Looking at you, 2024
My first newsletter! 2023 highlights and 2024 glimmers
A bit late for a new year’s post, but January isn’t over yet.
Hello and welcome! I’ve been wanting to start a newsletter for a while now. It seems like the happy medium between the intimacy of blogging and the immediacy of social media. Blogging was a lot to keep up in the aughts and teens, and rightfully fell by the wayside (for me) when Instagram provided a bite-sized way to put up images and text. But these days, my posts on the Gram are fewer and farther between, and what I do offer is so zoomed in, the big picture gets lost. I’m always good for a laugh in my stories, though!
I hope to offer a place to think about writing, books, what’s inspiring me these days, and to share all the things I hoard like a magpie in the pursuit of fresh ideas and generally cool stuff. You might get writing exercises, recipes, cool articles/videos/substacks/podcasts I’ve found. Some of my pet topics are health, feminism, cooking, crafts, travel, organizing methods, EXvangelicalism, and home design. You will always walk away with new book recs.
I plan to post roughly monthly. I’d love it if you subscribed!
Looking back
The beginning of a new year is a nice place to begin. A good chance to reflect and forecast, so let’s start there. This first newsletter is on the long side—others will not be!—but it’s the nature of looking at something as big as a year. Feel free to skim!
2023 Highlights
The biggest news all year was the dream trip my family took to Italy this summer for six weeks. We stayed in Rome, Como, Cortona, and Florence, and took day trips to Assisi, Montepulciano, Viareggio, and Siena, and a road trip to Trento, the Dolomites, and Lake Garda. If you’re wondering if we’re rich, we aren’t. To make it happen, we rented out our house back in Bend, used frequent flyer miles, stayed in apartments and cooked our own food whenever we could, and Matt continued working remotely while we were there.
My favorite part of the trip was Cortona, a Tuscan medieval hill town. As I gazed out at the valley over red-tiled roofs, the sunflower fields in full bloom, olive groves silver in the sunlight, it was like stepping directly into a lifelong dream. I’m about 30% Italian according to 23andMe, and many of my ancestors came from this part of Italy. I don’t understand how our DNA somehow recognizes places, but I know in my bones that being there was a kind of homecoming. I went on many long walks in Cortona—out past the city walls into the countryside, or up to the top of the town to the old medieval fortress and church. It was heaven.
I become so alive when I travel. Generally, I’m a homebody. I love cooking and reading and crafting. Because of my health issues, I tire easily and run into physical limitations. (Look up the concept of spoon theory/spoonies if you aren’t familiar.)
But I’m also a deeply curious person, and I crave experiences of beauty. When there is a city to explore, new foods to taste, a language to practice, things to LEARN, I somehow tap into a secret energy reserve. It’s not sustainable long-term, and I certainly couldn’t keep it up for the entire 6 weeks in Italy, but there were a lot of days when I felt like I had on my travel superhero cape and was taking on the world, learning like crazy, and DRINKING IN beauty at every turn.
Other cool stuff from 2023
-I sent a novel on submission to publishers with my literary agent, a historical romantasy set in a world inspired by Ancient Persia. Fingers crossed it will find a home with a traditional publisher in 2024.
-I had a new novel idea, young adult fantasy, but this time very contemporary with some thriller/suspense elements. More on that in 2024 goals.
-I attended a writing retreat in Quebec in October with a community of writers I began meeting with online in 2020 through Laini Taylor’s Patreon. Laini is a YA writer I’ve loved reading since 2012, and this community been a source of much richness, especially during the isolating season of a global pandemic and moving to a town where we didn’t know anyone. Meeting in person for the first time and living together as a little writer’s colony for a week in the absolutely idyllic Canadian East Coast autumn (in a perfectly preserved historic mansion) was among the best experiences of my life. Not hyperbole.
-There were quick trips to New York (to see my sister), the Columbia Gorge (annual wildflower hiking with friends), the Oregon Coast (staying in Yurts with a few other families), Portland (with Laini before flying to Quebec), Montreal (before the retreat), and Seattle/ Edmonds (to see my old stomping grounds with Bend friends).
-I worked for a second year as a bookseller at my favorite local indie bookstore, Roundabout Books, where I lead the Out of This World (Sci-Fi/Fantasy) book club, hand sell as many copies as possible of Thursday Murder Club and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and helped launch a gourmet sandwich menu in the cafe this year.
-I started a “silent” book club with my three favorite customer friends with similar reading tastes. We meet once a month at a local bar or restaurant, bring whatever we’re each individually reading and spend about 2/3 of the time talking about books and 1/3 of the time reading. It’s delightful!
-I joined a small group of women authors from Bend at various stages of the journey (from a New York Times bestseller to a writer working on her first manuscript) for a monthly coffee date where we talk about our journey, struggles, and strategies. Writing professionally—being an artist of any kind, really, in a capitalist society—is hard. Community makes all the difference some days.
-I learned Italian on Duolingo for over 365 days! I’m far from fluent, but I want to continue learning in a new format that helps you understand listening and speaking better. Anyone know of any low-cost apps, books, communities, etc.?
-After getting COVID for the first time in Sep. 2022, I’ve had some very frustrating health struggles on top of my usual ones. I started seeing a neurologist for migraines, which I’ve had all my life, but have suddenly become much more intense and frequent. I was in and out of urgent care with viruses (5!), bronchitis (twice), and messing up my stomach taking too much Advil while I was on the waitlist for the neurologist. I developed plantar fasciitis while in Italy. Not fun. I’m doing all I can to be well and sincerely hoping 2024 is a healthier year.
-I went to some great concerts. Matt and I went to see Counting Crows on the 30th anniversary of the day August and Everything After released. We saw Death Cab for Cutie as well. And my bestie Ashley came down from Bellingham to see The Indigo Girls with me and float the river.
-I read 78 books, nominated 26 books for Indie Next, and added hundreds more to my TBR list. It’s such a cruel world that there are more books to read than can ever be read!
-I narrated and produced 4 audiobooks and a bundle of 13 novellas.
2023 Favorites
A quick and not comprehensive round-up of favorite things from 2023.
Books:
I say a lot about what I read over on my Instagram, so I’ll keep it short here.
1. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries and Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands. My number one favorite for 2023. British cozy fantasy with academia, fae lore, and a dash of romance.
2. Dance of the Dissident Daughter. Sue Monk Kidd’s journey away from patriarchal religion to find the divine feminine. I’m not exaggerating to say it was life-changing.
3. A Study in Drowning. A perfect gothic fantasy with compelling themes about women and power.
4. The Shepherd King duology. Adult fantasy with YA vibes. Clever, dark, a little sexy, and page-turning.
5. A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Hopeful post-apocalyptic climate sci-fi with deep truths for humanity and lots of cozy moments. Made my top 10 books ever read.
6. The Last Devil to Die. The fourth installment of the Thursday Murder Club series is my favorite so far. Lots of feels in this one.
7. The Running Grave. Cormoran Strike number seven is also the best yet, focused on infiltrating a cult for a client who lost their son inside it.
8. The Witching Year: A Memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft. Healthy skepticism, curiosity, humility, and diligent research produce humor and insight by turns and a lot of good information about practicing witchcraft.
9. The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living and Leaving the White Evangelical Church (out 3/19). Part memoir, part reporting, a methodically analyzed look at the mass numbers leaving Evangelical Christianity and the ideologies that have caused the exodus.
Honorable mentions:
-The Invocations: a YA horror from the author of House of Hollow. Out 1/30.
-The City of Stardust: by debut author and writing community friend Georgia Summers. Lyrical and highly imaginative. Out 1/30
-For Girls Who Walk Through Fire: by another writing community friend about 4 high school SA survivors who use newfound powers to get revenge against their assailants, but find ultimate healing in community with each other. This book has some serious parallels with my current work in progress and Kim is a kindred spirit!
-What the River Knows: 1800s Egypt, tomb-hunting, magic, and romance. Isabel Ibanez’s best yet.
-Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust: Worth the hype. Cozy, funny, and fun.
-None of This Is True: I got in trouble for ignoring everyone for a couple of days while I read this. Unputdownable.
-Starling House: my first full-length novel of Alix E. Harrow’s. Another gothic, but with a found family twist that I loved. (Her substack is also linked to the right)
-When the Body Says No: a Gabor Mate backlist title with a lot to say about the mind-body connection for many serious illnesses, based on his time as a Palliative Care doctor.
-A Master of Djinn: another Egypt-inspired fantasy, this time steam-punk with a murder mystery at its core. An imaginative and atmospheric escape read.
-Flowerheart: a cozy YA fantasy with Anne of Green Gables vibes in its sweet rivals-to-lovers romance.
-Happy Place: my favorite romance of several I read this year. Emily Henry brings her wit and humor, but this title also had a lot of heartbreak and angst that gave it more depth than other things I’ve read by her.
Shows:
I don’t watch a ton because I read so much, but here were the shows and movies that I particularly loved this year:
The Buccaneers, Lockwood & Co, Searching for Italy, Ted Lasso S3, Honor Among Thieves, Barbie, Shiny Happy People, Good Omens S2, Only Murders in the Building S3, Great British Bake Off/ Baking Show (American S11), Sex Education S4, Three Pines, Loki S2, Hilda S3
2024 Projections
I have a hard time projecting an entire year ahead, but here’s what I’m planning and hoping for, at least the first quarter.
-A novel first draft by April!
I started the year with a ton of character prep and 3K words under my belt. I want to have 85K by April. I’m making a 1200 word goal per day with a day off per week baked in. As of today, I have about 21,000 words. Then comes the editing…
-Starting this newsletter!
I love non-fiction writing and I want more ways to stay connected with my people, and for people I don’t know yet to find me.
-Starting some formal consulting work
I can’t tell you how many times I’m requested to talk to a writer just starting out and/or take a look at first pages or query letters. I love helping people, and I’d like to make that available more widely. My background is teaching. I might also want to offer consultation with people interested in voiceover/ audiobook work, another conversation I have often. I’ll keep you posted when that part of my website becomes active!
-Starting a writing collective
I want to team up with the rich community of writers I already have to help promote and support each other’s work. There’s so much power in lifting each other up, and exponentially more we can accomplish together than on our own. Looking forward to dreaming and then building that with others.
-Develop short writing projects
After a series of prompts we’ve done in Laini’s Patreon community, I have a notebook of ideas for short stories and novellas that I want to develop further. This will be a nice counterpoint when I need a brain break from the novels I’ve been working on.
-Keep learning Italian
After a 356+ day streak, I took a break from Duolingo in late September. But I don’t want to lose my progress. I bought a couple of books in Italian while in Italy, so that’s another way to continue learning outside the apps. I’d like more practice speaking and listening, so I’m hoping to find a conversation group for beginners. Maybe online? Please comment if you have any leads!
-Anti-inflammatory foods and sauna
I have a new N.D. here in Bend and we’re working to get my inflammation down by getting back on a diet without common inflammation triggers. I’d gotten pretty lax because, well, always being on a diet sucks. But so does feeling crappy all the time. Choose your hard, I guess. At this point, it feels better to choose the disciplined path. She also suggested I take up going to the sauna three times a week, and the local rec center has both a dry and a steam sauna.
-2024 Bingo!
At the suggestion of VE Schwab (who has an excellent newsletter), I made a 2024 bingo sheet for myself. It has things on it like “another tattoo” and “cold plunge in a river, lake or sea” and “read a book in Italian” and “try a new food”. There are personal goals and health goals and writing goals on there too. I’m not trying for a blackout, but it’s a good little motivator. I haven’t decided what my prize will be if I get bingo, but it will probably involve a delicious food or a trip to a favorite store to pick out a little something.
Things to look forward to:
We don’t have a lot of plans for 2024 because it’s something of a fallow year after Italy, but I’m looking forward to two things in the next couple of months. I’ll be making what is becoming an annual trek with my besties up to the Korean women’s spa in Seattle. That’s another newsletter, but suffice to say, it is one of the most life-giving, self-affirming, and friendship-bonding practices in my life.
I’ll also be traveling with my boss to Cincinnati in February to attend the American Booksellers Association conference. There are a host of stellar authors who will be there and I’m so looking forward to meeting many of them. I’m also keen for all the education and learning that will happen there.
Sarah McLachlan is going on tour in celebration of the 30th anniversary of her Fumbling Toward Ecstasy album, and I will be there with my friends! That album was so foundational to my adolescence, and I can’t wait to sing every song with Sarah live!
It’s so easy to overcommit in the new year, so I can only say, I intend to be gentle with myself with these goals and dreams. I know that I can get derailed easily with a too-busy schedule or a health flare up. But I also know that without goals, I don’t get much done, and having them gets me moving. Everyone’s personality is different, but I know myself well enough to put the carrots where I’ll see them.
One of the principles I feel in my bones is that big things are always done in small increments. It’s the showing up over and over again that moves the dial FAR more than occasional grand gestures. And as Miss Stacy reminds Anne: “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet.” May your tomorrows feel fresh, and may each day’s work feel like you’re moving in the right direction, even if you take a while to arrive at your goal.
Until next time, I am wishing you a very healthy, productive, and joyful 2024.
J.M.R.
Yay! I love your newsletter. Also, now I want to make my own 2024 bingo card.
Delightful as always, my friend! I can’t wait for the next one.