how did she survive? she laughed and she read...and made friends

10 Things So Lit (with Kate DiCamillo!) + the pomegranate (!)

Hello my friends,

Here are ten things so lit (erary-ish) that are worth sharing with my favorite Substack peeps:

1. “Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise, so that the attention neither flags nor wavers, but settles with bull-dog tenacity on the subject before you. Constant repetition makes a good habit fit easily in your mind, and by the end of the session you may have gained that most precious of all knowledge—the power of work.” — Sir William Osler from Caroline Starr Rose

2. This interview by the ineffable Kate DiCamillo¹ was so good and life-changing-life-affirming that I not only listened, but read the transcript and wrote down a dozen quotes. Kate always boils it down to this: LOVE. Thank you for sending, Ethney!

3. “We have been given the sacred task of making hearts large through story. We are working to make hearts that are capable of containing much joy and much sorrow, hearts capacious² enough to contain the complexities and mysteries…of ourselves and of each other.” -Kate DiCamillo, in her 2nd Newbery speech

4. Kate was a sickly child. How did she survive? This is what she said:

   

   using my new pentel brush pen - it’s hard! and fun.

5. The four things we need to say before we die…

   

6. Thank you

   Rahul Nair
   for reminding me of this quote!

   

7. I’ve discovered the artist Maira Kalman. I recently purchased THE PRINCIPLES OF UNCERTAINTY and am…obsessed. I love her whimsical work (mostly gouache and ink?)

   

   I mean, look at this

8. “Can you remake your life,” author and lawyer Scott Turow said, “when you have a sense of your own mistakes and your own role in your prior unhappiness?” I’m a big Scott Turow fan. His book, PRESUMED INNOCENT, was a mega hit in 1987 - I’ll never forget the SHOCKING ending. He made me want to write fiction (when I had little talent for it, really). Many years ago I wrote Turow an email to tell him how much I loved his book and he wrote me back! PRESUMED GUILTY (the third book in a trilogy) is on my bedside table - EXCITED. Btw, Turow is 75-years-old and still writing. What are you waiting for?!?

9. I WANT TO MAKE THIS cutest phone hotel

10. These Luddite Teens Don’t Want Your Likes. When the only thing better than a flip phone is no phone at all. I just love this.

Amy 💖

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the very special pomegranate

my daughter, Cope, is 17 weeks this week! and we love pomegranates.

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The Last Part:

School visits: I had a great visit to a middle school in Bedford, New Hampshire yesterday for their Literacy Day. I love school visits! Be in touch.

Running: It’s FREEZING here. Thus, the reign of the treadmill continues. I’m adjusting.

Reading: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Midwives, murder, historical fiction. It’s great.

Wearing: It’s still so cold that I can’t seem to get out of my sweatpants. I even went to dinner at an actual restaurant wearing fuschia color sweatpants…and I didn’t even care.

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The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

1. INEFFABLE: incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable. ineffable joy. Let’s use this word this week!

2. CAPACIOUS: adjective. capable of holding much; spacious or roomy. Reading, stories…can make our hearts bigger, roomier. Capable of holding more for each other.