Issue 27: Start, stop, continue

Today is my birthday and it’s day 3 of #1000wordsofsummer so today’s newsletter will be extremely short!

I rewatched Broad City recently. In one of my favorite episodes, St. Mark’s, Abbi asks Ilana the following questions on her birthday:

What have you done this past year that you’re proud of?

What are you gonna do this upcoming year?

I feel like this past year, in order to cope, I’ve tried to not think about the future and just focus on each day as it comes. But it’s been a nice opportunity to reflect on these questions, to think about how it relates not just to writing and my life more broadly, but also how I want to make writing a priority in my life.

My team at work does retrospectives where we categorize things that we should start, stop, or continue. When I think about what I want to do this upcoming year, it’s been helpful to use this retro framework. Start a consistent writing schedule. Stop spending so much time on TikTok (lol). Continue this newsletter.

What are the things you want to start / stop / continue?

Creative resources

• Apply for a fall artist residency with The Cabins in Lambertville, NJ. Open to all creatives!
• “We’re not good enough to not practice” by Kiese Laymon
• Shing Yin Khor on the exhaustion of creating as an Asian diasporic artist: “I want to write what white girls write. I want to write about me. I want to write like I’m not just the center of my universe, but the center of yours too: golden and narcissistic and unconcerned.”
• Apply for LitUp, a writer’s fellowship by Reese’s Book Club for unpublished, underrepresented women with a full adult or YA fiction manuscript. Application deadline extended to June 13.

Recent reads & other media

I read A Burning by Megha Majumdar, which weaves together the fates of Jivan, PT Sir, and Lovely in a gorgeously-written debut that also examines corruption, extremism, and class in India. I also read Emily Henry’s newest book, People We Meet on Vacation, which was a good slow burn friends-to-lovers romance that also made me miss traveling.

Note: Book links are connected to my Bookshop affiliate page. If you purchase a book from there, you'll be supporting my work and local independent bookstores!

~ meme myself and i ~

Dreams are a creative exercise. Am I...better than everyone? (JK I read a lot and scroll TikTok for hours.) Be nice to your servers and tip them well!! When you’re drunk but dedicated to your skincare routine. “Never date a guy with no bed frame” discourse. This dog only understands the Spongebob Rock Bottom language.