New year, same hell. But hey, new format!
Back in the fall, I quit writing here as much as I used to. I locked myself into a routine that was too heavy of a lift. I wanted four posts a month, all requiring lots of formatting and behind the scenes admin work. I also drank the Substack Kool-Aid and was trying to get “discovered” and get my follower count up.
If there’s one thing a person with burnout is gonna do, it’s get burned out.
When I quit my job last January, this posting routine gave me … purpose? structure? Now I’m in a newsletter prison of my own making, so I’m changing it up. I do my best when I’m truly just blogging. So back to blogging we go.
Until I get my footing, I’m going to riff off two of my faves:
Here goes!
I don’t really do traditional resolutions. And yet. I’ve had this disorienting year where I quit my stressful job and moved out of my stressful house. Now I work a couple shifts a week at a bookstore and live in the country where the most stressful thing is noticing that our neighbor’s cows are out again.
I am (Sarah Sherman HBO Special voice) 🗣️ “RELAXED!” Turns out, too relaxed. In therapy I was lamenting my inability to write or take the walks I used to love and my therapist was like, ‘You’re all Id, baby. Gotta get that Ego engaged.’1
TL;DR, I over-corrected and went full pleasure mode, so now I’ve got to gentle parent myself back to doing tasks.
I left therapy and immediately drove to a park and took a walk. Then I answered a bunch of emails, went to the grocery store and made some to-do lists. And today I’m in a coffee shop writing this newsletter. Am I flying too close to the resolution sun? Who can say? Watch this space, I guess.
What’s your take on resolutions? Sound off in the comments.
Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark
2025 National Book Award Finalist. I’m biased because I know Tiana and love truly everything she writes (hello, Sinners piece in NYT), but this is a gorgeous book of poems about divorce, divorce during the pandemic, queerness, finding yourself, finding love and so much more. (NYT gift link)
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
I sell this book all day every day and did a little bit judge it by its cover. Then Emma Copley Eisenberg wrote about how it’s a surprising nighttime book (positive) and I picked it up. Emma’s right! It’s a fun book with enough depth to keep you engaged.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (pubs 4/7/26)
Caro is the co-host of the podcast Diabolical Lies. This is her debut. It’s being mega-hyped and I regret to tell you that the hype is warranted. At work we are fighting over the ARC. Everyone who’s read it has lost their mind. Every time you think you know what’s happening, or what is going to happen, no, you don’t. This book is so smart and so good. Pre-order it now.
Wreck by Catherine Newman
Baby’s first Catherine Newman. This book is a magic trick. How does she write a whole book where truly nothing happens, and yet, it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Sandwich is on my TBR.
Dietland by Sarai Walker
Fight club for fatties (complimentary). I loved this book. Interesting how relevant a book pubbed in 2015 is now that we have an idiot in chief trying to make it illegal to be fat. If you watched the TV show, but never read the book, go back and read it.
ICYMI: Here’s what I read in October. If you ever want to look back at past months, they all live here.
Samin Nosrat on Death, Sex & Money
Wesley Morris on Rob Reiner via Cannonball
J Wortham on the new trend of performing being offline:
Love this piece Leonor shared about how to maintain deeper friendships:
Virgie Tovar’s report on GLP-1 overwhelm:
Jami Attenberg on creating a DIY at-home writing residency:
Heated Rivalry. I went in blind. Never read the books. Truly knew nothing. Now my phone is full of 3,000 NSFW screenshots and a TikTok sharing group chat that is straining the limits of my iCloud storage.
Marty Supreme. Ok, technically this isn’t streaming. Unless it is? I never know. Anyway, I saw it at the Belcourt. This movie is good as hell. If Uncut Gems was too stressful for you. You are not built for this. Enjoy Zootopia 2.
I went documentary crazy and recommend all of these: The Merchants of Joy, My Mom Jayne, Being Eddie, Sean Combs: The Reckoning and Pee-Wee as Himself.
Yes. Three times!
If you’ll recall, Stern’s ghostwriter for Private Parts is a man named Ratso. Imagine the scream I scrumpt when I sat down to watch Marty Supreme and the second name on the screen after Timothée Chalamet was Larry Sloman. Larry Sloman is Ratso!!
I saw Stern again in the reel of him interviewing Brandi Carlisle about the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to her.
And AGAIN in the HBO documentary Pee-wee as Himself. There’s a clip of Phil Hartman on The Stern Show in the documentary.
Shares, comments and hearts go a long way. If you’d like to financially support my writing, you can subscribe to the $5/mo or $50/year Substack plan. You can also “buy me a coffee” or subscribe for $2/mo here.
Note: All of the books I reference can be found in my bookshop.org storefront.
My therapist absolutely does not talk like this.
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