February!
Given that I’ve switched to a monthly format for this communication, I tend to jot notes down throughout the month – little reminders of what I want to say. It helps, because when I sat down to start writing this, my mind was like … I don’t even know where to start! Do I talk about how I am charmed by the Kelce brothers, even though I don’t know a damn thing about football? Do I talk about how weird this damn weather is that we’re having? (50 degrees on January 31st in Minnesota. Climate change is real, y’all.)
Do I talk about the wonderful trip that I had with my girlfriends earlier this month to celebrate my friend Meg’s 40th birthday? Or how my dad is absolutely KILLING it post-knee surgery/rehab. So many things.
Anyway – I am glad you are here. I hope that January treated you well. As evidenced by the stuff above, I had a good month. I scratched my itch for travel, I read some amazing books, I had some great hikes by myself and with my kiddos.
Here’s what’s interesting in my universe:
I love John Malkovich. I love that someone so unique was once a Midwestern boy. I don’t even know if I have a favorite character of his, I just know that if he’s on screen, I’m in for a treat. (Warning: NYTimes paywall)
Book bans are BS. There are some teachers and students who are rebelling against this dangerous fad. (NPR)
I’m a huge Andrew Welsh-Huggins fan and ridiculously psyched that I get to call him my friend/acquaintance. On this blog, he shares some of his favorite reads from 2023. (Lesa’s Book Critiques blog)
Dark mud aroma. So … I’m on social media way too much. I don’t even want to know how many Instagram Reels I’ve been sucked into over the years. But I unabashedly love Melissa Ben-Ishay from Baked by Melissa. Her energy is just amazing, her videos make me want to eat vegetables, and she’s just delightful. Anyway … I don’t think that this woman drinks coffee regularly, but her husband does and he drinks Turkish coffee. I’m always up for a new coffee, so I got some Elite Turkish Coffee – and of course I’m never going to find this description again, but when I was trying to locate it – one of the vendors described it as having a dark mud aroma. And I’m not gonna lie – that’s pretty damn accurate. But I’m hooked. As long as I don’t delve into the last inch or so of coffee, I am not choking on the grounds that gather at the bottom of the mug. This is what I drink after my 5 AM wake up alarm to get up and try to get some words on the page.
Monthly minutia:
The 5 AM wake up calls are working. Don’t get me wrong … I don’t write a lot. But I’m writing daily and this daily chipping away counts builds books. My hope is that I keep increasing my word count as I’m going along.
Here’s what January looked like by the numbers in my creative world:
6,193 – written on novel
1,564 – written on other projects (blog, short stories)
Another big part of my creative life is reading and I’m trying to spend less time on my screen (sorry Baked by Melissa!) and more time in front of books. Here’s what I read in January:
You Don’t Belong Here by Elizabeth Becker – About a trio of women journalists who changed the way that the Vietnam War was covered. If you’re anywhere in my vicinity, you’re sick of hearing me talk about this book. That’s how good it is.
Burying the Newspaper Man by Curtis Ippolito – I was very excited to read this debut by Curtis. We’re mutuals on social media and he’s one of those guys who is always cheering folks on and is an all around good human. This book was very good – it handled a delicate subject sensitively and I am excited to see what’s next for Curtis.
I read two Douglas Preston books in January. One was his solo effort called The Lost Tomb, a bunch of nonfiction essays that he’s updated in this book. One of those essays? Recounting the story of “Dead Mountain”—a doomed group of hikers who died in the Dyatlov Pass in 1959. That read was a good lead up to his book with co-author Lincoln Child—the third Nora Kelly book named Dead Mountain.
And finally, the book that absolutely slayed me: I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai. I genuinely lack words to describe how good it is. This one is going to stay with me for awhile.
Well … February is here. I am hoping that this finds you well and that I’ve given you a few things to ponder during the month ahead!
Onward and upward, friends.
– Shelley
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What is First Friday? This started originally as “Friday Fare” where I posted a hodgepodge of links and some of the things that were living rent-free in my noggin. This is a monthly version of that.
michellekubitz 