Thanks to the legions of literary caregivers who help get this book into the world: @fsgbooks @GoldinAgency

✨ AGTOWL receives a Kirkus Star! ✨ A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving received a starred review from Kirkus! Out August 11, the memoir is the hardest & best thing I’ve ever made, so the honor touches me deeply. kirkusreviews.com/book-revie…

COVER REVEAL! 🌊 A GUIDE TO OPEN WATER LIFESAVING is a spirited, wise, often hilarious, profoundly moving story of one woman's efforts to survive caregiving, trauma, love, and the systems seemingly set up to fail us. Available on Aug 11, 2026. bit.ly/4hAFUJb @fsgbooks

4/4: It is esp crucial to support rural stations, as they often provide communities with their only local news and life-saving weather and emergency alerts (mine are @ncpr and @KASUradio). ruralpublic.org/ Please, if you're able, help now. adoptastation.org/

3/4: It's the model I've tried to live up to ever since. I see lots of quotes of @TimothySnyder's first rule of defeating tyranny ("Don't obey in advance."), fewer of the second ("Defend institutions.") Public media in the United States is an institution worth defending.

2/4: Watching college students and community members rise to the occasion, sleep on studio couches, caravan down to LA to cover the aftermath firsthand, and getting information out to a community hungry for factual, accurate, humane stories made an indelible impression on me.

1/4: I got my start in public media. I still remember when the Rodney King verdict came down my first year @kzsc. We had a remarkably good public affairs department.

Also, read everything @mcgowankat has written for NPR on caregiving!

"In the early 20th century, disabled and older people who needed help were relegated to almshouses, which were public institutions of last resort." No matter what I write about, I always end up back at poorhouses.

Excited to see this new film... "Caregivers are on their own--and...spend an average of $7,242 out of pocket each year. According to a recent DoL report, they also miss out on an average of $43,500 in income due to the demands of adult care." npr.org/2025/06/20/nx-s1-543…

Thanks, @maestro_laycon !! I do think the book still has thing to say in this moment. ; )

I'm at the stage of editing this draft where I have to think deeply about things like: Is it Jell-o? Jell-O? JELL-O? #amwriting

Finally made the move to Instagram. Follow me over there if you'd like to know more about new writing and adventures in wilderness survival. instagram.com/virginiaeeuban…