We landed in Atlanta yesterday, after a long, but actually kind of pleasant, flight. I held back tears saying goodbye to Veronica at the airport in Los Angeles, nuzzling into her while she sat strapped into her car seat. I whispered to her, “I love you more than anything in the whole world.” And again, she pushed me back and said, “But you love Jules too, right?” I smiled at her, tears in the corners of my eyes, and nodded. And then I watched as she and Greg drove off, before turning back to my little traveling pal.

Juliette was smiling up at me with her bright, little eyes, and later on the plane as she slept in my arms and I stared out the window, I had the thought, I am more myself than I have ever been, since becoming a mother. It really just occurred to me in this profound way, that I feel more myself than I’ve ever felt, and it’s because of them. But it’s also not that I wasn’t me before I became a mama. I’m still the same me, but I feel like motherhood has served to kind boost me into a three-dimensional me. Whereas I might have been the same Claire, I’m just oh-so more her now, in all the best ways, I think. Does that make sense?

Anyway, my half-brother and his fiancee were at the airport waiting for us when we arrived and now I sit in their comfortable home in Virginia Highlands, tapping this out while they make breakfast, and waiting for one of my childhood best friends to show up.

Oh, and also admiring this write-up about Rules in the Sunday Book section of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. This is actually my very first newspaper write-up and I’m so thrilled that it’s the paper I grew up watching my parents read every weekend. You can read the whole article here. 

If you’re in the Atlanta area, I’d love to see you on Tuesday night at the Georgia Center for the Book, where I’ll be reading and signing. More details here.

It’s cold here. But it feels oh-so warm and lovely to be seeing old friends and family. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at Greg’s sister’s house and Vera could not have been more thrilled to be reunited with her cousins. I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to see her with them. All of my cousins were always so much older than me, and also with being an only child I just never had a family experience like the one she is part of.

It also feels better to be out in the world and getting my mind off the Newtown tragedy. I’ve really had a hard time processing it, as all of us have. Yesterday, walking through the airport, I felt so vulnerable and edgy. I haven’t felt this affected by a national tragedy since 9/11. I think it’s going to take all of us a long time to heal, and hopefully good things will come from it, in the form of a safer country.

Here are a few more good things:

I found out last week that The Rules of Inheritance is a finalist for a Books for a Better Life award, and I’m feeling impossibly humbled. Other finalists include Anne Lamott (!!), Kelle Hampton (do your read her blog??), and Andrew Solomon (I think everyone I know is reading his book right now). This also means that I’m going to be in NYC in March for the awards ceremony, which is pretty exciting.

Here’s an essay I have up on the Powell’s Books blog. I wrote about my relationship with author Deni Bechard (otherwise known as the college tutor in the first chapter of my book). I think this is one of the most interesting side-stories from my book.

Lastly, I’m reading tomorrow night in one of Chicago’s newest bookstores, City Lit. I know the weather is supposed to be yucky, but I would be so, so excited if you came out to say hi.

It’s always a little bit weird to spend the holidays with a family that’s not your own. I’ve been having this conversation a lot with my married friends who are all about to spend their holidays with their own families, or with their in-laws. I’m sure if my parents were around I’d prefer to spend Christmas with them, but they’re not, so I don’t even really think about it. I love going back to Ohio with Greg. It’s hard to believe that this will be my 6th Christmas with the Booses.

Ohio isn’t a place I ever imagined playing a role in my life, but now it’s a deep part of my daughters’s lives, as well as my own. Greg’s parents still live in the same house he grew up in, out in the country, surrounded by farm lands that they once owned. It almost always snows while we’re there, and we always do the same set of things on each visit. It’s comforting and familiar, and very relaxing. Greg’s parents are the world’s best babysitters, taking the kids in the morning so we can sleep in and spending lots of time with them in the afternoons and evenings while we sneak out to a movie or the coffee shop. Greg’s mom rents a ton of movies, has a coffee table stocked with entertainment magazines and little bowls of M&Ms, and she makes huge meals that are impossible to turn down, because everything always tastes so good.

So yeah, it’s pretty great. We’re all excited.

Just a reminder that next week I’m doing a reading in Chicago and would love, love to see you.

Reading & Signing
City Lit Bookstore
Logan Square, Chicago
December 20, 7pm

View More Details and RSVP Here

And then in a few weeks I’m going to be in Atlanta. My hometown! I haven’t been back in three years, so I can’t wait to see friends and family and meet readers.

Reading & Signing
The Georgia Center for the Book
Decatur Library, Atlanta
January 8, 7:15pm

View More Details and RSVP Here

My paperback officially comes out 12/24 but you can pre-order it now!