Casual thoughts, photos, and the odd video
One good thing that’s come out of my ranting about the “Wuthering Heights” trailer is that my husband is finally reading Wuthering Heights.
And he just texted me this, which made me happy. The Emily Brontë influence is strong with me lol.
Braved LA traffic to go to a bookish event last night for a signed book.
Exhausted? Yes.
Worth it? Also yes.
“The dog pooped on my library book” is not a sentence I ever thought I’d say in my life.
To think that there are actually people out there living my dream life of owning a bookstore and lowkey pushing customers to buy their favourite books.
Don’t mind me, just crying over a beta reader saying one of my stories reminded her of Lois Lowry’s “Gossamer,” which I also love.
And now that I’m thinking of it, realising that I’ve been unconsciously inspired by it. 😭
Thank you, Julia Wellham.
Draft #I’ve-lost-count-but-the-one-where-everything-starts-blurring-together.
Let’s go. 💪🏻
I only have a Facebook page via my husband’s account (who refuses to give up Meta stuff, but fine, give away all your data, whatever), so I rarely check it.
Today, I saw this message
So of course that spurred me back to writing my novel today. Who needs sleep when you can live off encouragement?
In case readers ever wonder whether your comments/messages matter to authors.
Y’all, Mary Roblynis as magical in person as she is online, and she gives the best hugs. We just spent a whole afternoon talking about Minnesota culture, human nature, friendships, family, mothers, trauma, and so much. I love you, Mary!
Me to my husband last week: I got my Amazon royalties from KU reads!
Husband: ooh yay! How much?
me: 1 cent.
I used to do this once a week to combat AI, but got lazy. Seems a good time to pick it up again, so here is my weekly proof of human. ✌🏻
Off to Minnesota this week with my best friend and I also get to meet Mary Roblyn!!
Going on a trip, and my two most painful decisions are:
Which books should I bring, and
Which notebooks can I bear to leave behind?
The plagiarism (and related AI-generated content) discourse calls to mind the sacred bond of trust between a writer and reader—not only when money is exchanged, but perhaps doubly so, especially when that money could have been given to another, more deserving artist who didn’t resort to deceit.
I’m not only thinking of Katie Jgln , though her experience reminded me painfully of my own encounter with a plagiarist last year, but also the recent controversy surrounding Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path. Basically, the author fabricated her memoir. Some might argue that memoir is never entirely factual, and that facts aren’t the same as truth, but those who know this story are arguing that Raynor betrayed the truth of the spirit, which goes beyond just lying about facts.
In the end, I’m reminded again of how important trust is, especially in our increasingly digital world, and how easily we can lose that trust. After all, we are still searching for truth.
I guess it also goes back to caution. Knowing that charisma doesn’t mean a person is trustworthy. And it highlights the importance of real human connections, beyond metrics, beyond scalability. As nice as it is to watch the numbers climb, there’s nothing more essential than integrity and genuine bonds in this business—that indescribable moment when someone reads your words and says, “I see myself here.”
Otherwise, just let the robots replace us. We don’t deserve this space.
Knowing your why for writing and publishing is one of the hardest things to find. For me, this has always been my centre and a way to process my grief. My reason for why I keep going.
Kobi blends in with our brown colour scheme.
Currently reading: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
There are rational decisions, and then there are decisions like…
You getting a notification that there’s a puppy named Wrenley, born in May (same month as your Renley), who’s described:
“This girl has soulful scrumptious eyes and a big kind heart that carries a presence of peace anywhere she goes.She is patient, kind, studious, and stoic living her life at a pace that is more along the lines of a summertime stroll in the 1960’s than a modern day marathoner’s pace! Wrenley seems to be teleported from another era as a reminder to us all that we need to slow down, find content in the little things, and not let the negativity in this world steal our joy for living life abundantly.”
And then the rationalists in you and your husband get thrown out the window.
TL;DR: we’re getting another dog.
Annotating Pride and Prejudice for someone special. It’s been a long time, and I’ve missed doing taking the time to slow down and savour the words in a book like this.
Don’t mind me, just living my fantasy Belle life.
I can’t include The Picture of Dorian Grey in my commonplace book because I would have to copy almost the whole book.
What’s that book for you?
Grateful and humbled. Thank you.
Past midnight, the doorbell rang. I’d been sitting on the stairs, waiting for that sound to echo through the empty house, reverberate along with my pounding heart. I’d watched the tiny blue dot tracking the location of our new cavapoo traveling from Ohio to San Diego. I sat across from his pen so I wouldn't overwhelm him, but he came straight to me, pressed against my leg. “Kobi,” I whispered, named for the son I’d lost a year before. I didn’t know then that he was saving my life.