🚀 The Dark Age: Three voices in the dark
🚀 The Dark Age: Three voices in the dark Identifying my main characters, their wounds, their beliefs, and their needs Hello, friends! Last summer, I enrolled...
Getting in (and out of) your own way
Getting in (and out of) your own way All the things that make writing more pleasant are also the gaps in the road ahead Hello, friendses! (Sorry about that....
🚀 The Dark Age: Strapped to a rocket
🚀 The Dark Age: Strapped to a rocket Weird parallels between this novel and the pandemic era Hello again, friends! And welcome to each of you who is newly...
Ambitious projects, long roads
FREE 05/18/21 🚛 Ambitious projects, long roads Keeping the faith when your project is measured in years, not months Hello, friends! One of the many...
🚀 The Dark Age: The delights of an epistolary novel
🚀 The Dark Age: The delights of an epistolary novel Characters in constant correspondence with themselves and others Greetings! Thank you, as always, for...
Writing in the woods
🌲🏚️🌲 Writing in the woods A place to write...and perhaps to be eaten Hello! Today I'm thinking a lot about the places that writers write. Some write in a...
🚀 The Dark Age: Mid-century modern spaceship
🚀 The Dark Age: Mid-century modern spaceship Bubbles of light, standing out against the darkness Hi, there! Look, it's the first "Dark Age" letter. Thanks...
🚀 A fresh adventure: Introducing the "Dark Age" letters
Hello again! This week I’ve got something new and exciting to share with you. A journal of a novel When John Steinbeck wrote East of Eden, he did so by hand,...
The carousel is a time machine
Hello! That’s me up there. This morning I woke up to a text from my father, who was probably feeling a bit nostalgic. He sent that photograph, and wrote: On...
Small things are important, too
Hello, there! What I’m reading At the moment, I have three books going: Weather, by Jenny Offill. I recently read Offill’s previous book, Dept. of...
Something so brief and magnificent
Good morning! Today my parents texted to let me know they’ve officially received the vaccine. The version they were given requires just one injection, not...
Reject the side hustle
Hi, there! (First, a little housekeeping: I’ve migrated this newsletter from Substack to Buttondown. If you notice anything different, that’s all it is; if...
The pleasure of doing the work
Well, hey there. I’ve just finished Jeffrey Eugenides’s short story collection, Fresh Complaint, and now I’m on to a couple of nonfiction books: David...
Finnish bus lines
Hello!I don’t know about your state or town or country, but here in Oregon, we’ve recently crossed the half-million-vaccines-administered milestone. Most...
Severed Barbie dolls
Hi, friends. Normally I’d send this on a Tuesday. But it wasn’t written by Tuesday. It’s written now, though, so. Hello, Wednesday evening. What I’m reading...
Giving up secrets
After a long stretch with few newsletters, perhaps the logjam has begun to loosen…?Reading about writingWhile I’m approaching the end of Severance, mentioned...
Learning to love reading again
Well, hi there. 2021 is off to such a great start, isn’t it? Sigh.Before I forget: Today is my father’s birthday. A couple of years ago, I changed how I...
2020 in books
In this newsletter: Books, books, booksFirst time seeing this newsletter?Subscribe to Letters From Hill HouseRecently I started reading Jessica Bruder’s...
Vote. Vote. Vote.
Well, hi.I’d love to say the lack of newsletters lately is because I’ve been working hard on a project or something, but that’s only a little bit true. Is...
A reading list
Hi, there. I’ve taken a few weeks off from shipping this newsletter (though not from writing it), for reasons I hope are apparent. The whole world’s a tangle...