Cover Reveal!

At the park, puzzles, and learning improv

Hey friends!

We made it through the saddest time of year. I’ll take the win. But holy cow. This particular season has been existentially taxing. How are you? Are you ok? I’m glad I have dogs. I’m glad you’re here!

Forgive me, I don’t have anything insightful for you today. Just some musings. It’s been a chaotic couple of weeks. I had to rebuild the entire suspension on my truck after being in that ditch in Michigan. Whoops.

Some of the things that rescued me this winter:

• My gym routine (even with a bunch of new injuries)

• Running (even though I’ve slowed down)

• Friends dinners

• Men’s group

• That winter blanket drive

• This online community

• Daily beach walks

• Daily forest walks

• The occasional ocean dip

• City trips

• Those little moments on the trails when the sun hits the dogs from behind and their breath glows like fire

City guys!

I suck at improv! (and that’s ok)

I bombed this weekend at improv. I couldn’t get out of my head. It was like those moments on TV when the person on stage is deafened by high-pitched screeching as the spotlight blinds them. Silent crowd. I didn’t give any space to the other performers. I couldn’t receive their offers to progress the scene.

City things.

I went back on stage a second time. I didn’t bomb quite as hard. I drove away thinking of all the ways I could have done better. But I guess this is part of the game. This happens when I’m filming myself too, and in high stakes conversations, and in interviews, on podcasts, I just lose my damn mind a little bit. I tend to lose perspective of the bigger picture. I lose the flow. My mouth is filled with peanut butter. My vision narrows.

But I’m coming at it with curiosity. I find this barrier really interesting, and I absolutely love challenging it. I’m going to keep working at it. I believe it’s something I can overcome. Plus, I’m at an age now where people say things like “it’s never too late to start”.

Hee hee.

Foggy dog hop.

Puzzles!

Remember the Momo puzzles? I’m going to be making some Yaya & Boo puzzles! And I’ll probably make another Momo puzzle, too. I love the offline aspect of puzzles. My puzzle obsessed friends bought me a puzzle for Christmas and I’ve been thinking of this ever since.

Making puzzles seems like an achievable goal, especially on the way to making that kids show I spoke of so long ago. Yep, that’s still a thing. But those things take so much time and it’s exhausting and a little bit deflating but the dream is alive.

I’m thinking of starting with 3 puzzles: a toddler puzzle, a kid friendly traditional jigsaw puzzle (200-500pc), and a more advanced (1000pc) puzzle.

Would you buy a puzzle? What would you wanna see?

Puzzle lovers unite!

Boo with some Vancouver goodboys.

And finally, the cover reveal!

In the Yaya & Booniverse, I present to you, the cover for Let’s Find Yaya & Boo At the Park!. I’m really excited about this one because this is my first book where I intentionally included people. Friends new and old generously offered their time to be included. I still owe some of them lunch. Some of the stories of how these scenes unfolded are really special, too. You’ll get tired of me talking about this book, so for now I’ll just leave you with the cover.

The newest installment to the Yaya & Booniverse arrives September 8th!

This book is coming in September and is already available for pre-order (I recommend pre-ordering it from your local bookstore)!

Can’t wait to show you the inside.

Lots of love and warmth and really funny jokes,

Andrew, Yaya, & Boo