dreams
I grew up in Hollywood, and so I spent a lot of my childhood politely telling people that I had no intention of going into the industry. I had seen,...
poseur
Something I never could have predicted is that one of my favorite parts of the culture writing I do is getting to interview people. I have pretty bad social...
good reads
Sometimes-- rarely, but sometimes-- an editor gives me an assignment and I can immediately envision it: like oh, yeah, I know the words to that song. I very...
bubbles
One of my favorite parts of the year, Before, was Sunday afternoon, around 5pm, at the LA Times Festival of Books. The Festival is massive, and even though...
the duality of Zan
Good joke, right? I came up with it on the fly yesterday in conversation and was very proud of myself. Anyway, a couple of things for you this week: an essay...
sick, brah
So it finally happened: I got it, or it got me. A few weeks ago I had what I thought was a sinus headache, and then what I thought was a sore throat from...
success stories
A thing about being in my mid-thirties and being single and also, you know, having a career without a clear path, and because of that periodically being...
true love
No essay today, just news: I'm teaching a one-day virtual writing class early next year! If your New Year's resolution involves finally composing the Great...
conflicts of interest
Last week, S and I bought a Christmas tree, a Douglas fir, 5-6 feet tall. It's round and shaggy and currently dropping needles all over our living room. The...
simmer
Various things have happened recently that made me think: that could be a Tinyletter. I've been boxing again for the first time since March of 2020, and...
timing
I had drinks with a friend recently (hi, Ann) during which we talked about being over 30 on TikTok. I downloaded the app the way a lot of people did, on some...
face time
I wrote the first draft of this Tinyletter something like a month ago, when the reopening seemed to be going better. In retrospect, it should have been...
quickie
because I don't have an essay in me right now but I do have some stuff I said and wrote recently to share with you: I appeared on Vox's Today, Explained to...
moving on
For the last eight years, I've had two roommates. They've been different roommates in different apartments, but always two of them; three of us, total, in...
graduation
You would think that writing books about adolescence would mean I would think about high school a lot, but I really don't. Or I don't consciously think about...
critique
This feels like a dangerous thing to admit to group of people that includes current, former, and hopefully future students, but I started teaching writing...
colophon
First things first: I'm teaching a virtual fiction writing workshop next year! If you have an idea for a story and want to figure out how to get started,...
accounting
I feel really sheepish writing you another Tinyletter so soon after the last one's dramatics, but a) someone asked a question I wanted to answer and then b)...
whatever this is
I keep thinking of Tinyletters I could maybe write and then not writing them. It's hard not to feel like I've told you every story about myself and my life...
ashes, ashes
California is on fire; I'm having a hard time. I keep thinking about the opening pages of a novel I tried to write some ten years ago, now, which begins...