WEALTH, MUSCLES, AND THOSE 5 WORDS

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!!

Pulitzer: Trust by Hernan Diaz is the first Pulitzer Prize winning book I've actually wanted to read (I've started plenty in the last decade and never finished them...) This novel is as interesting in story as it is in form – there's four interlocking texts that all tell a version of tale about a Wall Street tycoon in the early 20th Century New York. It's a sharp critique of the accumulation of wealth surrounding the 1929 stock market crash.You won't get through this book with out hard reflection about today: How much is too much? What are we all striving for and why? What are the ingredients of a good life? I haven't finished, but next week I'll have my full review ready!

What I'm writing: Why do I have big ideas that I start and never finish? That was the question I fielded for this week's edition of Maxiemize (my new advice column ambitious creatives). It turns out 90% of us never complete the goals we set, so this was a little wisdom for getting into that 10%.

WOMEN’S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history.

The Runaway Tradwives of TikTok documents what happens when women help each other escape the “traditional wife” lifestyle and the underground network they create to liberate themselves from financial dependence and isolation. My mind is still like woah.

Big shoulders are in. F* ya they are!! If ever there was a time women needed to be as physically strong as we are spiritually, it's right now. This was a great piece articulating how women's muscular bodies aren't just aesthetic choices but powerful acts of resistance against restrictive gender norms that tell us to take up less space...or else we're ugly and undesirable.

How to make a career pivot in this job market, that's the gold behind my friend Lauren McGoodwin's post. Read this if you're job searching, and I love the pro-tip at the bottom for how to prompt AI to match your resume against the job listing.

And then def read this if you're negotiating your comp anytime soon…

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine:

I got to see my former-librarian aunt over the weekend (a joy!!). She came into my room while I was nursing a heating pad on my stomach to tell me something.

Now, you must know this is the Aunt who has read every book under the sun. The one who used to copy-edit our family Christmas letters. The 7th grade English teacher every kid deserves.

“I have absolutely no idea why publishers passed on Daisy,” she said. “You wrote a damn good book, I couldn't put it down.”

I cried, immediately. I'm crying, typing this. It was all I could do to nod in agreement. We were both teary eyed, her with pride and me with relief.

Writing a book for four years, finishing a book, taking a huge risk investing a bunch of money to print a book after every major publisher passed—it was never about getting a stamp of approval from publishers.

It was for that moment with readers, for this moment with Aunt Linda: to hear her say ‘I couldn’t put it down.’

A reminder, if you need it today, to remember who you’re creating for. A reminder to read Daisy if you haven't already. A reminder to email me and tell me what you think!

woman on xx

PS, don't forget to RSVP to Daisy on May 16th at E. Shaver Books, located in the historic Gingerbread House in Savannah.