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Something I’m Good At, Something I’m Bad At
We have somehow defeated February — the shortest, but somehow also usually the worst, month. Slowly but surely, the days are getting longer again, and soon we’ll change the clocks and then hopefully I can resume being a functional human, after a long, extra-snowy winter. Where I’m At I’m at the beginning of a new…
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Teenage Passion Projects
I can’t stop thinking about Audra Winter. My BFF Jess was the first person who told me about her and since then I’ve watched… a few reactions. To say the least. For those who aren’t in online book spaces that have become obsessed with this, the short version is: Audra Winter is a 22-year-old indie…
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Lessons Learned from Reading Bad Books
I have read some bad books over the last few years, and I’m pretty glad I did, because I definitely got a lot out of them. Not things the writers intended, but enough to make them valuable experiences.
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On writing as play, 2024 wins, and 2025 goals
It’s that time! The one time a year I reliably send a newsletter or write a blog post, to update with what all I did last year. Here’s an archive of word counts from the last, gosh, decade. I’ve focused less on word count stats in recent years, though — I know I consistently draft…
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2023 Word Count, and 2024 Goals
Quick check in: with the demise of Tinyletter, I’ve moved my newsletter over to Buttondown. If you subscribed previously you don’t have to subscribe again, and I’m going to continue cross-posting here, too, since I think this version looks nicer than the Buttondown archives. (And if you haven’t subscribed yet: please do!) It’s February, which…
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On plotting, and not plotting, and story vibes vs story structure…
Hi friends, Recently, my best friend and writing buddy said one of the most devastatingly true things about me I’ve ever been faced with. In a discussion about starting a new project where I’m trying to be less structured in my prep (we’ll get to that), she looked me dead in the eye and said,…
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On reading, as a writer
Hello, friends! So much for my goal of sending a newsletter every month. I kept trying to think of March themes and then didn’t. You came very close to seeing a timeline of my pandemic hair situation but it felt too silly. (Both the newsletter and my pandemic hair, thankfully long since shaved off.) First…
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Getting Back on Track… Slowly: 2022 in Numbers
Hi. So. I didn’t do my word count blog entry for 2021, because it was a long crappy year and I didn’t feel like it in January and then I forgot. If you’re curious, I spent all of 2021 on a slow, painful, major revision to the project that I’ve been working on for a…
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On finishing an experiment
Hi friends, I usually try to send this newsletter on the first of the month, when I send it at all. (So… rarely.) But did you know that if you spend a month in a 50,000 word writing marathon, you’re very tired and need a few days to process?! So I’m not letting perfect be…
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On starting something new–
Hi friends, It’s October. It’s October?!?! It’s October. Gosh. I’m currently feeling optimistic about a lot of things. Not, like, the fate of the world or anything; that’s still too big and overwhelming to think about. But on a personal level. I started my new job about a year ago now, and while it does…