From 2021 to 2022 — Malinda Lo

Malinda Lo holding her book Last Night at the Telegraph Club and the trophy for winning the National Book Award in Young People's Literature. — Inarguably the highest highlight of my year: Here I am holding my novel *Last Night at the Telegraph Club*, featuring the gold National Book Award sticker, and the actual National Book Award trophy for Young People’s Literature.

Every year I do an annual review in which I look back on what I did and look forward to what I hope to do in the year to come. I just reread my post from last year, and wow, it seems like it happened a century ago. So much has happened since then, and so much of it was at extremes. I had an incredibly good year professionally, but personally we had some difficult times, including a death in our family that we’re still grieving. This last year was a challenge, to be sure.

Looking back, I started 2021 with three main goals: finishing my work in progress, writing a short story for an anthology, and starting my new novel. I accomplished two out of the three.

I did finish my work in progress; that’s my next novel, A Scatter of Light, which will be published in fall 2022. To be honest, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this novel, and I know they’re wrapped up in the way this novel came into being, combined with the knowledge that people who read it expecting it to be like Last Night at the Telegraph Club will be disappointed. At the same time, A Scatter of Light was necessary for me. I had to write it to move forward in my creative life, and it’s probably one of the most important books I’ve ever written—for me. So, uh, fingers crossed?

I also did write a fairy tale retelling. The story is a retelling of “Frau Trude,” and it will be in Dahlia Adler’s next anthology, At Midnight, which comes out Nov. 22, 2022. It’s an odd little story that I used as an excuse to read lots of stuff about Salem and witchcraft in the seventeenth century. You can preorder At Midnight here.

I did not, however, start my next novel, although I thought a lot about what it might be. The funny thing about success, which Last Night at the Telegraph Club certainly has been, is that it takes up a lot of time. I did 29 public events (online) last year, plus several more private ones for schools, book clubs, and my publisher. Since the National Book Award, my in box has been a continuing stream of invitations, publicity stuff, back-end publishing details, and scheduling of all these things.

I realize that by winning the National Book Award, I’ve been granted A Moment. During this Moment, which could end at any time, I have some opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Now I’m trying to figure out which opportunities are beneficial and which would derail me from my creative goals.

So that’s why I haven’t decided what I’m going to write next. Success + Moment = Hesitation. Or, maybe hesitation isn’t quite right. Maybe I mean I want to take my time to fully consider what my creative goals are and which novel idea would best serve them. Because I have several novel ideas, but only limited time on this earth.

Anyway, that’s my goal for 2022: figure out what to write next.

My other goals are the same as they were for last year: take care of myself, mentally and physically. I also want to go on a vacation and eat some good food and see old friends and visit my family, whom I haven’t seen in over two years. Fingers crossed, right?

Sometimes I do still pause in my day and think to myself: my god, I won the National Book Award. What?! It’s still astonishing to me. I hope I’ll always remember that sense of surprise and joy.

And now, some lists…

Things Published in 2021

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
- Jan. 19, 2021 — Dutton hardcover and ebook in the US; Hodder ebook in the UK
- March 18, 2021 — Hodder paperback in the UK
- Dec. 28, 2021 — Dutton paperback in the US
“Girls Just Want To Have Fun” in Fools in Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales edited by Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos — Dec. 7, 2021 (Running Press)
Notes From the Telegraph Club — A series of seven posts about the historical research and context behind Last Night at the Telegraph Club