On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King is a book I see recommended over and over and over to aspiring writers. I am unreasonably furious every time. Why? Because I read it about a decade ago, when I was a writer working in marketing1 but hoping to get in touch with another version of myself who loved writing fiction, and it devastated me. Two points, for the sake of fairness: 1) All due respect to Stephen King as a talented writer because wow, can that man spin a tale, and 2) please know I was EXTREMELY depressed at the time. That being said … On Writing was probably the worst writing…

Friends, the summer reading season is upon us. Maybe you celebrate, and maybe you don’t, but either way, I wanted to kick it off by sharing the five books I would bring to a desert island. These are my comfort reads, my inspiration reads, my re-readable reads, my frequently recommended, my everything. Continue reading on Substack

“I’ve DNF’d 4 romance novels in a row, send help,” I texted a fellow book-obsessed friend recently. It’s a bummer every time. I pick up a shiny new romance novel, excited to be transported to another, more lighthearted world where characters feel real but are quirkier and more articulate than anyone is in actual life. A place where true love always wins and all the loose ends get tied up neatly. But something I’ve been noticing (and what’s bothering me enough to return the book to the library unread) is that romance is becoming both less and less plausible and more and more stressful. Here’s the scenario: Continue reading on…

If you don’t have religious trauma, consider yourself lucky. But if you do, then perhaps you’re still a little bit in luck, because Taylor Tomlinson’s newest comedy special is the dark therapy you need. Like Tomlinson, I grew up in a strict religious community. Like Tomlinson, I have emotional issues from it. Unlike Tomlinson, I stayed religious (while ditching extracurriculars like purity culture), but I still enjoyed Prodigal Daughter, which — despite its defiant title and marketing — isn’t an hour of criticizing Jesus so much as … Continue reading on Substack

Every February, I almost quit skating. If you’re not familiar with this newsletter (or forgot because PWLT pretended 2025 didn’t exist), I’ve been taking figure skating lessons for the last few years. It lets me be a kid again, try something new, be bad at it, get better. It gets me out of my head and into my body. And, strangely enough, it makes writing easier, because writing is hard but skating is SO MUCH HARDER. Continue reading on Substack

I truly hope this email finds you well. Yes, it’s been a while. I’ve been busy raising a small human, and while I think of this newsletter space frequently and fondly, my (limited) writing time has all been going into my latest work-in-progress (a new novel that I love!). For this short and sweet epistle, I thought I’d share some ways I’m “writing” even on the days I never get a chance to sit at my desk and open that growing Word document. Here’s to those who are creating while parenting, while caretaking for a family member, while showing up in your community, while working a 9-to-5 that’s not your…