5 Quick Things #245 🧨

loving imperfect things, better relationships, telling timeless stories, & a fish in the road

Hi there,

It was a relatively quiet house this past week as two out of three kids were off at summer camp. The remaining teen, who isn't a fan of the rah-rah sensory overload found at these sorts of things, enjoyed a chill week as we watched documentaries (his favorite), ordered Thai food from down the street (also his favorite), savored some extra Minecraft time, and went kayaking down the river that hugs our neighborhood.

As for me—except for meeting a small magazine article deadline, this week I plucked backyard tomatoes, read, and immersed myself in the summer project of writing my novel. I still have a long way to go, but it feels good to fully dig into this writing project! Some days the story overwhelms me, with all the bends and curves it wants to take, but once I submerge myself into the scene, I'm there and I can hear the sounds of the bakery or the rattle of the train.

A Friendly Bakery, by An Ting Shi (est. 2017) #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. 🎧 New episode of A Drink With a Friend! 🎧 I talk to my dear friend Sarah Mackenzie about what makes good stories (especially for our kids). She's got a HUGE new project in the works: not only a new children's book, but a new publishing house! When it's hard to publish new classics that tell timeless truths, you gotta start the company yourself. Why do we need more stories that tell us things that were as true a thousand years ago as they are today?

2.  I love how my friend Claire Swinarski says the quiet parts out loud, and so often I find myself nodding in agreement with her words, thinking, “Ah yes, that’s what I think but couldn’t pinpoint.” She’s done it again, this time about what it means to love our imperfect country.

3. A good annual tradition for our upcoming holiday: Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? speech, read by his descendants. (Related: Douglass was profoundly influenced by the classics, and I’ve learned so much from Dr. Anika Prather about why they’re still so essential to read, especially today.)

4. “Taking a hard look at my digital habits and making the decision to take an intentional step back for now not only helps me love the people in my home and in my local community more, but it’s also helped me grow in intentionality with the women I connect with digitally”: five relationships that changed once I deleted social media.

5. And finally, I really needed to hear this. Maybe you do, too.

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📻

• The Hole & Corner, my playlist in the works as I write my novel

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Quotable 💬

“The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.”

— David Foster Wallace #

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The Best Season 🤔

You guys love your milder seasons because you’re smart. …Poor winter, but I can’t say I disagree. In my experience, I find my favorite depends on two things: when you’re asking and where I am. An Oregon summer is like a Texas spring, and if I’m in the throes of July down south, there’s no way that would ever be my favorite. Ask me in March when I’m in the Pacific Northwest, though.

Find this week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• Create your own Rule of Life

• Subscribe to A Drink With a Friend

• Travel with me + Seth & Amber Haines to Tuscany, Italy: July 23-August 2

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What’s one reason you love where you live?

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Have a great weekend,

Tsh

p.s. Strangely accurate.

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