#2 - I Wrote This Literally This Morning, 0/10 Do Not Recommend
AKA "i wish i could say the content got better now that you're here but LOL"
PROLOGUE
How is it March already? I swear I’m still operating like it’s the last few days of February. I haven’t even finished all of my Valentine’s Day candy! I hope you all managed to grab those discount sweets like I told you to. If you didn’t, don’t worry. Valentine’s Day and Candy Christmas happens every year.
ANYWAY, welcome back to my newsletter. I still don’t know what ✨ my voice ✨ is, but a surprising amount of you reached out to say that my newsletter was a nice little burst of positivity in your inbox on a Monday morning/afternoon/evening/what are time zones, and that meant a lot to me. So that’s what I’ll try and deliver: some fun.
Currently, I am reading a sapphic horror called My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham and really enjoying it. It’s giving dark academia and, somehow, iZombie vibes. I’m also watching Inventing Anna on Netflix, because I am a sucker for Anna Sorokin. Not literally. I would never give that woman my money. But I read My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams, and no one was more excited than me when Shonda Rhimes decided to make a series. I’m not done yet, so don’t spoil, but if you loved Tinder Swindler, you’ll love Inventing Anna. Even though they actually gave Anna money for her participation in research for the series, oof.
As for music, I think you know I’m listening to T-Swizzle. But speaking of TayTay…
CHAPTER 1: POP CULTURE MOMENT OF THE MONTH
Taylor Swift dropped a new song this month to a whisper instead of a scream. Honestly, not even she seemed to know she had a song coming out. Her twitter channels were SILENT on the subject in the time before we got “The Joker and the Queen.” I think it only hit #21 on the Billboard Chart? If Taylor doesn’t care, why should we?
Well, let me tell you, I care. I like Taylor’s featured music — less than her solo music, but well enough — and this remix was cute. Soft and somber, but fun. It’s no Speak Now TV, but it slaps.
So why is this the Pop Culture Moment of the Month instead of the “Nope” trailer featuring the always delightful Keke Palmer or, like, Inventing Anna? Well, mostly because Taylor didn’t make it a moment, so I’m making it a moment for her, because she’s been the soundtrack to most of my February.
Also, because I low-key started writing a YA contemporary and there are, like, four Taylor Swift songs on it (“The Joker and the Queen” is not included), so I need y’all to care about Taylor as much as I do. For future career reasons. Anyway.
CHAPTER 2: PRODUCTIVE PROCRASTINATION
I’ve been mentioning this a lot on Twitter, but I’m currently revising my fantasy romance, #SecretWIP, hoping to turn it over to my agent by March 14th. Yeah. I know, right? This is my second time revising with Emily — though that poor, sweet angel has no less than five WIP pitches from me at the moment, in varying states of completion — and it’s a very different experience.
With SAINT OF ASHES, I’d worked on that book for two years and gone through so many edits to make it query ready. For #SecretWIP, I wrote the first draft, did some light edits, and then yeeted it to betas and Emily at the same time. I think I begged Emily not to drop me as a client when she saw my unpolished work. I think she laughed at me. It’s a blur (but she probably did laugh at me).
Anyway, right now I have consolidated the notes I got from all of my beta readers and the edit letter I got from Emily into a list of common factors. I have deleted anything I didn’t agree with or that I felt didn’t serve the story I wanted to tell. I have printed out both the manuscript and the final sheet of notes. I have started a new document called [TITLE] REVISED. And then I…
Reordered my bookshelves
Cleaned my bathroom
Bought a new printer and then returned it and bought another new printer (long story)
Did two weeks of laundry
Gave my friends advice with some issues large and small
Watched The Good Place finale after like three years
Started a YA contemporary (14 pages and counting!)
You get the picture. My friend Jane Lee calls this “productive procrastination”, or when you put off doing something you have to do by doing other, less time-sensitive, things you have to do. So you’re still checking off your to-do list, but you’re not actually doing what you need to be doing. Despite having a name for what I’m doing, despite knowing my deadline is in *girl from The Ring voice* SEVEN DAYS, I have not been doing my revisions. I think I wrote three pages. My friend Lauren offered to sprint with me and then I fell asleep on her. Which reminds me I need to text Lauren. Sorry, Lauren!!!
But then, as an Aries and a former gifted kid, I’ve always worked best under pressure. Especially since I gave myself this deadline. Emily literally said it was impossible and that I can get it to her whenever. But as I put on “Surface Pressure” from Encanto for the hundredth time, I know myself and I know that sometimes I need a little pressure like a drip, drip, drip to light a fire under my butt.
Will I succeed? Who knows? But at least I have a clean bathroom.
CHAPTER 3: LOOK AT MY CAT!!!
As previously mentioned, I adopted a shelter cat in December 2021, who I named Sora Mittens. This is actually her birth month; according to her papers, she was born on March 30! In honor of Sora turning three at some point, please witness her. She’s become accustomed to me shoving my camera phone in her face when she’s doing absolutely nothing, so now she’s started serving looks.
CHAPTER 4: SHOUT-OUT TO MY BULLIES
Emily (my nightmare agent) and Jen (my nightmare friend) both said I have to devote a section in this newsletter to saying that I love them. So, under severe duress, I love Emily Forney and I love Jen Elrod.
I guess.
EPILOGUE
As always, I have no idea what to tell you to expect from this newsletter going forward. So far, I literally just talk about what’s on my mind. April is my birth month, so I’ll probably talk about that. More books and writing. More music and pop culture. More cat photos and more than words. Until next time!