I haven’t worked all year and wanted to answer the question that I’m sure future employers will have for me: what did you do with all that free time, besides watch Rizzoli & Isles on Hulu? New Year’s Eve seems like a good time to look for answers in iCal, email and the little moleskin notebook I carry with me which sometimes prompts the question, “Are you a journalist?” After trying so many new things this year, I have one takeaway: even though I’m extroverted, it’s not always easy to walk into a room full of strangers. Often the strangers don’t know what to do with you. Sometimes, everyone else has known each other for years and years. There is a nervous silence that weighs on the soul. Do I belong here? Do not underestimate the power of being welcoming to newcomers! It’s how we create community.
One thing about no job? Lots of time to read.
Newsletters
Booksmith puts out a wonderful weekly newsletter, sign up for it on their website. I love the links at the end. I was hoping they’d have an archive online, but I’m not seeing one. Here’s one example of their newsletter and another.
Robin Sloan’s Year of the Meteor was a wild ride through the mind of Robin Sloan. I highly recommend browsing his weekly newsletters before he turns the archive into a single PDF/e-book sometime soon, because part of the joy of Meteor is being carried along by his wayward stream of consciousness. Pete and I signed up for his olive oil subscription Fat Gold. Good stuff!
I am a huge fan of Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist. His writing is clean and concise. I always end up exploring a few links in his newsletter which is directed at artists, writers, readers, parents, music aficionados and other creatives.
Journalism
The 1619 Project (New York Times) created by Nikole Hannah-Jones was phenomenal. All the writing was great, but these essays particularly resonated with me:
America Wasn't a Democracy Until Black Americans Made It One by Nikole Hannah-Jones
American Capitalism Is Brutal. You Can Trace That to the Plantation by Matthew Desmond
How Segregation Caused Your Traffic Jam by Kevin M. Kruse
Why Doesn't America Have Universal Healthcare? One word: Race by Jeneen Interlandi
How America's Vast Racial Wealth Gap Grew: By Plunder by Trymaine Lee
Short Story
Everybody was talking about CJ Hauser’s The Crane Wife, with good reason.
Book
My favorite book of the ones I read this year was Circe by Madeline Miller. As a writing exercise, I was asked to do a a six word review of it. Here you go: Ancient tale with very modern feelings
Literary Communities
Mechanics’ Institute
It’s well worth the annual fee to be part of the Mechanics’ Institute, which is made up of readers, writers and chess players. As a non-member you can usually attend events for a modest fee. I especially enjoyed their Writers Lunch series, which is an hour long panel of speakers (usually three) on various writerly topics. I attended a few:
To Blog or Not to Blog - I learned about The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign from John Lumea
The Art of Outlining Your Fiction - I read Mary Mackey’s The Year The Horses Came
Productivity Hacks for Authors - Patti Breitman is hilarious
I also went to The Believer: A Literary Celebration presented by Believer magazine, with Ted Gioia which was fantastic. I’m familiar with McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and I still mourn the passing of Lucky Peach magazine, but I went in not knowing too much about The Believer. Luckily, it’s archived online. Highlights for me were:
Colin Winnette reading an interview with Maurice Sendak by Emma Brockes. Sendak said, “I refuse to lie to children.”
Anise Gross reading The Farting Bedpost: A Cultural History of the Bassoon by Eileen Reynolds who wrote, “It now conjures up specific images: puffy cheeks, chaos, narrow escapes, Bugs Bunny at it again.”
Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, reading A Brief Take on Genetic Screening by Richard Powers who wrote, “Knowing what’s coming does not shield us from living it.”
Booksmith/The Bindery
Pete and I walked into the Quiet Lightning 10 Year Anniversary Celebration with no idea what to expect. We stumbled into a night of incredible readings by Mimi Lok, Namwali Serpell, Susan Steinberg and Kim Shuck. I ended up buying several books after the reading to get them signed. Event organizer, Evan Karp, shared his incredible online resource for readings around the Bay Area with me, Litseen. I am looking forward to more Booksmith events in 2020 like Lidia Yuknavitch, Peggy Orenstein, Rebecca Solnit.
Zine Fests
I think Zine Fests should also be categorized under “literary communities.” I went to SF Zine Fest, which I wrote about here, the Portland Zine Symposium and the East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest (EBABZ). Zinesters are usually up for interaction and questions about their work and process. It’s almost unnerving how little it is about selling things.
LA Times Festival of Books
Epic annual festival for readers and writers. I wrote about it here. Thanks to the LA Times Festival of Books I’m reading Romance novels now, ones with strong female protagonists.
The Writers Grotto
The Writers Grotto is a great resource for quality writing workshops. I took Laird Harrison’s Plan Your Writing Career and Xandra Castleton’s Screenwriting workshop. I’d recommend both. They also have six-month-long fellowships for emerging writers where fellows get workspace and support (if you subscribe to their newsletter they’ll let you know when applications are due).
The Ruby
Keep an eye on The Ruby’s well curated event page. You can attend most events as a non-member so if there isn’t an obvious way to purchase a ticket online, email them for a link. Both talks I attended were fabulous. Fatphobia 101 with Virgie Tovar (& Margaritas!) and Invisible Visits: Black Women in the American Healthcare System.
Alley Cat Books
Alley Cat Books is a cornucopia of local bookstore community goodness. I took a workshop on Herbal Healing with Stascha Stahl where I learned that, “Lemon Balm is good for people suffering from jaded adultness.”
Bookseller’s Favorite Perfume
Locus Magazine Workshops
Locus Bay Area Writers Workshop: Writing Master Class with Annalee Newitz was a game changer. So much good information! Nice group of people, too. We like each other so much we’re going to try to continue to meet. Annalee had many many good recommendations for us, like storytelling game Microscope “a fractal role-playing game of epic histories” by Ben Robbins.
San Francisco Center for the Book
Do yourself a favor and check out the offerings at San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB) and then take Intro to Bookbinding with Jennie Hinchcliff. She gets an A+.
UX Writers Collective
Online classes sometimes remind me of Could You Draw This Turtle? so I was nervous about signing up for UX Writing Fundamentals. I did some research and four separate writers told me to go for it. I’m glad they did. UX Writers Collective did an excellent job with this course which I’d recommend to anyone who wants to exercise their design thinking. A real human being/professional UX Writer graded my assignments and gave me comments. The final assignment was a bit of challenge, however, I am happy to report that I am now a certified UX Writer. Yippie!