Jennifer Bray

Crazy.

Yeah, it feels crazy because like there's such a long lead in to publication that.

kind of like a wedding like that isn't it like you spend so long preparing for it and you're like overthinking every last detail and on the day like all the stuff you overthink probably just doesn't matter and then the day after you're like oh yeah it's done yeah exactly yeah so I'm trying to like any glimmers of joy or like

It feels like sandpaper grading or something because when someone asks me a question, my automatic reaction is, no, no, no, don't be so silly.

I'm going to ask you a question now.

And I found myself automatically doing that in interviews.

If someone says, where did you grow up?

I say, here is where I grew up.

And what about you?

And they're like, no, that's not about me.

That's not the vibe.

No, and it is strange.

It's really, really odd.

But it's lovely as well in some ways because...

you know when I think about it there's been a lot of anxiety for me around going into kind of publication but like if I could show myself five years ago this would that this is what it would look like this would happen I wouldn't believe it so instead of kind of getting mired in anxious thoughts it's kind of like let them flow through and then like enjoy the process and actually it's kind of way easier answering questions about your book than answering questions about like Trump's tariffs or you know like economic recession or something

It's... Well, naturally, I really want the book to do well.

Like, I'm so, like...

Because I'm so determined to make a career out of this, you know, a second career out of it that I really want this to do well because I feel like it will give me a really good platform for the next book and the one after.

So I also want to look back and say I did everything I possibly could.

So no matter what happens, I can stand by how I handled these couple of weeks and the months leading up to it and the years leading up to that.