Before you read on, please take a moment to support Fairest today by going to this page that makes it easy to share the book on socials and buy it if you’re so inclined. The help would mean so much in these challenging times.
If you were to tell twelve- or even eighteen-year-old Meredith that she would one day have the prologue of her book made into an essay for The New York Times on her memoir’s publication day, and that same newspaper would publish an incisive review of that book the same day, well… she would have no idea what you’re talking about because she didn’t know yet that NYT existed. Then if you tell her about the excerpt in New York magazine and the interview in Paris Review (still to come!), she’d have no idea what you’re talking about either.
So maybe that’s why on this, the publication day of Fairest, I’m trying very hard to focus on the pure soul of that Meredith, the one who read and wrote voraciously for the sheer enjoyment and curiosity of it. Because really, it’s that Meredith that has been getting all the praise, because it’s that Meredith who wrote this book. It’s also that Meredith who would laugh at the thought of speaking of herself in third person, so that Meredith is telling this Meredith to stop.
There will be a barrage of press today and I will be promoting myself a lot. While all this attention certainly feeds my ego, I’ve worked really hard over the past few years to focus on my major goal as a writer, which is to create the best work I possibly can. And given that we live in a world driven by market forces, press and promotion are a big part of doing that because they allow me to sustain myself economically as a writer.
I so so so look forward to seeing those of you who are joining my pre-event chat at 6pm our usual time tomorrow (and go sign up if you haven’t). I can say with all sincerity that I love helping other people live up to their writing potential as much as I love working on living up to mine, because if being a so-called successful writer feeds my stomach, helping other writers feeds my soul.