May 🌷: I just want to be Ben Rector.

...also, a *giveaway*!

Last week, I got the chance to see Ben Rector.

If you know me, you know that evangelistic should be my #1 StrenghtsFinder strength. I do not shut up about the things I like. Books, podcasts, documentaries—about half of my sentences start with an excited “Have you seen…?!”

I should get a commission for how many people I’ve convinced to buy The Lager Queen of Minnesota. I singlehandedly got our entire playgroup to watch The English Game. And I take no small amount of pride in the number of friends who’ve told me they started listening to The Dropout because I went off about Elizabeth Holmes over beers one night.

So most people in my life know that Ben Rector is my all-time favorite singer. I’m not a big concert-goer; I like to sit too much and they’re always so loud. (I’m 98 years old.) But if Ben Rector is within an hour or two of me, I always go see him. For some reason, I’d planned on skipping this tour. It’s in the middle of the week, I’ve already seen him five times, we’re paying two mortgages this year, I reasoned. And then my sweet friend from high school (I think she might read this newsletter—hi Natalie!) emailed me that she’d won Ben Rector tickets and couldn’t go; did I want them?

Heck yes I did.

This newsletter isn’t just to express my obsession with “Sailboat”, or explain how “Brand New” is the perfect song to listen to after you’ve just quit your job, or the way I painstakingly chose “Forever Like That” over “When I’m With You” for our wedding song. It isn’t even to talk about how Ben Rector lyrics have always snaked their way into my books somehow, or about how often I listen to his songs when writing.

It’s about his career.

I was explaining to Krzys the other day about how I’ve had a difficult time landing on an author “brand”, a much-dreaded word that is a necessary part of being a small business owner. I write secular fiction. I also write a newsletter for Catholic women, which is much more popular than any of my books. Some people, I know, are scandalized by my books because they have things like parents that aren’t married. Some people, I know, cringe at the fact that my main characters go to church. It’s forever a line I’m walking, trying to write books that I believe to be true while also avoiding being labeled any kind of Christian writer in terms of my fiction. There is also an absolute ocean of middle grade books in which I’m an absolute goldfish, especially because my books tend to tackle “quieter” topics (friendship drama, sibling interactions, feelings of loneliness) vs. like, spaceships. No offense to spaceships!

And then I spat out: “I just want to be like Ben Rector.”

He gave me a confused look, and I explained.

Ben Rector is not a wildly known singer. He’s known quite a bit in my circles, half because of my above-mentioned tenacity in getting people to like the things I like and half because of the fact that I hang with a lot of young adults who need to be able to listen to music in front of their kids. But the average person on the street has no idea who Ben Rector is. He used to make this funny videos where he’d go up to people on the street and say, “Aren’t you SO excited for Ben Rector’s new album?!” and the person would always look confused, and Ben would laugh. Taylor Swift he is not.

But he’s still had these really incredible moments: performing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, having a song featured in the Moana trailer (a high achievement in our house), being in the commercials for the World Series. These aren’t small feats—they’re mountaintop moments that probably felt pretty dang cool. That is not, however, his everyday life. His everyday life, as he explained at his show, couldn’t have been further from being on tour. He’s this super normal dude. He can walk into Target and people don’t ask for autographs. He has kids. (Listen to his song “Crazy”, which is all about this very thing.) And his fans are diehards; we’re quite a loyal bunch.

He’s also an independent artist. I’m not ditching traditional publishing anytime soon; I like seeing my books at Barnes and Noble too much! But his ability to remain without a label has allowed him to push boundaries in his music, stay nimble, and retain ownership over his songs. In the same way, I’m not “beholden” to any one publisher. I can always switch things up if I want, because I didn’t get paid a bajillion dollars for a 14-book-deal.

He’s also a Christian, but not a Christian artist. This distinction may seem small but it’s actually gargantuan. By not being defined as a Christian artist, he can write about things in the way he wants to—a seeking way, a searching way, a way of truth and goodness and beauty that isn’t shoeboxed into a K-Love playlist. His songs have extremely Christian themes but by entwining a faith with his everyday life, he’s able to actually share how the gospel has moved in his life in a more authentic way. When you’re a Christian artist, there are rules and restrictions and regulations. Any toe outside the line of what the Powers Have Be have deemed Christian and you’re basically labeled a heretic. But listen to “Fear” and “The Men That Drive Me Places” and “Sunday” and “Heroes” and tell me they don’t speak of a deep, meaningful faith life.

Ben Rector creates music when he wants to. The type of music that he wants to. In the way he wants to. And although I’m sure there are days where he has to deal with obnoxious lawyers or bad reviews, he gets to do the thing he loves, and he has people whose lives have been impacted by his art.

Isn’t that what we’re all going for, really?

I want to create good, true, and beautiful books. I want to do so on my own timeline. I want a kid to read my books and feel less alone.

Save the fame, the Netflix deals*, the long, winding lines for autographs. Those aren’t the life-giving things, for me.

I’ll be out here with Ben Rector, creating art the best I can.

*Please know that I will absolutely take a Netflix deal the second its offered.

The Kate In Between is out in paperback!

Snag it from your local indie, Barnes and Noble, the Bezos empire, or wherever else books are sold.

Official description: Kate McAllister is desperate for a change. Something to hit refresh and erase the pain of her mother leaving town without her. So when a group of popular girls folds Kate into their clique, it feels like the answer to all her problems—even if it means ditching Haddie, her childhood bestie. But when Kate’s new friends decide that Haddie is their next target, Kate becomes a passive participant in a cruel incident that could have killed Haddie…had Kate not stepped in, at the last minute, and saved her. The next day, a cell phone video of the rescue goes viral, and Kate is hailed a hero. But Kate knows the truth—she was part of the problem—and it’s only a matter of time until the full version of the video is released and everyone knows it too. With so much at stake, Kate must decide who she wants to be: a liar, a follower, or someone greater.

To celebrate, let’s do a giveaway, shall we? I’d be happy to send FIVE of you signed, personalized copies of the paperback. To enter to win, just respond to this email telling me what kind of behind-the-scenes info you’d most like to hear about writing. Would you like to hear about how I get my ideas? My writing routine? The hard parts of publishing? What it feels like to get a great review, a terrible review, an in-between review? What types of promo authors have to do? How music plays into my writing process? How moms can juggle creative writing? Let me know!

International OK. Open until Saturday, May 21. Winners will be notified by email. This giveaway is not in association with Substack.

(This is not the cover—just a fun image I mocked up! I’ll be sharing the cover in early summer, hopefully.)

Music plays a huge role in writing for me. At the beginning of the process, my AirPods basically live in my ears. As I daydream about plot and form characters, molding together aesthetics and desires and All The Feels, music can really set the tone for a particular chapter.

So without further ado, here’s a playlist for What Happened to Rachel Riley? If it seems eclectic…that’s because it is.

Official description: Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there’s something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social pariah. But no one, including Rachel herself, will tell Anna why. As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there’s always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won’t stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley? With the entire eighth grade working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Clue after clue, the mystery widens, painting an even more complex story than Anna could have anticipated. But there’s one thing she’s certain of: If you’re going to ask a complicated question, you better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer. Out January 10, 2023 from QuillTree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Feel Again - OneRepublic

Glitter in the Air - P!nk

long story short - Taylor Swift

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Bad Liar - Selena Gomez

We Might As Well Be Strangers - Keane

River Lea - Adele

You Will Be Found - Ben Platt

At the Bottom of Everything - Bright Eyes

Sailboat - Ben Rector

Beside You - Marianas Trench

A Whole Lotta Woman - Kelly Clarkson

Brave - Sara Bareilles

Independence Day - Martina McBride

Blown Away - Carrie Underwood

One Day You Will - Lady Antebellum

The Story of Us - Taylor Swift

Betty - Taylor Swift

And lastly, a book I’ve loved lately for…

Kids: Are anyone else’s kids just *obsessed* with the Magic Tree House? I feel like this series has been around forever, but they must but some kind of addictive-to-kid-drug within the pages because the 6 year old has been gobbling them up on audio. I read a couple aloud but they aren’t the most thrilling reads in my eyes, so when I found out that the audio versions are only an hour, I put about a billion on hold at the library. The half hour drive to baseball three times a week just got a lot more enjoyable. They also fill him with very random facts about history that he pulls out at, like, Trader Joe’s (“did you KNOW that Roman SOLDIERS were called CENTURIONS?!?”)

Middle graders: Fair warning, I haven’t actually read this yet, but The Peach Rebellion is on hold for me at the library, and I’ll read literally anything Wendelin Van Draanen writes. A-NY-THING.

Adults: I’m still working through Jean Valjean (…I know) but I also just devoured Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close. If you don’t like a lot of modern day politics in your books it isn’t going to be for you—fair warning. I feel like books-about-big-families-with-drama is kind of my favorite genre.

Thanks for reading along!

-Claire-