405:

coming and crying (by javier chavez)

what you may not know is back in march, the very week i was fired from my job, that’s when i saw that melissa gira and meaghan o’connell were going the kickstarter route to bring us this book, COMING AND CRYING, and without any job prospects that very week (what a wreck i was), i donated a few bucks toward it.

i was maybe only then coming to certain terms of sexual confidence with my then-boyfriend, and i was hurt because of the work thing, and i was negotiating through some familial financial strife. maybe you didn’t know this either.

but it occurred to me, from that point on, that when the book arrived, i don’t know, it would make all of that better somehow. maybe the first reason was that i somehow helped those who i love on the internet MAKE SOMETHING. the second was getting stories by these same lovely people. a third, perhaps, is that ‘true stories about the other side of the bed’ are, i think, what i like the most about writing: no love nor sex but what’s before and after. and even a possible fourth reason is i believe that stories, when they are well told, are better than a boxfull of pills when you’re suffering through a cold. anyway.

what you also may not know is that now, nearly six months to the very week when i lost my job, i’m on the cusp of starting a new one, the financial straits my family’s in is about to get better (funny how a thing like a job will do that, hey?), the boyfriend and i are broken up (many long conversations and tears later) and now all i seem to want is sex.

and here’s COMING AND CRYING (532/651), waiting for me after a cloudy afternoon in los angeles (with the aforementioned now-ex boyfriend). kind of like i maybe always knew it would be.

kind of like i maybe always knew it would be, too.

emmafred:

Coming and Crying, my gosh, it’s beautiful.

faketv:

came home from an insane, way-too-long work day to discover my copy of coming and crying  in front of my door. read the first story standing in the kitchen. love!

catchstars:

i’ve allowed myself to read only the introduction. i already love it and i haven’t even began reading the stories yet.

winesburgohio:

Look what I spotted at McNally Jackson while walking by this evening! Look at Melissa’s face, right there on the cover! Look at Kickstarter happening in real life!! (Also, the people standing behind this display probably thought I was crazy — I tried to get some close ups for awhile. Sorry about that!)

diana-vilibert:

I’m all moved into my new studio. I celebrated by sleeping naked and putting together bookshelves, not naked. Pictured: Half-assed attempt to organize by color; the flowers I bought myself; Fail Whale pillow; Coming & Crying.

cameronchristopher:

I’m going to be up all night.

(IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.)

catchstars:

so, i’ve been waiting for this book for so long now, yet i’m keeping myself in suspense of reading it. i don’t want to read it all in one sitting, which i feel i may. i haven’t even read the introduction yet… i’m just waiting. but i’m not sure what for. i just want to lock myself in a quiet room, away from the world, and sink myself into these stories that people put their soul and heart into. but, instead, i have to get ready for work.

frakintosh:

I have to say that I hesitated for a moment before carefully opening the package. I can’t say why.

Balthazar emailed me a very dreamy twist on an unboxing.