October '24 ins/outs
October '24 ins/outs
Cashmere sweaters, the Sweat tour, and potato leek soup
It is absolutely pouring rain as I type this, and the forecast for later in the day has a harrowing little snowflake icon on it. October has been absolutely fucking beautiful this year and I thought we’d be squeaking by with no snow this month, but apparently we’re getting flurries for a few hours. Damn it!!!!!
Usually today would be regularly scheduled programming, but it’s the first time my monthly bonus issue has naturally fallen on a Friday, so today will be my monthly wrap-up, followed by a spicy little essay on Sunday morning instead.
October was glorious, to be honest! Even though we’re so close to election day it makes me a little sick if I think about it too hard. The general vibe with my friends right now is ~anxiety~, for good reason. It seems like we’re all doing a lot of retail therapy to keep our minds off a certain deranged lunatic possibly making his way back into the White House. I’ve mostly been buying books (I’m on a tear, someone needs to stop me) but I also bought some really good pants from Aritzia IRL that are listed online as being “cabin and cottage friendly(?)”– okay, I’m sold again.
On a better note! Exactly one week ago I had dinner with four incredible humans who all took the time to read the second draft of my book, which now feels much more like a ~real~ book than just a draft of a book. I have two solid pages of edits to make (which are both exciting and overwhelming) but the reviews overall nearly made me cry happy tears!!
One of my friends said the book was so good it gave her a hangover, which is one of the absolute highest compliments a book can receive in my opinion (and hers). Another friend said she felt so lucky to have read it, and that she thought about the characters every time she had to take a break from reading. 😭 Are u kidding???
Sharing your work in any phase is a very (!!) vulnerable thing, especially when you’re asking for critical/constructive feedback in addition to what made it glow. I was kind of in a daze last weekend letting all of it sink in, but now I’m feeling ready to push the boulder up the hill the rest of the way. My friends gave me a few incredibly insightful notes/ideas that I am 1000% confident will make the story better. I’m also signed up for a three part line editing course this month that will help me self-edit my third draft before I have someone else look at it, since I think editing at the sentence level is probably my weakest area as a writer (but I’ve never actually done it in this context, so I guess we’ll find out!)
November is *always* my craziest month of the year, what with being a Person in Retail for 16 years and counting. As such, I’m taking this round of book edits a little slower than usual so I don’t rush through them, and I’ll probably end up taking Black Friday off so I don’t explode :)
For now I’m just trying to hold on to my peace before we vote in a few days! It’s not like women’s rights are on the ballot or anything!!! 🤡
1. The Sweat tour – Flying to L.A. for a whirlwind 48 hours to see Charli XCX and Troye Sivan perform was the best decision I made all month. I bought my plane tickets two weeks before the show and danced so hard I barely took any photos. It was hands-down one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to; I can’t believe the tour is already over!!
2. Mini dresses with tall boots – A few years ago, I got rid of most of the skirts and dresses in my closet that fell significantly above my knees. The “mini” silhouette was never something I reached for post-pandemic, which I’ve come to realize is because I didn’t own any knee-high boots to pair it with. It’s actually shocking how much less naked I feel in a mini dress when also wearing a tall boot??? I bought this knit dress last year from DOEN on a whim and paired it with tall suede boots and a quilted jacket, and got compliments alllllll night. It’s a big enough shift in my sartorial psyche that I’m now shopping differently, considering how my footwear affects a potential outfit *much* more carefully.
3. This “which character are you” personality test – This test uses a massive database with thousands of TV and movie characters you know and love to tell you who you’re most like. Apparently I am most similar to Deanna Troi from Star Trek (Paul disagrees) and Mia Dolan from La La Land (I can definitely see it).
