WORKING DOG
and other things that have improved my life this month
Here’s a roundup of the best writing and publishing-adjacent (emphasis on adjacent) resources I’ve found this past month.
Here are my favorites from 🌼 May 🌼
🌼"Can good writing and polite writing coexist? No”
If you like books with good gossip, you’ve got to read Elizabeth Kaye Cook’s essay on Boswell’s Life of Johnson and causing good trouble.
🌼 If you’ve ever found yourself saying (like me!) that you’d rather work than go to Disney World, then this piece on women, writing, and ambition might resonate with you. Favorite line: “I tell my boyfriend: I’m a working dog who is tempted to masquerade as a lap dog. But I can’t. My brain needs to run and solve and achieve or else I get depressed.”
🌼Go ahead and add this, this, and this to your plans for summer pleasure reading.
🌼 This is for dinner, though I’ll probably add some chicken or bacon to it.
🌼 A bunch of artist moms (including me!) shared their secrets about getting so much done. My secret is ruthless prioritization: I get a lot done because I don’t do many things.
🌼 Of course listening to an audiobook counts as reading — and now Famished is available at Audible. Narrated by me! Add it to your queue.
🌼 How do you know what the market will hold? Well, you could just talk to people. As Cassie Mannes Murray says, “start chatting it up with strangers again. Conversations with real people will remind you what real people desire, and even read.”
Thanks for reading this roundup! Tell me in the comments — what’s the best writing/publishing-adjacent resource you’ve found this month?
New posts are always free; but after a month, all of this actionable advice moves behind a paywall. Some of the content behind the paywall include:
— The exact pitches that landed bylines at HuffPost, Newsweek, NBC News, Slate, Salon, and more.
- The Tiny Love Story prompts that led to publication in The New York Times.
— Backstory about how I positioned myself for interviews in outlets like The Atlantic (with my name and website in the first line of a widely shared essay).
Please consider supporting me and this work by upgrading. I appreciate you being here very much!
Thanks for the link to the getting things done article!
Love your advice in that article! That’s in line with my advice to keep a to don’t list. I do everything I do because I refuse to do things that don’t align with my values, goals, or I don’t enjoy. I say no to a lot of opportunities at this point in my career.