While I wait for my next round of book edits (a new non-fiction book! coming May 2027! get ye ready!), I’ve dusted off my novel and am plugging away. This is a story that slammed into my brain in December 2014—I know exactly where I was: at Brooke McAlary’s dining room table just outside Sydney, Australia where we were housesitting on our big trip while they were in Canada. I was sitting in a white chair; the kids were jumping on a trampoline out back. Kyle made one unremarkable comment, yet it was just enough to force this story into my noggin and not let me go for a decade-plus now. And there it still remains.
(…In the meantime, non-fiction helps pay the bills. Ahem.)
In my experience, here’s my process of novel-writing thus far:
Ooh! What a good idea. Let me write that down before I forget it.
Oh yes, this is good.
[The next morning, re-reading it] Oh my gosh. This is crap.
I’m such an imposter. Why did I ever think I could write?
[Let too much time go by]
That idea I had? It was actually kinda good. Let’s read it again.
Oh wait, this is sorta good after all. Let’s keep going.
[Re-writes everything]
[Decides the tense needs to change; edit all verbs. Or, decides there are too many weird adjectives disguised as adverbs, still doing more work when a good noun will do; edit all nouns.]
Repeat steps 3-6.
_07_mano_che_disegna_su_un_album.jpg){kind=link}
5 Quick Things ☕️
1. A new episode of Drink! In this one I’m chatting with the lovely Dixie Dillon Lane about orphan stories (and why kids love them so much), how childhood in America has changed over the decades, her experience free-ranging a European city as a young adolescent, and a favorite new hobby (and why we adults need to remember how to be beginners). It was a delightful chat! (…We’ll get there on the video quality, pinky-swear; in the meantime, most of you are audio-only podcast listeners anyway, as the good Lord intended.)
2. Yes and amen to Cecilia Blackwell’s defense of Halloween and why we need to celebrate it: “If we refrain from celebrating Halloween because we are afraid of what modern pagans have done to our holiday, then we’re abandoning an essential element of the Hallowtide triduum to the wolves.”
3. Everyone’s doing their ‘nine books that I’ll never forget,’ and normally I hesitate doing flash-viral trends like this—but here’s mine anyway. I hesitate because I know I’ll forget something (sure enough: Flannery O’Connor!), but hey, this isn’t one’s all-time top nine. This is just nine good books. I could easily make nine more of these grids.
4. From Hearth & Field (related: my conversation with Dixie, above), as someone married to a beer connoisseur, I appreciated this take on brewing beer as a means of building culture: “Beer has returned to its rightful place as a locally produced commodity that can, when consumed properly, unite people in conversation and fellowship. Beer cannot save culture on its own, to say the least. It does, however, provide a poignant image of how to return to a productive and festive culture. Putting beer in perspective as a work of culture, integrated within a sacramental view of life, makes it a fitting image for renewal.”
5. And finally, a collected home has evidence. (I, too, have this chair; it was originally $10 from the thrift shop and is now recovered in a beautiful green and my all-time favorite.)
Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📖
The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans (on audiobook, which I highly recommend)1
Quotable 💬
“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
- Mark Twain
What’s your favorite thing about autumn? 🍁
For the umpteenth year in a row, fallen leaves and their beautiful colors wins autumn again. My answer depends on the day, and since most leaves here barely turn a yellowy-orange before they plummet to the ground crispy and brown, I’ll go with the outdoor activities. I love me some camping, backyard bonfires, pumpkin patches, and walks while wearing more than shorts and satisfyingly crunching on said dead leaves.
Leaves changing colors: 47.5%
Holidays + traditions: 19.3%
Food + drink: 16.3%
Outdoor activities: 14.7%
Sportsball: 2.2%
Find the next poll question here.
Summer 2027: The Tuscan Region of Italy 🍝
One excursion from next summer’s pilgrimage itinerary: Siena’s Cathedral (it’s even more stunning in person…)—come join us!
Quick Links 🔗
Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔
What smell immediately takes you to somewhere from your past?2
Have a good weekend,
- Tsh
p.s. - Truly terrifying.
I finished this book this morning, and it’s been a long time since a story’s ending made me cry… this one did. Oh my goodness, what a delightful book. Highly recommend; grateful for the many of you who did. I read a few of the negative reviews, and while I’m also normally not a fan of the epistolary format, for some reason this one hit differently. (Also, I really am horrible at correspondence, even via email. Maybe this book will kick me in the pants? Doubtful, but still. I want to be better at it.)
I ask this as my beloved coffee shop currently smells bizarrely like my grandparents’ home from my childhood…
I loved The Correspondent as well! 🥰