I Miss You When I Blink: Dispatches from a Relatively Ordinary Life

(Paperback)

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In this memoir-in-essays full of spot-on observations about home, work, and creative life, Philpott takes on the conflicting pressures of modern womanhood with wit and heart. She offers up her own stories to show that identity crises don't happen just once or only at midlife; reassures us that small, recurring personal re-inventions are both normal and necessary; and advises that if you're going to faint, you should get low to the ground first. Most of all, Philpott shows that when you stop feeling satisfied with your life, you don't have to burn it all down and set off on a transcontinental hike (unless you want to, of course). You can call upon your many selves to figure out who you are, who you're not, and where you belong. Who among us isn't trying to do that

Reviews

Some endorsements for I Miss You When I Blink
"Mary Laura Philpott is a writer, artist, and creator of singular spark and delight. I adore her, and I love her work. Thank God she has finally written a memoir! By offering these delightful dispatches from her own life experience, she leaves us thinking about ourselves -- where we've been, where we're going, and who we really want to be."
-Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic
"Mary Laura Philpott is relentlessly funny, self-effacing and charming as she tells the story of living as a triple-A-plus Perfectionist. Everything in her life is done on time and exactly right, until, of course, it all starts to fall apart. In her willingness to tell her own story, she taps into a universal truth for so many women: We plan to do it all until we find we can't do anything anymore. I Miss You When I Blink made me laugh, it made me cry. I miss it already."
-Ann Patchett, author of This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage and Commonwealth
" ... inspiring for those of us with small children underfoot and forty close on the horizon."-Emma Straub, author of Modern Lovers
"This marvelous collection of essays belongs on the bookshelf sandwiched between Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron. Mary Laura Philpott is going to make a whole lot of readers feel seen and understood." -Dani Shapiro, author of Hourglass
"Mary Laura Philpott is the friend you call when you want to cry but need to laugh." -Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest
"I Miss You When I Blink is a delightful, thought-provoking collection of essays, written with such spark and vulnerability that I was alternately laughing out loud and gasp-sighing at its poignancy. ... -Edan Lepucki, author of California and Woman No. 17

Author Bio

Mary Laura Philpott's writing has been featured in print or online by New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, McSweeney's, Paris Review and other publications. She's the founding editor of Musing, the online magazine of Parnassus Books, as well as an Emmy-winning co-host of the literary show A Word on Words on Nashville Public Television. She lives in Nashville with her family.