Happy Friday! This edition of MONTHLY/FIX contains a grandiose list of the things that have been taking up real estate in my mind recently. Inside: my controversial book opinions, why I can’t stand the third season of Euphoria, an exclusive author interview coming next week, and much more. Enjoy!
THE MAIDENHEADS by Benny B. Peterson - I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of Benny’s debut novel, and I interviewed them about it! Look out for that next Tuesday, May 26, the day of the book’s official release. Until then, you can preorder here.
For fans of: the early 2000s DC music scene, messy sapphic relationships, obsession, and gender confusion.
YESTERYEAR by Caro C. Burke - okay, so, I read it (of course I read it). This book was the perfect book for our current social media zeitgeist; Anne Hathaway bought the film rights to it before it even published, and I get why. The concept is flashy—a tradwife influencer is thrust into the 1850s—but for me, although I enjoyed the plot, the book left a little to be desired in terms of actual 1850s life (I understand why, but still). I have since read an interview with Burke who said she wrote the manuscript in six months and stopped researching once she started writing….girl, WHAT?! As someone who has done over 25 hours of interviews during my own novel writing process, that one hurts a little bit.
For fans of: hate-watching Ballerina Farm & Nara Smith. Not for fans of: well-researched historical fiction.
& on that note, I also enjoyed this essay on the topic by Leigh Stein.
I just started reading TERRY DACTYL by Mattilda B. Sycamore and STAG DANCE by (newly Pulitzer Prize finalist!) Torrey Peters because both authors will be at the McCormack Summer Workshop with me this July. I’m loving both for their unabashed weirdness and the way they push literary boundaries—TERRY DACTYL features a lack of punctuation and a first sentence that’s half a page long, and STAG DANCE is a quartet of genre-bending stories. Both books are by trans-femme authors and feature trans-femme protagonists, so it’s been fun reading them in conversation with one another.
For fans of: gender-expansive characters, unexpected turns-of-phrase, outside-the-box storytelling.
When my brain is too fried to write or read, I’ve been watching Hacks, and I especially loved the latest episode where Deborah cons Ava into spending a weekend pretending to be her lesbian lover. It was hilarious, probably my favorite episode.
I tried watching Euphoria, but like many people I’ve heard from, I can’t really get into it. Is it because Labrynth had a fight with Sam Levinson so the music sucks? Did I only like the first two seasons so much because of the music? Much to consider.
I’m listening to playlists MADE BY HUMANS, NOT AI. OH MY GOD SPOTIFY STOP GIVING ME AI GENERATED PLAYLISTS! I DON’T WANT THEM!!!!!
Some current favorites:
Hyperfixation: being good at my job?
ICYMI, I have a full time job now. not sure how I feel about this after making being an unemployed author my personality for the last year-plus, but I do know I am enjoying a full-time salary. Like, what do you mean I get health insurance and paid every two weeks? Anyway, my current hyperfixation here is just trying to be good at my job—I’m the senior editor of a magazine, so I have a loooot of plates spinning at all times now. tbh, I am loving the challenge so far.
Hyperfixation: game-ifying my novel writing
I have between 45 minutes to an hour and a half per day spent on buses now for my commute to and from work. I’ve decided that means I have up to an hour and a half of novel-writing time. I recently discovered that you can use Scrivener on your phone and have it sync to the program on your computer, so I have been chipping away at my novel that way. Each day I try to see how many words I can get on the metro.
I still can’t stop thinking about my week at Wildacres, and yes I’m a broken record, and no I won’t stop talking about it!!
Turns out ghost stories can be a whole lot more than just making shit up to scare kids. I had sooo much fun interviewing Ariane about why she loves ghosts and ghost stories so much—so much that she’s writing her own gothic horror book!
Inching closer to 30…shit’s getting real.
That’s my current stack of fixations: nothing earth-shattering, but enough to keep my brain humming.
And now, I’m curious: what are your hyperfixations this month? They can be big (a life project, a new city, a relationship) or tiny (a specific pen, a salad combo, an old song you’ve had on repeat). I’m especially curious about the ones you’re a little embarrassed to admit.
As always, thanks for letting me be weirdly earnest and HYPER/FIXATED.
BYE!
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