Sometimes, all we need is that one thing
10 things so lit for your week
Hello February Valentines,
Can we live on red hearts and cut-out sugar cookies a little longer?
Here are ten things I’ve recently enjoyed and hope you do, too…
"I think readers are interested in technical details of a world they don’t know very well…” Doctor at Stanford by day, author by night, Abraham Verghese speaks to verisimilitude (“the appearance of being true or real”). Isn’t verisimilitude a GREAT WORD? Try using it today.
What can the First Lines of the last 30 Newbery Award Winners tell us? WE WANT TO KNOW.
We don’t need to excel at everything. Sometimes, all we need is that one thing. Here’s
on Eminem’s notes and song writing process (and his early love of the dictionary). A reminder: Getting really good at something requires a relentless focus ON THAT ONE THING.“Your dead people are always here, always watching (note to self: stop picking your nose, Aaron really hated it!). The ones you love still love you. Are always sending you little signs and messages that you are loved. You are — believe it or not — going to be okay.” Hello from the Other Side
“What I do know is that those voices are paralyzing, and if we listen to them, we’re likely not to write anything at all. And that’s not a good outcome.” Written weeks ago, I’m still thinking about this terrific read by
and how I contort myself and my writing to avoid even potential criticism…“I am fascinated by the way ideas change society, and I am especially interested in the gap between what people believe and what is actually happening in the real world.”
interviews President Biden. Why does he have such faith in the American people?My husband (Coach Carr) and youngest daughter (Gretchen Wieners) were in Mean Girls this past weekend. Have you ever been in a musical with YOUR DAD? Mean Girls is brilliant satire, but features some of the worst of teenage culture, ugh. Regardless, loved seeing them on stage together.
dang, he’s no longer wearing those short shorts 8. WOW writing. In Tuck Everlasting, the author Natalie Babbitt wrote:
“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.”
Is it possible to forgive and reconnect with an old friend? “Even hearing her name back in the day put a pit in my stomach and made me ashamed, angry, regretful, and sad because ultimately, I really missed her.” This is the most downloaded episode from
‘s friendship podcast, AND…I had totally forgotten I had recorded myself reading a reader dilemma. You’ll find it at the end. My voice doesn’t sound like I think my voice sounds like. Weird.
“It took 1200 chocolate chip cookies to perfect our new recipe of the year.” I made the King Arthur Recipe of the Year: Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are chilling in the fridge as I write this (b/c you have to WAIT to bake). Are they really THE BEST chocolate chipe cookie ever? I’ll let you know!
Amy 💜
