Keep Calm & Carrie On @snapshea23 - Tumblr Blog

Congrats to my friend David Levithan on the publication TODAY of the musical novel follow-up to our novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Hold Me Closer is Tiny Cooper’s musical itself in all its magnificence. I’m so grateful to David for bringing this to life and hope WGWG fans enjoy it as much as I did.

Go to your local independent bookstore or order it here!

meldee

In celebration of the Paper Towns trailer release rapidly approaching, I made a few doodles to go along with the book, written by fishingboatproceeds.

((also I know the last quote is wrong, I realized there wouldn’t be enough space but felt too lazy to redo it because I’m a loser))

gravityofstars

The moment foreshadowed by The Fault in Our Stars has finally come to life.

edwardspoonhands

YES! THIS IS AMAZING!

fishingboatproceeds

is this the real John Green or is this fake....?

Well, there are a lot of people named John Green, but assuming you mean the one who has made some YA books and educational YouTube videos: I am both.

I mean, it is the real me, in the sense that I am in my basement typing this sitting in the very same chair in which I wrote much of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns and a couple chapters of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. It’s a black leather chair with an ottoman, and the nicest piece of furniture we own. And like I am definitely the same physical creature and everything who is that other John Green who made the stuff that you liked or didn’t like while sitting in this same chair.

But I am also not that person, because of course I must be restrained and thoughtful in all kinds of ways that I wouldn’t be if I weren’t conscious of having to be this, as you call it, “real John Green.” I’m very lucky to have an audience that will care about what I say, but that also means trying to wait until I actually know what I think before I say anything, because it’s very difficult to change your mind in public online, because everyone can forever access what you used to think and argue that you must still think it.

So like you’re right about it being fake insofar as it is certainly constructed: There are parts of my life I don’t share on the Internet, but isn’t that true for most people’s online expression? It’s always a measured and kind of performed self, you know?

Like, you want to blog about the stuff you’re passionate about, but you want to do so in a way that will make other people who are passionate about the same stuff like and respect you. Do I want Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health to like my videos about poverty and health? YES, and I’m sure there’s a bit of fakery involved in trying to win her heart.

So in the end it isn’t quite the “real” me who I am in my private moments alone with my computer or a book or whatever, because then I am not thinking about to perform my self; I’m thinking about what I’m reading or listening to, and in doing so being my self.

I guess the answer to your question is that I am really doing my best to be myself, but that there are facets of my self that I don’t want to be publicly, and I hope that’s okay.

I thought all of this would go away in middle school, and maybe it should’ve, but for me it hasn’t.

Also, it occurs to me that I may have slightly overanswered your question.