April Compost Heap 2024
Songs, Books, Ideas, Stories Keeping Me Going
(George Wright’s Garden Sculpture in Dorset, 2001)
A great many things have changed in my life in the past months. I’ll share more when it feels like I’ve got my feet - and my roots - under me. I’m feeling some emotional jetlag. A lot of trepidation about what’s to come. And also a lot of big, juicy love for my friends who have been keeping me laughing all the way.
I’m also grateful for the books, stories, lectures, songs, ideas that have helped me navigate this moment of transition. I’d love to share some thing currently “fermenting” in the compost heap of my creative landscape.
1. This is such a goofy and HELPFUL walk-through of how to begin thinking about writing a novel by fantasy-writer Brandon Sanderson: Five Tips for Writing Your First Novel
2. I had a truly mind-bending conversation with my good friend Holly Whitaker at the Woodstock Bookfest in what will probably be my last public event for a while. We discussed the difference between privacy and secrecy in an age of compulsory confessionalism. I’d love to share more about it eventually and I’m sad it wasn’t recorded but for now, check out Holly’s brilliant substack:
3. In preparation for our talk Holly sent me some incredible essays one of which knocked my socks off by Tracy Clark-Flory titled “The insatiable baby-woman: 'Poor Things' and the pornographic fantasy of feral 'female desire.'
Of course, I then had to sign up to Clark-Flory’s brilliant substack and I suggest you do, too.