Elaine's Q1 2024 Report đ¸
Hello friends, Iâve blinked and suddenly weâre three months into 2024. The cake and Chinese takeout consumed for the Lunar New Year and my birthday are already a distant memory and now itâs spring, though youâd never know it from the current chill in Toronto.
News
As you may have noticed, Iâve migrated this newsletter to Buttondown. Thanks for sticking with me!
Iâm extremely chuffed that âMotherâs Teethâ made the Locus Recommended Reading List!
âMotherâs Teethâ is also eligible for an Aurora award for short fiction. If youâre Canadian and a CFSSA member, nominations close April 6.
Looking back
My January social media hiatus, inspired by Cal Newportâs Digital Minimalism, went surprisingly smoothly. I regret to inform you that your focus and productivity do improve when you stay off the internet. Whoâdâve thunk it. Otherwise the quarter was yet again a blur of novel revisions, although I did take a brief jaunt with my kid to Ottawa during March Break to check out the tourist attractions we missed during our summer vacation. Pro tip: tours of Parliament are free, you only have to book online.
Things I loved last quarter:
Iâm still thinking about Benjamin Stevensonâs murder mystery Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. The conceit is that you're reading the book the narrator is writing, so it's cheekily self-aware and conscious of mystery rules and tropes. Itâs very funny and fresh, and the mystery is pretty smart too.
Untitled Goose Game. Late to the party, this game was a viral hit when it launched in 2019. Iâd seen the memes but only tried it in January. If youâre unfamiliar with it, you play a jerk goose who goes about causing chaos in a small village. Youâre given a to-do list of tasks, like âSteal the groundskeeperâs keysâ and âTrap the boy in the phone boothâ. Itâs low-stakes problem-solving and my kid and I laugh and laugh every time we achieve a fiendish goal, because we are apparently terrible people.
Lisa Frankenstein isnât perfect, but if youâre a Gen Xer youâll enjoy the â80s Heathers-like dark comedic vibes. Winona Ryder would have totally played Kathryn Newtonâs character back in the day. Also, no one writes sharp teen girl dialogue like Diablo Cody.
Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal. As a single working parent who is the primary caregiver for my child, Iâm always looking for ways to optimize my productivity. Abdaal points out that positive feelings make you more productive, not more hard work and discipline, and provides actionable things to try to combat procrastination and inertia. More importantly, he doesnât assume you have the privilege to isolate yourself, which is my problem with a lot of productivity books. (Ahem, Deep Work.) A well-structured, accessible read.
The new version of Shogun is as spectacular as everyone says it is. I donât think I can say any more than the critics already have.
Looking forward
Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1. Unlike regular NaNoWriMo, you donât have to kill yourself to write 50K words in a month, you can set your own goal. Iâm in the middle of revisions at the moment, but Iâve still signed up to keep myself motivated.
Virtual Can-Con is coming up on April 20! Tickets are still available.
KT Bryskiâs Lovely Creatures is out May 14 from Psychopomp!
Happy Easter to those who are celebrating, and for the rest of us, hope youâre having a wonderful weekend eating discounted chocolate.
Elaine