Ridgeline subscribers —

Hello! Many of you are new subs from Tim-san and our pod recordings last month. I’m Craig Mod and this is Ridgeline, a newsletter ostensibly about walking, and ostensibly weekly, but recently, not so much. Life has been full.

The last one of these I sent (last month) dove into the Walk and Talk I ran with Kevin Kelly in Spain in March. This one is simply a notice that my new book, Things Become Other Things, comes out from Random House in two days (Tuesday, May 6).

Tomorrow night (Monday) in Manhattan, we’re throwing a big launch event at Rizzoli Bookstore starting at 6pm. Tickets are sold out (200+), and while I can’t promise that you’ll get in, if I you just show up I suspect it’s possible we’ll be able to squeeze you in. (I’m assuming not every RSVP shows up.)

From there I’m in DC this Friday, San Francisco and Seattle next week, LA the week after, then Chicago, back to Brooklyn, and finally upstate New York (and possibly some more events TBD). Details and RSVP links are on the Things Become Other Things events page.

But “germane” to this newsletter, I recorded a podcast last week in LA (coming out later this month). We discussed the intense physicality of some of my big walks. That made me think about this tour itself, and my current tour mindset. This is not a comfortable thing for me to do — to be on the road for six weeks. My brain, presently, feels as if it’s melting from jet lag. A thirteen-hour timezone difference is no joke. I feel the pain in my bones. It burns. It burns. (It takes me about a week to “arrive” these days.) And living out of hotels and the spare bedrooms of friends (thank you, friends!) — also not ideal for this introvert homebody. Plus performing (as it is) at all these events (with additional interviews and signings) is yet another layer of abnormal energy use. Kevin Kelly looked at my schedule and said: Oh, looks like you can fit a lot more events in and I simply said, Kevin, my battery recharges will barely survive what we’ve got!

And YET. This is probably “easier” than a big walk. Or certainly no more physically and mentally demanding. When I’m out on the road, out walking eight hours, covering thirty or forty kilometers, talking to folks, photographing, making notes, and then arriving to my inn or hotel for the night, only to then write for the next three or four hours, synthesize what I saw and felt during the day, edit the photos, put it all together, and shoot it out to “pop-up newsletter” subscribers … well, that’s a lot. And to do it day after day, for weeks on end: a lot plus a lot plus a lot.

So: this tour. Not a walk and yet a walk. Lots of energy out (and lots of walking around town), but I anticipate much more in. I’m doing this because … why not?! The above travel logistics facts are just facts (energy equations), but emotionally (transcending equations): I’m quite excited, and really looking forward to spending time on stage (and off) with humans I love, and meeting readers across the country. What a thing to do. Glad I’m able to do it and glad we’ve had such a big response so far (most events seem to be close to sold out?).

Looking forward to seeing you out there. Order the book at all the usual places. It’s out TUESDAY! TUESDAY!! (This first week of sales is arguably the “most important week.”) After having worked on this thing for the last four years, that’s wild — the whole out-in-the-world thing. I think you’ll dig it. David Mitchell likes it. William Gibson likes it. Adam Savage likes it. Aziz Ansari likes it. (Please share that Insta post, if you don’t mind; help spread the word.) So it’s not inconceivable that you also may like it!

I wrote a little about the design over on Roden. Go, take a peek. And see you soon.

C