stats
In 2017 I published 56 stories on the internet, an average of one a week. I sent 30 Tinyletters, or one every other week. I wrote 50 sample pages for a book proposal and maybe half of what might eventually be a novel. I wrote four substantive Tumblr posts. I wrote some stuff I threw out. The 56 stories means probably, I don't know, 150 pitch emails? I have an Excel doc where I keep track of this stuff but the pitch tab almost never gets updated because it's fucking depressing.
I wrote 5,000 words about Harry Styles' debut album for One Week One Band.
I was on five podcasts!
I made enough money to pay my bills. I made enough money that I could afford to go to friends' weddings and to make business trips into long weekends. I went on some business trips? Someone flew me to New York in February and someone else flew me to Portland in November. I flew myself home from San Francisco but I was there for work, too.
I did not make enough money to put any into savings. In fact, I spent down my savings pretty precariously.
You guys sent me money. A little over $400, all told, and it felt like a gift every single time. Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not just flinging tens of thousands of words into the void, which is what it feels like, most days. Thanks for keeping an eye on me. I appreciate it.
-
Some favorite pieces from 2017:
The Consumerist Church of Fitness Classes, The Atlantic
The Peculiar Sadness of Animated Alcoholics, The Awl
When You Make Jews Afraid, All You Prove is That We're Human, Too, Buzzfeed
How the Kardashians Reflect Changing Ideas Around Plastic Surgery, Buzzfeed
The New Age of Astrology, Buzzfeed
The Power of an Imperfect Didion, The Cut
Wandering Woman: Lauren Elkin on What it Means to be a Flaneuse, GooglePlay Books
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent, GQ
One Chef's Journey From Addiction to Fine Dining to the Teaching Kitchen, LA Times
More Than the Beauty or the Heroine, LitHub
Personal Geography, Medium
How Eve Babitz and Francesca Lia Block Made LA Literary, The New Republic
Dressing Like the Direction, Racked
The Kardashians' Greatest Trick, Racked
Impractical Loves, Unbound Worlds