Friends,

The last time I wrote, I was about to embark on my book revision. I’m now deep in the weeds of it. The past few months have been hard but rewarding; I still have a lot of work ahead of me but I can see the book taking shape and that’s tremendously exciting.

I wrote the first draft chapter by chapter but not in order, and during the drafting process I’d been plagued by self-doubt. Was the book going to feel disjointed? Was there really a narrative arc? Were my themes and arguments clear? When I sat down at the beginning of the revision and read the manuscript start to finish for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually… felt like a book! I breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, even though it read like a book, it needed a lot of work. I’ve been busy combining chapters, pulling them apart, and making deep cuts to some of the earliest material I ever wrote. That last one was particularly tough because that chapter had felt so set in my mind for so long. But when I stepped back and read the book as a whole I was able to see that chapter wasn’t serving the narrative anymore. I whittled it down, wove the remaining material into another chapter, and moved onto the next big thing I had to tackle.

Soon I’ll be doing my second full readthrough and I’m eager to see what I discover this time. In the meantime, I’ll keep this note short because there’s still much work ahead and I can see my deadline on the horizon. I’ll leave you with a few things that I’m excited about.

• If you’re in the Bay Area, there’s a cool reading coming up on Wednesday, April 22 at 6 pm. Stir: Flower Season is the latest installment in a seasonal reading series organized by T. K. Rex and Josh Wilson, two fellow members of the Writers Grotto. (If you’re thinking, “California doesn’t have seasons!” you’re wrong. We do and they are: Flower, Foggy, Fire, and Rainy.) This event is part of SF Climate Week so you have to register but it’s free to attend. If you decide to go please let me know; we can grab a bite first or just sit together.

• Speaking of T. K. Rex, their debut collection of stories, The Wildcraft Drones, is coming out in late May and I am counting the days! T. K. and I read together at a Grotto event back in 2024 and I’ve been a huge fan of their work ever since. The Wildcraft Drones is a collection of fourteen stories of solarpunk climate fiction that promise to be as hopeful as they are imaginative. I dunno about you, but that feels like exactly what I want to read right now. You can preorder a copy—preorders are so helpful for authors!—or you can do what T. K. recommended and order the book from an independent bookstore. If new books aren’t in the budget, then ask your local library to order a copy.

• To give you a sneak peek of what’s coming in my book, I’m currently revising a chapter about the homeowners insurance crisis in California. My chapter is still under wraps but if you want to get a sense of the issue, I highly recommend this recent article from DeSmog’s inimitable Sharon Kelly. It’s all about states trying to push forward laws that would force fossil fuel companies to cover some of the rising insurance costs.

Take good care, friends. I hope wherever you are and whatever you’re up to there’s some first-full-read-through delight and surprise in your life.

Warmly,
Lindsey