The Friday Five!

June 5, 2026

1. You guys: Change of Plans hit number ONE on the NYT Bestseller List! I was in the Duane Reade near my NYC hotel buying deodorant (this is not a glamorous story, clearly) when my editor called to tell me. We’d just had a big revision talk about the next book, so I figured she’d just thought of another thing to say. I shrieked. People stared. (Not that much, though, as this was New York.) All these years of career anxiety. The nervousness of a new book. A million times I doubted myself and my work. Truth is, a number one spot doesn’t take any of that away. But it adds a sweetness and joy to the ongoing story for which I am forever grateful. I celebrated by eating a big meal and then going to sleep for eleven hours. Which, for me, is the equivalent of drinking champagne and dancing on tables. I love that I am at a point in my life where that is the case.

2. The next day, I was up early to do Good Morning America. It was VERY exciting. I had my own dressing room! Of course I had to nerd out and document it.

   

   I got my hair and makeup done, then was escorted out to a couch under bright lights. (Fun fact: the cameraman was a friend of mine from high school. You can’t keep us CHHS kids apart, we’re like magnets.) The segment itself is now a total blur (you can watch it here) and the whole thing still feels like a dream. The BEST kind.

   

3. A few days later, I returned home after ten days of travel and events. It, too, is a bit of a blur now. Hotels! Ubers! TSA lines! What I will always remember is seeing booksellers and readers from all across the country and catching up like old friends. Some of them had married since the last tour. Some had kids. Some did both! Again and again I felt so incredibly lucky that my books had even the smallest role in their stories. I can’t wait to do it all again next summer with the book number SIXTEEN. Wow.

4. In the time I’ve been back, I’ve finished up a big revision of the book mentioned above. Then I got obsessed with Off Campus, like everyone else in the entire universe. (Love Garrett, but Belmont Cameli will always be Eli in Along for the Ride for me. Then again, I’m a bit biased.) In books I read Buckeye, which was a book both sweeping and magnificent. I also read Returns and Exchanges by Kayla Rae Whitaker, which I cannot believe has not been picked by one of the top book clubs (but I bet it will be). On the home front, I’m busy refilling hummingbird feeders and dealing with the raccoon keeps emptying my bird feeder at dusk with no shame whatsoever. Some things never change.

5. This weekend, my daughter graduates from high school. Y’all: I am having Big Feelings. They pop up all the time, in both places I expect (senior slideshow with baby pictures) and ones I do not (I started crying packing her lunch this morning when I realized it was probably the last time I’ll do it, at least in this way.) The day we left the hospital, the guy pushing my wheelchair to the curb looked at her in my arms and said, “It goes faster than you think. Just so you know.” At the time, I thought this was just something people say to new parents. But guys: all those holiday pageants and field days and birthday parties, every math test and science project, the chaos of getting out the door in the morning with, yes, a packed lunch….it goes faster than you think. Like, too fast for me right now. I want to grab on to even the hardest days, even if it’s just for a little longer. But that’s my story. This next one is all hers, and I am so here for it. I’m here for everything. But I may be sniffling a bit. Just so you know.

   

   First day of kindergarten. Feels like yesterday.

   Have a good weekend, everyone!