read, reader, readest
(drafted mid-Feb, and ignored, til today, because I have things to say, but I need to say these other things first? anyway, here's the 18th Feb missive.)
Logging on to Substack doesn’t make me want to write as much as it makes me want to read. Unlike Tinyletter, where this newsletter used to be hosted, Substack has a news feed where I can browse the writing of the people I follow, the people they follow, and the people that Substack’s algorithm thinks I might want to follow.
Writing that paragraph made me realise something about another piece of writing that I’ve been meaning to return to, and perhaps I’ll link it here when it’s done, but now I feel like the switch has been flipped and the electrical current that powers the writing is flowing toward another piece, so for now, before I attend to that, here’s what I’ve been reading, which is what I meant to send here in the first place (writing about the reading) before I got distracted by the reading of the writing and the writing about the writing.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.
A week ago I had a marvellous conversation with a friend at her house. I brought dinner so we could sit down and write but it turned into a sprawling conversation about loving effusively, being simps the world, childlike simplicity, loyalty, past lives, protein, religion, and the desire to devote oneself to one simple good thing. We also ended up writing, which was wonderful. We talked about what we read as a child, Earthsea, returning to books, and the way we found ourselves through simple, generous stories about who we can become when we are loved by others and ourselves.
Gluten-free recipes.
These poems:
What Lesbians Do In Bed by Susan MatasovskaPoem in Which I Transition into a Succulent by Aeon Ginsberg
The Language by Robert Creeley
What Space Faith Can Occupy by TC Colbert
i climb into my bathrub the same way i fell in love with you by Marie Giesbrecht
Ways To Make Noise by Brett Elizabeth Jenkins
Salt and Sea by Ariana Lee
The Problem With Travel by Ada Limón
The Dog by Aracelis GirmayUnmasking Autism, Laziness Does Not Exist, and other writing by Dr Devon Price
The True Costs of Being On Youtube by Carla Lalli Music, part of her newsletter Food Processing.
A super lousy super smutty romantasy series that I am embarrassed to reveal the name of which is precisely why I must say loud and not-so-proud that I’ve been reading Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing series and it is really not good and even the sex scenes aren’t very sexy to me because they’re kinda cringe
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