write on, vol. 5: 100 zines & the ballad of the $17 blueberries
Dear friend,
I write to you approximately 70 days deep into the 100 Day Project, a "global art project" that invites participants to pick a creative thing to do every day for 100 consecutive days. I've been making a zine a day since February 22nd, and I'm proud to say that I have only forgotten twice!
Mostly, it's been great: a playful and mind-expanding activity that gets me off my phone in the evening — while sharing your work online is supposed to be a part of the 100 Day Project, for me a large part of the motivation is to escape the tiny misery rectangle, so my primary audience is Ash, who dutifully reads each zine and tells me they like it.
Yes, there have definitely been a few nights when it's been 10:45 pm, and I have not made a zine, and I have found myself asking WHY and HOW I must come up with so many ways to give myself homework to do; however, those times have been in the minority.
What is perhaps most remarkable to me is that at very few points have I felt tired of making zines or like I am out of ideas. There is something kind of perfect about having to fill just eight small pages, and I even enjoy the process of folding them, which I've been doing in batches on the weekends to prepare for the week of zine-making ahead. One of my major inspirations in all of this is Sarah/Shay Mirk, who made an entire year (!!) of zines and then printed them out in a book. They also have a sweet little PDF printable that shows you how to make a zine if you'd like to get in on the action.
This is a mini series of single-color zines that I made, inspired by something I saw on TikTok (because I am a cool, in-the-know youth!). With the rest of my zines in the little baskets in the background!
I know I have already made everyone look at this photo approximately 12 times, but I cannot fail to include in this bulletin my other major creative project of this quarter: my snacking cake magnum opus!
READING
My reading this year so far has been a little bit spotty insofar that I haven't read or listened to that many things that I've really loved. Still, there have been a few standouts:
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
I worried this one had been overhyped by my friends on the ~queer internet~ but after listening, I am convinced it might just be [one of] the great millennial American novel[s]. While it certainly does have some elements in common with other recent buzzy literary debuts about 20-somethings making not-great choices and suffering in the face of systemic inequities of various kinds, I found the characters to be really specific and loveable in spite/because of their flaws in the way that so many real people are. Also, this is probably not going to sound very fun, but I think the way the novel handles the tension between idealism and capitalism (which I think of as the sort of central problem of our generation?) is both rigorous and believable.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
I just finished this over the weekend, so I don't know how my impressions will age, but I love Curtis Sittenfeld, and this was an extremely fun read about a writer on SNL who falls in love with the celebrity guest host. In my definitive ranking of Curtis Sittenfeld novels, this is below Rodham and her story collection but probably above Eligible and American Wife? But if you have never read Curtis before, I think you could totally jump in here and be very happy.
My publishing brain has a lot of thoughts/feelings about the question of how Romantic Comedy might have been packaged had it not been the work of an established "literary" author. It is, arguably (definitely?), a romance novel in virtually every way, but it also got reviewed in the NYT the week of publication—which, FYI, is extremely uncommon for novels published in the romance genre. I say props to Curtis as always for writing whatever she wants & being beloved and respected for it!
Speaking of beloved and respected... this is Ash snuggling our stuffed rabbits during our February retreat to Autocamp Cape Cod, our preferred Airstream glamping hotspot (doesn't everyone have one?).
AGENTING
I sold a book! I sold a book! Actually, I have sold three books in 2023 so far, and signs point to the possibility of my selling even more books (although let's not get our hopes up so as not to invite any undue curses!).
Book #1 — a gorgeously written memoir that will be published in fall of 2024:
Book #2 — a simultaneously critical and tender book by an amazing poet and academic about how our expectations for mothers are shaped by (surprise!) pseudoscience sexism and how we can do better by ourselves and our (not mine, okay, but generally our) kids:
Book #3 — a weirdo literary novel about a twenty-something who may or may not hear root vegetables calling her to embrace oblivion:
One of my writers also had a new book come out this quarter: Mac Crane, whose novel is called I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself. I have been so gratified to see this book being lovingly read by all the angsty queer hotties who I always hoped would appreciate it — it's gotten so much nice "attention" (as we say in the biz) everywhere from The New York Times (!!) to my old friend Autostraddle.com. The book is a literary dystopian novel with shades of The Scarlet Letter, Black Mirror, and The Dept. of Speculation, it features one of my favorite child characters of all time— "the kid," as she is mostly called, who is extremely sassy and entirely alive on the page in a way that helps to mitigate the fact that some things about this book (and let's be real: life!) are pretty darn upsetting. One thing that I think Mac nailed in revising this book was landing an ending that feels both earned and hopeful—something that I'm always looking for in a book, and a pretty difficult trick to pull off in a novel about the injustices of the criminal justice system, homophobia, and the generally dire state of humankind.
A reminder in the form of shameless self-promotion: you can always keep tabs on all my books that are currently out and/or pre-orderable via this Bookshop list.
EATING
Contrary to what I may have written in my last email about moving out of my Pastry Era, I have not stopped eating pastries. In fact, my March travels to the west coast provided the occasion for much pastry eating (as well as much eating of other foods). The highlight was undoubtedly Friends & Family in Los Angeles, which I had been hankering to visit ever since getting Roxana Jullapat's cookbook Mother Grains and making a few of the recipes. Happily, it lived up to all my hopes and dreams.
Hard to imagine this squiggle of caramelized, laminated goodness won't be one of the best pastries I eat this year.Also in Los Angeles, I spent $17 on this bowl of very sexy blueberries, candied beets, and tapioca pearls over coconut yogurt — outrageous, but it felt totally LA and kind of worth it?
During my Seattle stop, I made my dear friends Annabeth and Harrison take me to Delancey, the pizza restaurant that one of my all-time favorite food-adjacent writers Molly Wizenberg wrote a book about opening with her now-ex-husband (their divorce is documented in this, her third book). Molly and Brandon's marriage may be no more, but pizza is forever! I was so excited by the whole experience that I almost lost my phone, but it was later recovered in the backseat of the car. 
This is not the cutest picture, but my journalistic desire to document this important moment outweighs my vanity.More recently, I went to H Mart and got these sweet corn Turtle chips, which I would suggest you might pick up, should the opportunity present itself.
ALSO
Currently, my most intense parasocial relationship is with self-described atheist Jewish chaplain, podcast host, and Boston-area resident Vanessa Zoltan. Although she is best known for her show Harry Potter & the Sacred Text, my Vanessa Zoltan production of choice is her podcast The Real Question, the current season of which, "Should I Quit?" involves her counseling various guests as to whether they should quit this or that part of their life (from "my online fitness class subscription" to "my relationship with my dad"). The episodes are sometimes emotional (lots of people cry!), but also so human, and often kind and funny... a few times, I have disagreed with her take, but I always enjoy listening. My obsession is so far-reaching that I even went so far as to read her book, Praying with Jane Eyre, which is about reading as a sacred practice. While I don't know that you need to rush out and read the whole book, I love what she has to say about the ways that the combination of ritual, meaning-making, and community can make any text sacred. Busy lady that she is, Vanessa has also has been doing a chapter-by-chapter readthrough of Pride & Prejudice in which we learned that, when you look at his finances in the context of the times, Mr. Darcy was basically a tech billionaire.
While we're talking podcasts that sit at the intersection of the sacred and secular (apparently my current jam?), I'm also kind of obsessed with this episode of On Being about "the thrilling new science of awe."
I have always loved the GrubStreet Diet column, in which a public figure of some kind narrates in detail everything they eat during a week. This past week's, with the Washington Post's G. Daniela Galarza, was truly #goals: as she says, "in an ideal world, I’d eat dessert after every meal." My dream in life is to somehow become well known enough to get invited to contribute my own GrubStreet Diet, but it has recently occurred to me that maybe I just need to take matters into my own hands and Do It Myself. Stay tuned for the next newsletter to see if I make good on this.
LA selfie & a short story: on the day this photo was taken, an email showed up in my inbox featuring a longform interview from the maker of the earrings I was wearing. Honestly, this is not as coincidental as it might sound, insofar as I found the earrings via the newsletter in the first place. But still, it felt like kismet. (For the record, I like the earrings, the interview, and the newsletter, and I would recommend any or all three.)
THE END
How does May find you, my sweet peas? What should I make my next zine about? Which podcast host do you secretly believe you are destined to become best friends with? Do tell!