Longhand drafts. 501s. Whiskey lattes.
Hello friends,
It's a sunny Saturday, and I'm trying to "unplug," I.E. stay off email + Twitter + the internet in general for 24 whole hours. I cut myself off at sundown last night, which means I just completed hour 16. Woohoo!
I'm writing the first draft of this letter on a yellow legal pad, so as to avoid temptation. This is a strategy I like to employ in the first draft stage for other stuff, too.
a) To avoid temptation, like I said. If I'm working on a new scene, it's so tempting to click over to Chrome and search, say, popular names for girls born in 1974, or U-Haul rental locations in Brooklyn, or "public lewdness class a misdemeanor new york state" (to name a few searches I've done recently, all related to the scene at hand, mind you). But then—oops—I left an email tab open and oh look there's a message and of course I have to check it and deal with the pressing issue of, say, Joy's badass wedding photo that Lauren alerted me to, and hmmm what else is happening on Instagram? Eight hours later, I have yet to finish the fucking scene and wow it's late I should really make some dinner and also do three loads of laundry. So. Legal pad. Phone on a shelf in the next room (sound off—always sound off).
b) If I'm writing longhand, it's harder to obsess and revise and overthink myself as I go. Although I do. This page already has seven different sets of square brackets, indicating phrases to consider omitting or replacing [like so]. But the goal is just to get the first draft down. The fun part is typing it up later. Which leads me to....
c) Later, when I type up my handwritten pages, I feel like such a baller. It's like FREE WORDS.
In fact, I'm so excited to have these two roughhhhhh pages, I'm tempted to pull out my laptop and type them up right now. But I won't. I'll wait until I'm plugged back in.
Expect to hear from me on Sunday 😇
*****
Note: I've been intrigued by the notion of unplugging for a "secular Sabbath" ever since Mark Bittman wrote about it in the Times. I've been sporadic about observing, but I have to admit it feels great. And Saturday is the perfect day to do it. Never once, EVER, has there been a time-sensitive email that I missed. (My internet buddy Erin Boyle also wrote about unplugging, or disconnecting, as she puts it, in her newsletter today. There must be something in the air.)
*****
This month on HBO: I watched the first four seasons of Veep without fully committing. I think all the cunty cunt cocksucker stuff turned me off. I don't have a problem with foul language generally, but it felt gratuitous. Or something. Two or three eps into the current season, however, I found myself all in. The foul language works, the comedic acting is great all around, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in particular is fantastic. If you're familiar with The West Wing (I was late to that show, and I loved it), Veep is like its flip-side, filthy little sister.
This month in lattes: The best iced latte I've ever had?!—maybe the best two—were from Endorfeinne, in Chinatown. They do a vanilla pandan, which, I don't even know how to describe it. It's so refreshing. Refreshing and caffeinated, what could be better? And then there's a palm sugar whiskey latte. It won't get you buzzed, it just has the barest, smoky-bordering-on-chocolate-y essence of whiskey. I'm tempted to jump in the car and head down there right now. (More about the mastermind/proprietor here, if you're interested. He's got a background in biotech and he mixes every drink himself, using a scale for precision.)
This month in jeans: I just bought my new favorite pair at Collection (conveniently located across the street from the Echo Park Guisados). They have a pricey-ish but beautifully curated collection of vintage 501s, and I had such a great shopping experience I felt the need to write a Yelp review.
*****
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Ricky and I are hoping to get to New York for a 2-4 week stretch this summer. Would you like to swap your NYC pad for our adorable house in Echo Park (aka the coolest neighb in Los Angeles)? Mid-Aug into mid-September would be ideal, but we can be quite flexible. Hit reply to discuss! And please feel free to forward to any trusted friends/colleagues who are itching to visit this coast....
It's a sunny Saturday, and I'm trying to "unplug," I.E. stay off email + Twitter + the internet in general for 24 whole hours. I cut myself off at sundown last night, which means I just completed hour 16. Woohoo!
I'm writing the first draft of this letter on a yellow legal pad, so as to avoid temptation. This is a strategy I like to employ in the first draft stage for other stuff, too.
a) To avoid temptation, like I said. If I'm working on a new scene, it's so tempting to click over to Chrome and search, say, popular names for girls born in 1974, or U-Haul rental locations in Brooklyn, or "public lewdness class a misdemeanor new york state" (to name a few searches I've done recently, all related to the scene at hand, mind you). But then—oops—I left an email tab open and oh look there's a message and of course I have to check it and deal with the pressing issue of, say, Joy's badass wedding photo that Lauren alerted me to, and hmmm what else is happening on Instagram? Eight hours later, I have yet to finish the fucking scene and wow it's late I should really make some dinner and also do three loads of laundry. So. Legal pad. Phone on a shelf in the next room (sound off—always sound off).
b) If I'm writing longhand, it's harder to obsess and revise and overthink myself as I go. Although I do. This page already has seven different sets of square brackets, indicating phrases to consider omitting or replacing [like so]. But the goal is just to get the first draft down. The fun part is typing it up later. Which leads me to....
c) Later, when I type up my handwritten pages, I feel like such a baller. It's like FREE WORDS.
In fact, I'm so excited to have these two roughhhhhh pages, I'm tempted to pull out my laptop and type them up right now. But I won't. I'll wait until I'm plugged back in.
Expect to hear from me on Sunday 😇
*****
Note: I've been intrigued by the notion of unplugging for a "secular Sabbath" ever since Mark Bittman wrote about it in the Times. I've been sporadic about observing, but I have to admit it feels great. And Saturday is the perfect day to do it. Never once, EVER, has there been a time-sensitive email that I missed. (My internet buddy Erin Boyle also wrote about unplugging, or disconnecting, as she puts it, in her newsletter today. There must be something in the air.)
*****
This month on HBO: I watched the first four seasons of Veep without fully committing. I think all the cunty cunt cocksucker stuff turned me off. I don't have a problem with foul language generally, but it felt gratuitous. Or something. Two or three eps into the current season, however, I found myself all in. The foul language works, the comedic acting is great all around, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in particular is fantastic. If you're familiar with The West Wing (I was late to that show, and I loved it), Veep is like its flip-side, filthy little sister.
This month in lattes: The best iced latte I've ever had?!—maybe the best two—were from Endorfeinne, in Chinatown. They do a vanilla pandan, which, I don't even know how to describe it. It's so refreshing. Refreshing and caffeinated, what could be better? And then there's a palm sugar whiskey latte. It won't get you buzzed, it just has the barest, smoky-bordering-on-chocolate-y essence of whiskey. I'm tempted to jump in the car and head down there right now. (More about the mastermind/proprietor here, if you're interested. He's got a background in biotech and he mixes every drink himself, using a scale for precision.)
This month in jeans: I just bought my new favorite pair at Collection (conveniently located across the street from the Echo Park Guisados). They have a pricey-ish but beautifully curated collection of vintage 501s, and I had such a great shopping experience I felt the need to write a Yelp review.
*****
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Ricky and I are hoping to get to New York for a 2-4 week stretch this summer. Would you like to swap your NYC pad for our adorable house in Echo Park (aka the coolest neighb in Los Angeles)? Mid-Aug into mid-September would be ideal, but we can be quite flexible. Hit reply to discuss! And please feel free to forward to any trusted friends/colleagues who are itching to visit this coast....
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to The Laramie Report: