I am TRYING to get BETTER

Dear Readers,

One thing I have been solidly committed to, period, as a writer is GETTING BETTER. I have been writing books since I was a child (no they were not good then) and I can feel myself slowly leveling up. I remember when I first had the idea for We Used to Be Friends that I knew I did not yet have the skillset to write a novel with two different timelines and POVs, so I waited until — well, was I ready? I was ready to be challenged by it, at least, and I was ultimately thrilled with the result.

In the last years I’ve been thinking a lot about prose. I worked very hard on a (now-abandoned) project where I wanted every line to sing or sting or resonate somewhere deep down like the last puzzle piece snapping into place. I know a lot of people who write lit fic and talk about good sentences. I want to write good sentences! I want my words to do more than the basic tasks. I want the thing on the page to be as good as the thing in my head.

So I have been working at this specifically. I felt very good about the manuscript of In Her Spotlight, and also about the mysterious next book I hope to share more about with you soon! It’s made me think about the various ways I’ve tried to do more each time, whether it’s a timeline or subplot that requires research or symbolism or whatever else calls to me to tackle. Or try to tackle!

To be clear, this isn’t because someone is asking it of me. I love discovering what I’m curious about exploring, the parts of craft that excite me, the changes from whatever happened last I’m looking to make. I’m grateful I tend to write fairly quickly and to rarely suffer from a lack of ideas. The work of focusing on something to put my leveling-up effort into is not always fun but I find it worthwhile.

I was thinking about this in general (and also because my editor said some very kind things about my next book that made me feel like oh right working hard sometimes pays off), but then I thought about how leveling up is something AI cannot give us, as it’s actually a leveling out of what’s already there. I know I am preaching to the choir here but when I think about “writers” talking about how they are doing writing the better way (yeah I am still apparently salty about that NYT story awhile back) this is one of the myriad ways AI cannot do what we’re doing. It’s not even that what I am doing is that special; it is not. I think almost any writer you talk to is working hard on their craft, figuring out what they haven’t yet done that they are excited to tackle, or something they currently do adequately that they would like to do exquisitely. (I’m not sure I’ve ever done anything exquisitely in my life but it’s good to have goals.)

The human side of art is very important to me, and in the age of legacy media giving voice to those who think they’ve bested it, I only want to dig in more and more.

xoxoAmy

After I rewatched The Pitt, HBO Max was like, do you want to watch ER now? And I was like… sure. It has been awhile since I’ve watched it, but for some reason that decade-old rewatch has vanished in my mind and it’s like I haven’t seen this show since the Nineties. It is a perfect rewatch. It is mind-boggling how many episodes network dramas once had.

How on earth does, in the year 2026, Team Dresch have a new song out? How do I have tickets to see them and then, one night later, Heavens to Betsy? Nostalgia culture is coming for me, and I’m APPRECIATING IT.

I have made this homemade granola from Food 52 for years, and it is so delicious AND EASY. I throw it on top of my yogurt every morning which makes the whole thing less boring. Making your own granola sounds beyond fussy but I promise this is easy and then you have a big tub to use for awhile.

I have really entered a tinned fish era. It’s been building for a bit, but something about the heat and my schedule for the last month or so means that nothing is better than coming home, popping open a can of seafood, arguing with my cats that it’s not theirs, and eating it with whatever I throw in from the fridge. Long live the tinned fish fad, tinned fish is me. We are all tinned fish.

I know, I know. I always talk about In Her Spotlight. But I want to! Because I love it and I hope you read it!!!

In fact, I recommend THE ENTIRETY of the Out in Hollywood series! It’s true!

More Info about Out in Hollywood

you’re WHAT? tinnnnnnnned fish rusted