I'm Taking a Book Break, Y'All!
When I was working on finishing Postal and The Weird Accordion to Al I talked a lot with my online therapist (shout out to Better Help!) about what she referred to as the “energy of completion.”
It took me five very long years to finish writing Postal and a relatively brisk three years to finish The Weird Accordion to Al as both an online project and a five hundred page magnum opus on more or less the entirety of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s career.
During that time I continually doubted myself and my abilities. I went through long periods of feeling like I would never finish either book. As with the writing You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me, I was locked in a poisonous cycle: my anxiety about both books made me procrastinate in finishing them, which in turn generated more anxiety and made it harder to do what absolutely needed to be done.
It wasn’t until I forgave myself for being imperfect and flawed that I was able to break through my creative paralysis and get Postal and The Weird Accordion to Al to the finish line.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the energy of completion as of late because I am exceedingly proud to report that my seventh print book and the third entry in The Weird Accordion to Al series, The Weird A-Coloring to Al, is 100 percent finished.
I had a crazy dream about creating the ultimate “Weird Al” Yankovic coloring book as a way of paying tribute to my childhood hero and adult collaborator and showcasing the brilliant work of Felipe Sobreiro despite never owning a coloring book as an adult.
Being a semi-apologetic emotionally stunted man-child I’ve thought about buying an adult coloring book for a long time but I never pulled the trigger because sub-consciously I perhaps understood that I would have to create an ideal coloring book because it did not yet exist.
At the risk of being immodest, The Weird A-Coloring to Al is fucking amazing! I could not be happier with how it turned out. Felipe is a genius and he really outdid himself here. It is his masterpiece.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what a random guy I showed the book had to say about it:
"In my completely unbiased opinion, this is unquestionably the greatest coloring book of all time. It’s the perfect gift for hardcore Weird Al fans, casual Weird Al fans, and… you know, people who just like to randomly color in stuff.”
— “Weird Al” Yankovic
Felipe, my designer Mariana and myself really knocked it out of the park with The Weird A-Coloring to Al. I couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world when it goes live on September 27th. Incidentally, if you’re a pop culture writer or podcast host and you’d like to cover The Weird A-Coloring to Al or talk to me about it, email me at nathanrabinauthor@gmail.com and I will hook you up with a promo copy of the book.
For better or worse The Weird A-Coloring to Al is far from the only book in my very near future. I also need to finish writing, editing and polishing the Happy Place best-of The Joy of Trash: Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place’s Definitive Guide to the Very Worst of Everything before the year is done.
I’d hoped to publish the book on October 27th but that’s looking a little ambitious now so I think November 27th would be a more realistic publication date.
I’ve written nine of twelve original pieces for the book already but I still have a fair amount of work left on The Joy of Trash and I want to be one hundred percent happy and satisfied with it the way I am with The Weird Accordion to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al as well.
With that in mind, I am going to take a brief publishing break of one week so that I can focus my energies on writing the final original pieces for The Joy of Trash and putting everything together.
Please stick with me! I promise I will come back stronger than ever. So next week I will be running what on SCTV were called Golden Classics.
Will I take another book break before the end of the year? Possibly! Publishing a book is a big deal and I want The Joy of Trash to be as good as it can possibly be because I love writing books (especially the holding them in your hands for the first time part!) and this website so I obviously feel VERY passionately about a book compiling the very best pieces from what I think is a VERY good website.
Thanks for being patient and understanding We’ll resume our regular publishing schedule in the very near future!
That’s the Nathan Rabin promise!
Pre-order The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s upcoming book about the very best of the very worst and get instant access to all of the original pieces I’m writing for them AS I write them (there are NINE so far, including Shasta McNasty and the first and second seasons of Baywatch Nights) AND, as a bonus, monthly write-ups of the first season Baywatch Nights you can’t get anywhere else (other than my Patreon feed) at https://the-joy-of-trash.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Missed out on the Kickstarter campaign for The Weird A-Coloring to Al/The Weird A-Coloring to Al-Colored In Edition? You’re in luck, because you can still pre-order the books, and get all manner of nifty exclusives, by pledging over at https://the-weird-a-coloring-to-al-coloring-colored-in-books.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
and of course you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al here: https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
AND of course you can also pledge to this site and help keep the lights on at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace