Last I wrote was about Leonard Cohen and the end of a particular creative era, but you could think of it in terms of Taylor Swift’s Reputation reset too; sorry, the old author can’t come to the phone right now.
"reading a book is one of the most unfettered conversations you can have with yourself." Yes. I'd love to see more of what those 60 books were. It's hard to sum up everything I like about this post in a comment, but the short version is, I feel you. I wonder if there is a collective subconscious pull to get back to making art as opposed to just cranking out products, a rebellion against the increasing commodification of all of our time, thoughts and energy, a longing for open-ended exploration over deadline-driven productivity.
There was a dearth of YA and the thing that surprised me most was a lot of non-fiction! And A LOT of Joan Didion. I think my 2023 reading goal is just to complete everything she's ever written because no matter what she writes about, I'm so compelled by her voice. I did like 3 essay collections in one week and I was like so much of these topics I'd skip at a glance, and even starting them I'd be like eeeeh I don't know about this and then she'd just pull me in with her perspective and make it all so interesting to me and it was such a good reminder of what voice/writing is. That aside, God yeah--there was this amazing quote by a pair of former BuzzFeed personalities I have been thinking about a lot in the last year. They quit to start their own channel, where they had more freedom, and when they described why, it was about how they were asked for more, more, more while being told to align their expectations for diminishing returns and support from the people they were doing it for. I wish all authors could seize that energy collectively until the scales could be more balanced. I was going to say 'again' but were they ever lol.
I absolutely love Joan Didion. I was actually thinking of her last night when I was cooking dinner, because she has a line in one of her essays about coming home from something (I think it was when she was working with one of the Manson girls) and habitually being so ravenous that she would make herself two hamburgers. I never make hamburgers on the stove, especially not habitually, but I was like, if Joan can do it, why can't I?
Love hearing/reading anything you have to say 🥰.
Will have to have a look at notes (didn't know about it before 😖).
Stay strong, don't compromise, be kind to yourself. I'm excited to see you re-emerge (because it's an exit, right 😊).
Thank you! You are such a generous reader and commenter and I always appreciate it, Emily. I am excited to re-emerge too 😊😊😊
"reading a book is one of the most unfettered conversations you can have with yourself." Yes. I'd love to see more of what those 60 books were. It's hard to sum up everything I like about this post in a comment, but the short version is, I feel you. I wonder if there is a collective subconscious pull to get back to making art as opposed to just cranking out products, a rebellion against the increasing commodification of all of our time, thoughts and energy, a longing for open-ended exploration over deadline-driven productivity.
There was a dearth of YA and the thing that surprised me most was a lot of non-fiction! And A LOT of Joan Didion. I think my 2023 reading goal is just to complete everything she's ever written because no matter what she writes about, I'm so compelled by her voice. I did like 3 essay collections in one week and I was like so much of these topics I'd skip at a glance, and even starting them I'd be like eeeeh I don't know about this and then she'd just pull me in with her perspective and make it all so interesting to me and it was such a good reminder of what voice/writing is. That aside, God yeah--there was this amazing quote by a pair of former BuzzFeed personalities I have been thinking about a lot in the last year. They quit to start their own channel, where they had more freedom, and when they described why, it was about how they were asked for more, more, more while being told to align their expectations for diminishing returns and support from the people they were doing it for. I wish all authors could seize that energy collectively until the scales could be more balanced. I was going to say 'again' but were they ever lol.
I absolutely love Joan Didion. I was actually thinking of her last night when I was cooking dinner, because she has a line in one of her essays about coming home from something (I think it was when she was working with one of the Manson girls) and habitually being so ravenous that she would make herself two hamburgers. I never make hamburgers on the stove, especially not habitually, but I was like, if Joan can do it, why can't I?
sdfadf YES!! If Joan can do it... so should we all
Excited to see you on Notes, Courtney!
I already love it. Twitter who.
Me too! SO glad to be able to fade away from that hellscape.