PORCHFEST, FRIENDSHIP, AND OVERUSED PLOTS

LIFE OF A BOOKMAN

Bookman: 1. a person who has a love of books and especially of reading. 2. a person who is involved in the writing, publishing, or selling of books. Oh, hi that’s me!!

Love a Quartet: Especially when the first two novels take six years to read. I’m finally back into the Neapolitan novels, by Elena Ferrante. If you don’t recognize any of those words, and they sound Italian to you, it’s because they are. And because with this author, there’s some real LORE. Elena Ferrante is a ghost author, we don’t know her real identity, although there’s been plenty of attempts to doxx her. Since she started writing in 1992, she’s not given public interviews, spoken the press, or shown her face, choosing only to communicate through her long-time publishers. Which is impressive because these novels are incredible and also global successes. They follow a life-long, intense friendship between two women, who grow up in a violent neighborhood on the edge of Naples in the 50s, and through their life. Start with book 1, My Brilliant Friend, and meet me at book 2, The Story of a New Name, which is the one that I should be finished with this week! SO good.

What I’ve been writing: Some 11/11 journaling today!!!! I know all of the internet was up in the vibes of this 11/11, but honestly I felt it. I’ve been seeing 11:11 so often that it’s like a gd meteor shower lately. I know what I’m on to, so I spent some time journaling about that, and about what’s not coming with me. Also, spent a lot of hours writing a new, personal essay, which you’ll see below!!!

WOMEN’S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history.

I Loved My Life, and Left It Anyway. This essay came pouring out of me when I sat down to write last weekend. I thought it was going to be about how we find the right surface area for success, but as I got into my writing flow, what emerged wasn’t that at all. It was way more vulnerable, way more true, than even I expected. At the heart of this essay is the uniquely intense feeling of loving your life, and wanting more. About what it takes from us to honor both of those things. About the questions that show up when we desire for more, and about who we are if we don’t try. If you like it, I invite you to leave a comment or drop a heart on the post <3 <3

The Diplomat Szn 3. I absolutely love this political thriller on Netflix starring Kerri Russell. She’s a diplomat, and her husband is also a power player (I won’t say who in case you haven’t seen the first two seasons). I’m truly in awe of Kerri Russell’s ability to bring a character to life. Her acting, paired with incredible dialogue, and a intense plot lines. I just really like this show, which stars Rufus Sewell and Allison Janney, too.

9 out of 10 Bestselling Novels in the UK center a woman being murdered. This statistic is from the summer, but the trope of a virtuous white woman who gets killed endures. This is a historical look at literary devices hiding as a trend piece, and I really loved it. Fiction is such an important way of giving us new experiences, and empathy to other walks of life, that I really don’t love how much time stories are spending on something as violent and concerning as a woman killed by someone she knows. Come on!!

You are Stuck Because You’re an Artist Who Isn’t Creating. This one will hit you where it hurts, in all the best ways. I have literally no idea how I stumbled on this essay, but it details the work of Otto Rank (a psychologist during the time of Freud) and his overlooked ideas. It actually sent me down a Rank rabbit hole, because of how close to home much of it landed for me. I don’t feel stuck at this moment, but I have felt stuck in recent moments, even though I saw the vision so clearly. What I know to be true, always, is that I feel the MOST stuck when I’m consuming more than I create.

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here’s one of mine:

The weather is damn near perfect in Savannah right now. And as my trip nears its end, I’m reflecting how fulfilling it is to be here. Like literally, my heart is so full. It’s because of the people. And because of the place. Consider this my completely not-sponsored post to get you to this gorgeous little artists town in the South East.

Saturday was Porchfest, which was 34* different bands playing on 34 different porches in one neighborhood (by my estimate via counting the map, but my counting can never be trusted. This is not an official number). Imagine the sun setting behind the large oak tress, streets all blocked off so you can walk with your glass of wine, from block to block, with your peeps. Like Halloween for music-loving adults!

I asked my gym-friend, who was one of the organizers, how it all came to be. She explained that her and close friends saw something similar in other places, and that they wanted to build something for Savannah. I looked around at the crowds of happy people jamming to music, local musicians having serious fun, kids in line at food trucks and friends gathered on lawns, and I was overwhelmed at the simplicity of creation and gratitude for creation. The things we love in life are really that simple: someone had an idea, they followed through, and we benefitted.

It reminds me of a line I once wanted to tattoo on my body, so I closed my book with it instead: you never know who you’re inspiring.

woman on xx