these books. I am supposed to be here too!

I was there once. My second book that came out was in bookstores. I remember pressing my nose to the door outside of Barnes & Noble in Union Square for them to open on Feb 17, 2017, just so I could see my book inside the store. Adam came too. We looked for it everywhere. The first floor. Nope. The second floor. Nope. The third floor, which was mostly a cafe. Nope. Okay, the fourth floor! Nobody comes up to the fourth floor of this books tore except to use the bathroom, which all of a sudden I felt quite the urge to do, and right before I turned the corner to the urinal, I saw on the very top shelf, out of the corner of my eye, my freaking book!

Yes, it made it! It made it into stores, even if absolutely nobody would find it except for a person with a bout of diarrhea that needed to run madly up to the fourth floor and use the restroom. And if I was running the publishing world, I'd argue that that person deserves the book for free.

I took all five copies of the book off the shelf and rode the escalator all the way back down to the first floor where I found this week's bestseller table. I pushed a few books to the left, then the right, to make space for my own hardcover. I placed it there and took some steps back and pretended to look at other books.

When people came close to that table, I pounced. I grabbed my book and loudly said: Well this one looks fantastic! trying to meet their eye contact but met the back of their head as they walked away.

After three hours of this and, Adam leaving to go to work, an employee whose job it is to check these prime-spot tables, because I guarantee you I'm not the only author who goes to Barnes & Noble and rescues their beautiful book from the bathroom floor to bring it to the main one, comes over and makes sure the books on the bestseller table, which are paid to be there, are the only ones there. He grabbed all five of my copies, set them on a cart, and wheeled them back up into the sky.

I've talked before about how that book, in some ways, was personal roadkill. It made it hard for me to believe in myself as a writer. It made it impossible for me to dig deep for the confidence to write a book again.

But I'm trying. I tried really hard and after five years, I was able to publish this, and now I'm trying again, this time fiction.

But because I don't know a lot of authors and these days I mostly surround myself with toddlers, every few weeks I'll find a bookstore and walk myself there and open the door, and touch as many books as I can, and read the dedications inside of them, because it shows who was in the author's heart when they wrote the whole thing, and instead of feeling like a sad regretful emotional troll, I'll take a deeeeep breath, even hold on tightly to the book nearest to the bathroom, and say:

If they could do it, so could I. I could do it again.

Maybe you're feeling like that too, and if so, please Google image search people who are doing what you want to do, and run your fingers down the wrinkle lines of their faces and repeat after me:

If they can, so can you.

Take care of yourself this week (ilysm),

Jen Glantz

Books * Say hello

📖 She Used to Be Nice

Talk about an author journey!! I am so freaking proud of my friend Alexia, whose debut novel, came out last week. Her lifelong goal was to become an author and it took her 8 YEARS!! to write/get this book published. She said at her book event that she was never going to give up, even if it took her another 8-years. I read the entire book in two nights. It’s incredible, deeply moving, and the kind of book where you are verbally screaming at the main character as you turn the pages because you just want the best for her. It’s electric and so incredibly well-written. Alexia is my biggest inspiration right now as I think of every reason to stop something I want to start.

Check it out here »

👖On My Shopping List

• I splurged on this necklace because I wanted a pop of color to break up all the gold jewelry I usually wear. It's so fun and would make a great gift too!

• You know I loved leopard pants these days. I know own 5 pairs of them. Here are my latest ones for under $30.

• I can’t seem to take these off.

• Found an inexpensive place that makes neon signs. I made one for Gemma’s room that says: Dream big.

Thank you for reading this week’s pick-me-up. I adore you! I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday. Until then, hit reply and say helllloooo!

If you want to follow me on @jenglantz, I’d love it. And if you have anything to share or ask, hit reply or comment below.

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