Family Surprises, Media Blitz, and Book Ten’s Big Week — Writer Diary
Evelyn Skye is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Hundred Loves of Juliet and The Incredible Kindness of Paper. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, her books have been published worldwide and translated into sixteen languages. Find out more at EvelynSkye.com.
This diary represents a week in Evelyn’s life as she launches her tenth novel, The Incredible Kindness of Paper. From surprise origami rose tributes to in-person bookstore events and early-morning TV interviews, Evelyn balances the joy and chaos of release week.
Monday, August 11th - Book Release Eve
8:00 am: Wake up. I let myself sleep in, because I know it’s going to be a very busy week–my tenth novel, The Incredible Kindness of Paper comes out tomorrow.
I make myself some green tea and take it out to enjoy on my little apartment balcony. Usually, this is a phone-free moment for me to enjoy the still-chilly morning air, but… it’s Release Week, and social media duties call.
8:25 am: Over on Substack, I post my usual cheery Monday note to my community chat–
It’s time for Monday Smiles! - what had you smiling over the weekend or what are you looking forward to this week? 💛
The responses come in right away (I have over 24,000 subscribers on Substack, which is wild!). There are notes about a lovely staycation, photos of adorable kids, as well as stories about cute dogs and cats. Monday mornings are one of my favorite things about this community.
8:40 am: I am reluctant to leave that happy peaceful corner of Substack, but Instagram awaits. I post a silly Reel of me autographing 100 books, where everything seems fine until a massive stack falls and books go flying everywhere! This had not been the original plan for the video (it was supposed to be a simple time-lapse of me signing books), but serendipity has a sense of humor, so I went with it.
Anyway, with Substack and Instagram morning posts up, I can finally eat breakfast and shower and all the other normal human being stuff before I get back into Author Mode.
9:46 am: Dishwasher is broken. Ack! I punt and ask my husband to call maintenance–I don’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with this.
11:15 am: Respond to an email from Alka Joshi (author of The Henna Artist) who is my conversation partner for my launch event later this week. Alka wants to know if there are specific topics I want to discuss during the event.
I send her a short list of conversation ideas, but she and I are both talkers, so I don’t think we’ll have any problems finding things to chat about!
She writes back and asks if I want to make time for reading a passage from the novel? I pause to think about this, because in general, I loathe when authors read from their books at events, because it always goes on way too long and gets boring. However, in this case, I think I will do a reading of just the opening page. It’s a charming introduction to the main characters when they’re kids, and most importantly, it’s very short.
1:00 pm: Call with my external book publicist, Brittani Hilles of Lavender Public Relations. Brittani has been pitching The Incredible Kindness of Paper non-stop to news outlets in the last few weeks, and her energy is truly awe-inspiring. She catches me up on everything she’s working on this week for my book.
Also, she got nail art inspired by my book cover! Damn, I love her passion and dedication!
Rest of the afternoon: Practice making origami roses (inspired by my book) for the virtual launch party and origami workshop I’m leading on Sunday. I am very bad at arts and crafts, so part of me wonders–what was I thinking when I decided to do this event? But I’m persistent and I’ve got a week to learn this. (Yes, I did leave this to the last minute, I know, I know…)
Tuesday, August 12th - Release Day
6:04 am: I practically jump out of bed–it’s Book Release Day! I tiptoe into the kitchen because my family is still asleep.
The kitchen island is covered in dozens and dozens of yellow origami roses.
My husband, Tom, and our daughter always do something special for me on book release days, but this one takes the cake! Each paper rose also holds a tiny, handwritten message, just like in The Incredible Kindness of Paper.
I am crying, and I haven’t even had my morning coffee yet.
11:00 am: Hair appointment to touch-up my roots. Tomorrow, I’ll be sitting at a signing table with a bunch of people standing over me, looking at the top of my head while I autograph their books. I want to look good for my readers!
While I’m at the appointment, press starts to hit. I take screenshots of the different articles and pretty them up on Canva, then post them to Instagram. My book publicists have been amazing, and now all their hard work is coming to fruition.
2:27 pm: Neck starting to hurt from being on Instagram so much, but it’s worth the pain!
6:00 pm: Order in dinner, because I’m not cooking tonight.
7:00 pm: Okay, I lied, I am baking tonight… Two dozen cupcakes for tomorrow’s launch party at Books Inc. The flavor is chocolate cake with mulberry jam swirl, which is a reference to the book (if you know, you know).
Wednesday, August 13th - In-Person Launch Party Day
9:30am: Set up my Zoom corner (a.k.a. my pop-up podcast studio), which consists of 4 lighting rigs, a microphone, and my iPhone and computer as my camera set-up. This is all done in the corner of my bedroom and blocking the bathroom door. Such is real author life (shh, don’t tell anyone it’s not glamorous).
10:30 am: Interview with a journalist from World Journal, the largest Asian American newspaper in North America. I remember their newspapers from my childhood. This is so cool that I’ll be in their pages.
11:30 pm: Make buttercream frosting for the cupcakes. My daughter makes the yellow frosting roses (they match my book cover). She’s a wizard with buttercream.
5:00 pm: Drive over to Books Inc. Palo Alto! My friends are grabbing burgers nearby before my launch event, but I’m worried about getting food stuck in my teeth, so I eat ice cream for dinner instead. I feel like that is a wise life choice.
6:30 pm: The wonderful Alka Joshi (author of The Henna Artist) arrives! She is my conversation partner for the event tonight. We practice climbing into the bar-height chairs set up for us. We do not fall off. This seems like an auspicious start.
7:00 pm: The bookstore fills with my family and friends and local readers, and I cannot stop smiling! Alka is a smart and thoughtful interviewer, and we have the best conversation about The Incredible Kindness of Paper.
Afterward, we sign books and take pictures with readers, and they enjoy the cupcakes and take home some little goodies–stickers and tote bags inspired by my book.
Thursday, August 14th
5:00 am: Alarm goes off and I practically rocket out of bed, I’m so surprised. Then I remember I have a TV interview this morning at 6:15am, since it’s with CBS New York (and I’m out in California, hence the time difference). My poor husband also has to get up early, since the all the lighting for my interviews is in the bedroom, but he’s amazingly cheerful for someone who was only allowed to have five hours of sleep.
6:30am: CBS producer comes on for video and audio check. She asks me to move my mouse cursor off my face, but I don’t see it. They quickly figure out that the mouse is on their end, so they get the arrow moved.
Mary Calvi is the host of CBS New York’s popular book club, and it’s so fun to chat with her about The Incredible Kindness of Paper, and the power of kindness in general. TV interviews are shockingly fast, though, and the four minutes whizzes by. Then the producer hops back on, thanks me, and I am excused to go eat some breakfast.
9:00 am: Instagram Live with a bookstagrammer and her book club community. I was on her Instagram a couple years ago to talk about another book, and we actually did that one in both English and Spanish. But today, we only speak in English, which is relief for me because I’m pretty sleep-deprived by this point of the book promotion cycle, and I’m not sure the Spanish-region of my brain would be fully functional.
10:00 am: No more publicity scheduled for today! I think I’m off the hook until I remember that I need to finish writing my Substack newsletter that’s scheduled to go off tomorrow. Back to the keyboard I go.
1:15 pm: My editor has sent me revision notes for my next book (coming out in the summer of 2026), and I briefly consider opening up her document but decide I’m too tired to do any real work. The rest of today will probably consist of a long nap and more practice folding paper roses for my workshop this weekend.
Friday, August 15th
9:00 am: Catch up on emails from my publicists. Since they’re in New York, I’m three hours behind and there are always a few messages waiting for me when I log onto my computer. This morning’s email is great news that The Incredible Kindness of Paper has been featured in Woman’s World! The online version is live and the print magazine is coming soon. I add that date to my calendar to make sure I remember to swing by the bookstore to pick up a copy once it’s out.
10:30 am: Sign onto Zoom for an interview for a show that’s on YouTube and Tubi. The host has done his research on me and my new book, and he’s easy to talk to, so this is a breeze and a delight.
He wants to do an entire career retrospective, which is fun because it’s a different sort of interview than only talking about my latest book. I have to admit that I have forgotten some details of the books I wrote a decade ago, but maybe I talked around it enough that I fooled him. Or perhaps he was just gracious and let me skate over it, because he can see the barely veiled panic in my eyes.
Saturday, August 16th
I do nothing and it is glorious. Tomorrow begins another week of book events and interviews, but I know it’s important to pause and recharge (when possible), so that’s what I do!
Sunday, August 17th
10:00am - noon: Today is my virtual launch party, which is also an origami rose workshop! I spend two hours this morning practicing the paper roses over and over again to make sure I’ve really got it down. I make my stop when my fingers start cramping. Must save some dexterity for the actual event later today!
1:00 pm: I decide to distract myself by baking. Happily, I have four very ripe bananas, as well as lots of chocolate chips because every time I go to the grocery store, I buy another bag of chocolate chips, worried we might’ve run out at home. This means I have enough chocolate in the house to fuel me through the rest of the year, which I figure is a good thing. Also–chocolate chip banana bread, here I come!
3:30 pm: I baked two loaves and I have already eaten almost an entire loaf myself. Feeling mildly ill, although I’m not sure if it’s too much chocolate (is there such a thing?) or my nerves about the origami workshop, which is only 90 minutes away.
4:30 pm: My event starts in half an hour and one of my cameras isn’t working! I need two for the virtual event–my normal webcam for my face, and my phone for the desk to show the origami roses I’ll be teaching.
I unplug everything, restart everything, unplug everything again with all the restarted devices and… thank goodness. Now both cameras are working, with ten minutes to spare.
5:00 pm: My Zoom keeps dinging as people join, and I heave a sigh of relief because part of me was worried that no one would show up. Everything goes smoothly. I start by teaching a very easy paper rose made with cupcake wrappers. Then I give a book talk with some insights into the inspiration behind The Incredible Kindness of Paper and the publishing process. And we end with a 30-minute tutorial on a more complicated origami rose. We end with smiling readers all waving goodbye, hooray!
It’s been a long but fulfilling week, and I am very, very happy with how it all went. An author can’t ask for more than her book going out into the world and finding its readers, and it seems like that is exactly what happened.
Now I’m going to eat the second loaf of chocolate banana bread.
