7 slightly silly lists.

I’ve been all over the place lately, both emotionally and physically.

Physically: Missouri for Unbound Book Festival. Chicago for a four-hour layover (this counts, OK?). New York City for The Author’s Guild Gala. Clifton Park, NY for a Liz Moore book talk and signing. Planes, trains, automobiles. Trying to squeeze in writing where I can.

Emotionally: I have officially reached the end of almost three straight months of events for Little One, and two straight months of intense drafting as I work on Book 3. This week, I have been swinging between joyous moments of obsessive passion for Blue House and complete creative bankruptcy, a terrible mood, insecurity/jealousy, etc. etc.

Having said that, I was not about to give you an essay this week that was of any great value. Instead, I bring you this silly set of lists that no one asked for and, in turn, a peek inside my head this week…

• Junonia

• Sphaerocypraea incomparabilis

• Sea heart

• Brown-banded wentletrap

• Hamburger sea bean

For Blue House, I am doing some research on shells. I have learned a lot, but primarily that I knew absolutely nothing about shells before this week. Like, nothing. Nada. Before this week, I apparently did not even know how shells were formed. I would explain it here, but I am a little bit concerned that maybe everyone on earth has known about this already and I maybe just tuned out for the entirety of my science classes for perhaps 18 years or so.

More importantly: I have also learned that shells have extremely badass names. Did you know, for example, that one of the most rare, beloved shells is called a junonia? The shell is gorgeous, and so is that word. Just say it. Junonia*. Also: Hamburger sea bean. Are you kidding me? Fantastic.

*It’s also the name of a genus of butterflies. Science camp, here I come…

• Louis

• Louis

• Louis

They are all purple finches that live around our house and all named Louis, because I cannot tell them apart. Earlier this week, they started taking turns in the bush outside one of our windows, landing on a branch and them launching themselves into the window incessantly, pecking at the glass.

Naturally, I looked up why they would do such a thing and learned that during spring mating season, male finches often try to attack their own reflection, interpreting it as an enemy. There is a metaphor in there somewhere for toxic masculinity, I think, but for now I’ll just tell you that when Louis is not driving me insane, they are really making me laugh (they’re not hurting themselves, don’t worry; they’re just dumb).

READ THE FULL CUP OF JO INTERVIEW + SEE ALL THE PHOTOS/OUTFITS!

• I didn’t buy a single new item. Not one! Every single thing I wore was something I had owned for years and worn multiple times. This felt like such a win for me, someone who used to buy a new outfit for any and every occasion.

• The photos of me in my office. I had a bit of panic after the photoshoot that I would look frumpy (whatever that means) in this outfit, but instead I looked at the images and I felt like: There she is!!! That’s me!! I love her!! The button-down is thrifted. The jeans are old. The slippers have been worn thousands of times. The socks have holes in the toes. But I look comfortable and at ease and so happy to be in my office with a coffee in my hand, and it feels so true to who I am and what I love about my life that it just makes me smile so big.

• I got to talk about Bright Star, which in a weird way was one of the first pieces of media that made me fall so deeply in love with color and texture and beauty. Also: Someone in the comments said they were also obsessed with it! My people!!!

• “Over My Head” by The Fray (honorable mention: “Look After You”)

• “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” by The Killers

• “Breathe (2AM)” by Anna Nalick.

On any given sunny weekday around 3:30 p.m., you can find me making the 20-minute round trip drive to my local gas station for an afternoon treat, blasting music and singing very loudly.

This week, thanks to Blue House, I was stuck in the early 2000s, and specifically The Fray. Did you know that the lead singer quit the band to focus on his mental health and now lives on an island off the coast of Washington and owns a small record store? I keep thinking of what it must be like to have so many hit songs, struggle to repeat an impossible level of one-hit-wonder-ness (though they had a handful of them) for years, and then just, poof… disappear.

Anyway, speaking of the aughts…