The Witty-est news in your inbox

Hi there, friends, family, Twitter stalkers, former colleagues from twenty years ago whose email addresses I tracked down. Welcome to my newsletter.

Don’t worry- I won’t be coming to you very often. A few times a year, probably. You’re busy, I’m busy. If you’re desperate for more of me, first, I love you, and second, find me on Twitter or Instagram. Better yet, find me in person.

The goal of this newsletter is to keep you up to date about my writing, aka get you off my back with all your “so, how’s the novel coming?” questions. Just kidding. Sort of. Also to share books I’ve enjoyed and random things I think are cool. Let’s give it a whirl, shall we?

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Recent Publications

I’ve had a few pieces published recently (not my novel, yet… more about that below). I wrote an essay about my favorite productivity hack, useful when I need to knock out a bit of writing, or really, any time I need to focus and accomplish a task. Have a go.

I also wrote this micro-fiction, loosely inspired by my daughter’s handstands, as well as this satire, my ode to our quick-fix culture. You can always find links to my published writing on my website.

Art by Lesley C. Weston

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Reading Nook

I read a lot and adore giving out book recommendations. My favorite nonfiction books, so far this year, are:

• Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott (embedded journalism, following a homeless family in New York over several years; difficult and heartbreaking)- just selected for the Pulitzer Prize!

• These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (personal essays, so heartfelt and lovely, would make a great belated mother’s day gift)

Favorite novels I’ve read so far in 2022 are:

• Fight Night by Miriam Toews (child narrator lives with her actress mother and ailing grandmother; hilarious and voicey)

• White Oleander by Janet Fitch (yes, published 20+ years ago, but sometimes it takes a girl a while… a fantastic mother/daughter character study set in L.A.)

In case you missed it, here’s my list of my favorite reads from 2021.

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Other Fun Links

Here are three things I’m recommending.

1. Listen – we recently hosted our first dinner party since pre-pandemic, and when Graham asked what music we should play, this was the first song that came to mind. It reminds me of our year in Uruguay, pre-kids and pre-marriage. It’s an optimistic song, with a hook that’s impossible to resist.

2. Read – my sister-in-law Jeanie wrote this beautiful personal essay about growing up in New Orleans during an era of climate change.

3. Learn – do you know what the process of printing a book looks like? I didn’t either, until the Times published this multimedia feature.

So what about that novel those novels?

I wrote my first novel, tried to find an agent (no luck), and have shelved it for the time being. I hear it can be useful to have a “trunk novel,” even if nobody has trunks anymore. I hope to publish it one day, but for now, I’m fully focused on novel #2.

Specifically, I’m on the brink of finishing revisions to my second novel, an upmarket book about two adult sisters who take revenge on a man who assaulted the younger. I’ll be querying literary agents— the necessary next step to finding a traditional publisher— very soon. Have any friends or contacts in the industry? Let me know. In any case, once I have news, you, dear reader, will be (among) the first to hear of it.

Thanks for reading this inaugural newsletter. Questions, comments, shade, kudos? Let me know.