SOON, issue 14: Five Very Short Lists to Close Out 2024
Writing, reading, rereading, crafting, thrifting.
Welcome to Something Out of Nothing, a newsletter about meaning—making it, finding it, offering it. I talk about the writing life, teaching, thrifting, books, travel, obsessions and idle interests, and much more.
Some Favorite Lines I’ve Written
From an ongoing short story revision: “She drifted in the fog of memory, the priest’s voice a strident narrator she ignored. She said amen when others said amen, but that was only cultural osmosis. When Jacob stood to follow his father’s casket out of the church, he first kneeled and gave the sign of the cross. For a moment, she imagined him as an altar boy, white gown and bad haircut, perpetually blushing. She wished she could ask if he’d ever been one but she couldn’t ask him idle questions anymore, and certainly not at his father’s funeral.”
From a finished short story: “Inside the room, pragmatism: they took off their shoes, she used the bathroom first, then him, and when he came out he left the bathroom light on, bringing the door to within a sliver of closing and the emerging glow transformed their bodies into benign silhouettes. As her head fell upon the pillow, the scent of lavender exhaled around her—his sheets were cleaner than she’d expected, then she remembered it was a hotel and not his actual bed.'“
From my newsletter (SOON, issue 4): “Loosen your grip on what you’ve been taught makes for “good” writing, and instead practice only writing toward your own interests. At all costs. Forget the workshop directives from peers and instructors alike, those old voices that once seemed so important or necessary or, just, loud. Instead, turn toward yourself and follow the thread of what compels you as you write. Make it a devoted practice. It will take some time but here’s what will happen in the long run: you will begin to develop, strengthen, and prioritize your storytelling instincts around your work.”
Some Favorite New Reads
Seek You by Kristen Radtke: Graphic memoir from 2021 with a strong research through-line exploring loneliness in America. Beautiful work. As much about the mysteries one feels around their parents’ identities as the larger, dynamic questions of how society and pop culture have created and cultivated different qualities of loneliness.
Why We Can’t Sleep by Ada Calhoun: From 2020, this researched, conversational exploration of everyday Gen X women in midlife relies on numerous interviews to compare impossibly heightened social and gender expectations against the increasingly demanding reality of life for the everyday American woman. Very readable. Talks about how in the hell we got here and continue to trap ourselves. Relevant to Millenial women as well, plus touches on what’s coming down the pipeline for Gen Z.
Mockingbird Years by Emily Fox Gordon (still reading!): Memoir from 2000 about growing up in the 50s and 60s in an emotionally strained family and being an unrelatable child put into psychoanalysis and, later, institutionalized. Absolutely gorgeous prose with compelling retrospective insights of self, of family, of the early days of therapy’s utility in mainstream society.
Some Favorite Rereads
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing: From 1988, this very slim novel is about a young married couple setting up a gorgeous family life, with ordinary struggles and ordinary help from family and friends, until the arrival of the titular fifth child breaks the spell. It’s about what we do—as family, as loved ones, as society—when presented with emotional demands we don’t recognize. Do we isolate ourselves from those demands for the so-called ‘greater good’? Is idyllic life real and possible? I love this fucking book.
Portrait with Coal Fire by Kanishk Tharoor: From Tharoor’s excellent 2017 collection Swimmer Among the Stars, I teach this short story almost every semester as a clear and powerful example of how much story really good dialogue can convey to the reader. The story is a Skype call between a photojournalist from a National Geographic-type magazine and the coal miner from rural India he photographed in his ‘natural element.’ The entire form is limited to back and forth dialogue, without quotation marks, without dialogue tags. It’s an incredible feat! And the subject matter, initially curious and interesting, subtly draws you into the sly power dynamics of representation in media and art, and makes you question your own eye towards the world.
Outside the Raft by Dantiel W. Moniz: From Moniz’s 2021 collection, Milk Blood Heat, this is another story I teach frequently, and each time love that I ‘have’ to reread it. Evocative, retrospective story about two early adolescent girls—our narrator and her cousin—encountering major questions of life (belief, faith, unconditional love) through each other’s contrasting upbringings and the one idle afternoon at the beach that shifts their worldview. I find something new to love every time I reread it, and my students overwhelmingly love it, too.
Some Favorite Crafts
Felted Wool Portrait
Floral Lumbar Pillow
Pair of Matching Pillows
Some Favorite Thrift Finds
I haven’t written much here about my love for thrifting, but it’s a lifelong infatuation, started by weekly trips to Savers in St. Cloud, Minnesota, with my mom when I was a kid. These days, I’m not just seeking eclectic vintage items for myself, rather I’ve turned this love of the hunt into a cozy little online shop called Intentional Assembly. AND, from now until December 21, I’m offering 20% off to my newsletter folks! Use code SUBSTACK20 at checkout (and if you’re in the Richmond region, you can message me for local pickup!). Here’s a few items currently in stock that I’ve fought every urge to keep for myself:
Blue and Yellow Geometric Lillian Vernon Saucer Dessert Plates
Postmodern Metal Candleholder with Swirling Abstract Design
Brown Drip Glaze Stackable Mugs with Muted Green, Blue, White Color Variety
Use code SUBSTACK20 to take 20% off your order. This code is only available to my newsletter folks! No other sales are currently running. It’s just for you.
This is all my favorite. <3