Notes
Kelly J. Baker’s latest newsletter is about a year of not writing & what that means when being a writer is a key piece of your identity.
It helped me realize I often extrapolate from “If you write, you’re a writer” the logical fallacy “If you aren’t writing, you aren’t a writer.”
Currently reading: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko 📚
Disconnecting cross-posting to Twitter after this post. Find my follow page at kimberlyhirsh.com if you want to keep up with me.
Finished reading: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo 📚
I loved it so much. I know Leigh Bardugo is done with the Grishaverse for a while but I hope not for always.
💬📚
“None of this had been fated; none of it foretold… They were just the people who had shown up and managed to survive.
But maybe that was the trick of it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out.” Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves
Woodland Goth: The Goblins of Labyrinth by Brian Froud 📚
Yep, I created a whole Woodland Goth bookshelf. Goblins of Labyrinth is a collectible. I don’t want it to get lost in my massive want-to-read list.
Me, misquoting Lord of the Rings:
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the dark lord — "
My kid:
“FARTS!”
Revised 5 TV shows to introduce me, now in chronological order of release! 📺
- Star Trek: The Next Generation 🖖🏻
- Animaniacs🐁
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer 👱♀️
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 🥨
- GLOW 🤼♀️
Introduce yourself with 5 TV shows 📺:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer 👱♀️
- Firefly 🌌
- Star Trek: The Next Generation 🖖
- GLOW 🤼♀️
- The X-Files 🛸
🔖📺 Read Wednesday Forgets Why We Fell in Love With the Addams Family.
“The Addams Family films were about family being a haven of pure acceptance and unquestioning love.”
This is a perfect articulation of something I’ve known in my heart since 1991.
🍿 Watched Santa Games (Hulu).
Super cute. A sweet story about family & the power of second chances mixed with a funny take on social media, livestreaming, and reality competitions. A mostly Black cast which is rare in TV holiday movies.
🔖 Read
A year of new avenues robinsloan.com
I want to insist on an amateur internet; a garage internet; a public library internet; a kitchen table internet.
Yes! This! (hat-tip to Austin Kleon)
🔖 Read What Is a Strike? Reflections from the Virtual Front Lines of the UC Academic Worker Strike by Mary Jirmanas Saba (LA Progressive).
Currently reading: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo 📚
Kind of resent that I have to do anything besides read this book, even though I love a lot of the other stuff I do.
🔖 Read Attention, trust and GPT3
“If your work isn’t more useful or insightful or urgent than GPT can create in 12 seconds, don’t interrupt people with it.
Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better.”
📚💬
“I am most interested in confessional writing when it allows us to move into the personal as a way to go beyond it. In all my work I invoke the personal as a prelude.” bell hooks, remembered rapture: the writer at work
📚💬
“I had been so well socialized by graduate school that I was torn between which writing path to pursue, agonizing over whether I could write from various standpoints in various genres.” bell hooks, remembered rapture: the writer at work
🔖💀 Read If You Want to Give Something Back to Nature, Give Your Body by Caitlin Doughty (New York Times Gift Link).
I hope we get human composting in NC eventually. For now, we can donate ourselves to Western Carolina’s body farm.
Lately I often find myself feeling alert but unable to focus. This is a new vibe for me. If you’re a person who experiences this feeling regularly and has found a way to manage it, I’d love your advice. (I’m going to start by having a cup of coffee.)