Interview Issue 101: 8 Questions with Jemimah Wei This is 8 Questions: sprinkles of an author’s journey from writing through publication. “Because there’s no me without you either.” Sisterhood is a central part of my life (hi, katie) and my fiction. I was blown away by Jemimah Wei’s debut novel, The Original Daughter, which explores
Issue Issue 100: Looking back and looking forward HAPPY 100TH NICOLEDONUT! What began as a pandemic project is now in its sixth year—thank you for reading, clicking, subscribing, replying, and sharing. Since I started this newsletter, I’ve finished two first drafts of novels, had two surgeries, gotten married, and changed jobs. There were times I wrote
Issue Issue 99: We have writing retreats at home Last December, I was eating pho with my sister and we were musing about the year to come. Specifically, what trips we were excited for. Maybe I was coming out of some post-wedding blues, or maybe I was bracing myself to work most of the holidays, but I felt a
Issue Issue 98: 8 Questions with Carter Sherman This is 8 Questions: sprinkles of an author’s journey from writing through publication. From the rise of social media and fanfiction to the #MeToo movement to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Carter Sherman’s book, The Second Coming, examines the societal forces that have shaped Gen Z’s
Issue Issue 97: 100 things that made my year (2025) As anticipated, 2025 was a relatively light writing year, with most of my time dedicated to planning my wedding. Similar to 2024 and 2023, here are my annual reflections in the vein of Austin Kleon: 1. Our wedding!!! All the friends and family who supported us, and all the vendors
Issue Featured Issue 96: Throwing a bookish wedding When I look back on 2025, the biggest thing is that E and I got married in September! This was a relatively light writing year, but I got to exercise creativity in a different direction by planning a loosely literary wedding. We, unfortunately, are not Carrie and Mr. Big, so
Issue Featured Issue 95: 8 Questions with Eshani Surya I’ve interviewed some amazing authors in the past, and I’m so excited to announce a new nicoledonut interview series called 8 Questions: sprinkles of an author’s journey from writing through publication. (Of course, this was driven in large part by donut imagery. A huge thank you to
Issue Issue 94: Newsletter recs, part 3 I’m officially a month out from my wedding, so things have been getting hectic!! Welcome to some new subscribers and thank you Ethan Marcotte, a wonderful human, designer, and writer, for including this newsletter in your own roundup. It reminded me it’s been awhile since I’ve shared
Issue Issue 93: On warm-ups and creative coaching When I was younger, I played piano. My teacher wanted me to practice three times a week. The first chunk of each hour was dedicated to scales, which I always wanted to skip. But under the watchful eye of my mom, I’d take out my Hanon book and do
Issue Issue 92: Creativity is a pool Having written a few years of this newsletter, one thing I keep coming back to is how often I learn the same lesson in different contexts and periods of my life. This year, I wanted to take my time with writing, but knew that between work and planning a wedding
Issue Featured Issue 91: Safeguard your creativity In 2024, I wrote a novel draft in nine months. On paper, I accomplished what I set out to do—write consistently, use my writing fellowship time and resources, maintain focus on a single project, and make it to the end of a first draft. But in all honesty, the
Issue Issue 90: Writing a novel draft in 9 months I had the chance to talk with the New England Review for their “Behind the Byline” series for my short story published in their latest issue! Last year, my main focus was drafting a new novel. This lined up well with my yearlong fellowship with The Center for Fiction, which
Issue Issue 89: 100 things that made my year (2024) Welp, last year got away from me and I ended up taking a hiatus from this newsletter. I guess I inadvertently channeled Michaela Coel’s advice to disconnect: “don’t be afraid to disappear from it, from us, for a while and see what comes to you in the silence.
Issue Issue 88: Lessons from erasure poetry Earlier this month, a friend asked if I wanted to join her for a poetry workshop. She’d been looking for one-off writing events and found one through the NYPL website (shoutout to libraries!). We went to the Seward Park branch one warm Thursday evening, and for two hours, learned
Issue Issue 87: Proven / improved / new I’m doing a reading as part of my Emerging Writer Fellowship at The Center for Fiction on May 23! If you’re in New York, I’d love to see you there. I started a new job last November and one of the teams I work on is responsible
Issue Issue 86: Small steps Last December, I was in Cape Town with E for a family reunion with his South African relatives. While we were there, we hiked Lion’s Head, a popular peak in Table Mountain National Park. E and I, along with his brother and his wife, woke early to beat the
Issue Issue 85: Making choices Ever since I chatted with Meera Lee Patel at the end of last year, one thing in particular has stuck with me: If I was ever going to accomplish the things I wanted to accomplish in my life, in my career, I had to be very straight about what those
Issue Featured Issue 84: A decade of 52 books in 52 weeks A decade of reading 52 books in 52 weeks! I never thought that when I started this “challenge” back in 2014 as a college student that I would keep it up for so long. 2024 was a year of major life changes, which made me reprioritize reading. Writing workshops and
Issue Issue 83: 100 things that made my year (2023) I’m someone who always does their year-end reflections in January. By the end of the year, I just want to cozy up on the couch and catch up on my reading. Austin Kleon’s newsletter is always a source of creative inspiration (see: commonplace books), and his annual top
Issue Issue 82: Remembering the quiet lessons Congratulations to the winners of last issue’s giveaway, Natalie and Lu, who will be receiving copies of Meera Lee Patel’s essay collection, How It Feels to Find Yourself, and journal, Go Your Own Way! This is my last issue of the year, as I’m headed to South
Interview Issue 81: Sharpening your internal compass with Meera Lee Patel The first book I read by Meera Lee Patel was My Friend Fear, a wonderful exploration of fear as a force for change, reflection, and healing. My sister and I spoke with her in 2018 for our podcast, Sweet and Sour, about her journey as a self-taught artist. All these
Issue Issue 80: Giving yourself grace If I’m being completely honest, I’ve felt a lot of reluctance and avoidance when it comes to this newsletter these last few months. It’s supposed to be about writing and creativity, but lately I haven’t been tapped into either. I was talking with a friend who
Issue Featured Issue 79: A real weightless joy I have some new flash fiction up at The Margins! It’s a story about a cyst, a relationship, and excising things from your life no matter how painful. It’s been a month of a lot of (good) change! I was selected as a Center for Fiction fellow and
Issue Issue 78: Chemistry over balance Some exciting news: I was selected to be a 2023-2024 Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow! I’m so appreciative of this opportunity and am excited to be joining this incredible cohort. At the end of September, I went to Florida for the Poynter Leadership Academy for Women
Issue Issue 77: Fundamentals and foundations Lately, it feels like the days aren’t long enough. The pace of things picks up in September—work starts focusing on year-end deadlines, submission windows for literary magazines open, fellowship applications become available etc. Not to mention the importance of continuing to make time for family, friends, exercise, cleaning,
