year in review
2022
Hi again.
On Instagram, I opened up the Q&A box for what you’d like to see in my Year in Review. This newsletter covers just about all you asked for, maybe more.
If you want to share your year’s top picks, want any more of mine, or have any of your own questions for me, leave them in the comments of this letter’s Substack post—I’d love to read and respond.
📃 My year in publishing:
I’m the Girl released in September. It was an Indie Next Pick, received four starred reviews, and was named a Best YA Book of 2022 by Indigo, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Shelf Awareness.
Not only written to challenge and “test the boundaries of the readers empathy for survivors of abuse or women who they consider to be dumb” as this thoughtful review so handily summarized, I’m the Girl is also an expression of absolute and unconditional belief in those victims and survivors. I hope they know it provides a space where their experiences, dignity, and integrity, are not—and will never be—up for debate. I’m proud of I’m the Girl’s refusal to be a book for everyone in service of who it is for and I’m grateful each time it reaches those readers, and for every reader who met and meets Georgia’s narrative with the empathy it so urgently asked of them. Thank you for supporting it.
This year also saw the conclusion to Sadie in Greetings from Sunny Los Angeles, which serves as the punctuation on a set of stories that began 14 years ago, when I was 22. The girls at the heart of them can only be found behind me now, in complete conversation—an era’s end.
Join me in the next. I’ve already begun writing it.
📚 My year in books:
I read a little over one hundred books this year, which isn’t typical. Usually, I fall anywhere between 50 - 70. I didn’t begin with any particular goals in mind, but as 2022 wore on, I decided to explore the backlists of new and longtime favorite authors, and watching the evolution of their talents was such a genuinely wonderful experience, I might repeat it next year. While there were many books I loved or enjoyed enough to wholeheartedly recommend—and I often do on my Instagram stories—I’m going to highlight some 2023 releases I loved and had the privilege of reading early.
Sam by Allegra Goodman: Charting the titular character’s childhood and adolescence to the precipice of adulthood, alongside those inherent pressures, expectations, rebellions, and delicious firsts, Sam’s power and importance lies in its daring to recognize often undersung acts of courage and compromise that define the experiences of many young women trying to take up space in a world that won’t willingly hand it over. This is an elegantly written book exploring the multifactedness of girlhood, the gradation of trauma, quiet strength, and how much movement there is in survival. Out Jan. 3rd
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi: Roshani Chokshi unravels the concept of our selves through the eyes others—particularly those who dare to love us because of who we are, and those who demand we love them in spite of how they are. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is an intimate and compelling modern fairy tale about what it means to be enthralled by such dangerous ideas of ourselves we might not be strong enough to survive them. This evocative, gorgeously realized portrait of the complexities of marriage and girlhood, the consequence of trauma, and the bravery required to allow ourselves to be really and truly seen is utterly unmissable. Out Feb. 14th
Throwback by Maurene Goo: A girl must heal her relationship with her emotionally remote mother in the usual way: by getting thrown back in time and helping her teen mom win Homecoming Queen. Throwback is a 90s fever dream through the eyes of a snappy, modern-day protag, but what makes it special isn't the time travel—it's the tenderly framed and bittersweet multi-generational exploration of mother-daughter relationships, how they’re shaped by the immigrant experience, the pursuit of an ‘American’ dream designed to leave people behind, and wanting the best for the ones you love, even if you aren't the best at showing it. Optimistic in way so few books are while never shying from the challenges of, beauty in, and profound rewards of embracing that optimism, This is a remarkable, beautiful story. Out April 11th
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley: Warrior Girl Unearthed follows Perry, a headstrong and fiercely loyal young woman whose determination to reclaim her Ojibwe tribe’s stolen history from opportunistic grave robbers puts her in the middle of a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Angeline Boulley once again impresses with this uncompromising thriller highlighting the painful complexities of negotiating a criminally indifferent world determined to fail the people it owes the most to. I’ve always felt YA thrillers should be defined by what’s truly at stake, not just the trappings of its buzzwords, and at the center of this one is a powerful and heartfelt story about a girl willing to risk everything for what she knows is right and the people she loves the most. An outstanding follow-up to Firekeeper’s Daughter. Out May 2nd from Henry Holt BYR
🎬 My year in movies and TV:
My goal was to watch 52 movies, hoping to heal my fractured moving-watching attention span. I managed 31 + 6 shows—maybe next year? Here’s what stood out.
A Mouthful of Air (2021): This exploration of post-partum depression features a powerfully raw performance by Amanda Seyfried. If I could define A Mouthful of Air by anything it would be its restraint; it demands you witness a young woman’s overwhelming pain, then take the time to reckon with what it is you’ve just witnessed. I was so devastated by its final frame, it ruined me—I loved it.
Prey: Predator never hit with me unless you count the Alien vs. Predator movies which are so bad they achieve greatness, but Prey achieves greatness without being the least bit bad. It’s excellent. Amber Midthunder’s and Dakota Beavers’s performances and chemistry as brother and sister brought some much-needed emotional stakes to the franchise, in addition to the strength of its own story.
Severance, season 1: Imagine a company that, after a tiny little brain surgery, enables its employees to sever their work and personal lives, leaving no recollection of the other self when one is on or off the clock. These two identities can never overlap—until terrible things demand it. Besides being perfectly casted, exceptionally written, and cleverly shot, Severance is a masterclass in narrative tension and one of the most creatively invigorating things I watched this year.
Watcher: An American couple moves to Bucharest at a time when a serial killer is stalking young women in the streets. Julie’s convinced she’s being watched by a man in the apartment across from hers, and as the situation escalates, her fears are dismissed by the people she should be able to trust. Essentially 96 minutes of Why You Should Listen to Women, Watcher is memorably unsettling and impossible to look away from.
🎧 My year in music:
A lot of my favs released new albums, but in most cases, I ended up preferring their parts to the whole. My two exceptions feel sonically complementary: Metric’s Formentera and Mitski’s Laurel Hell. Formentera is an electric exploration of self and artistry in increasingly changing times and unstable industries, and Laurel Hell is Mitski’s plaintively honest return to a profession and form of expression that, for better and—especially—worse, has its hooks in her.
🎮 My year in games:
I played 12 or 32 games to completion, depending how you look at it! 12 unique games and multiple replays. Sometimes you just want to unwind with a story you know delivers. These two did—do—just that.
Alien: Isolation: I offloaded my life’s tension with my favorite game, where your only objective is to survive a situation that makes every other problem you have seem small by comparison. Alien: Isolation is entirely stealth; you can’t fight the alien, the flamethrower only buys time, you can risk distraction, but most anything that isn’t tiptoeing or hiding results in death. You play as Ellen Ripley’s grown daughter and board Sevastopol space station in hopes of learning more about your mother’s disappearance. When Isolation begins, there’s some—not much—life on the station, as the Xenomorph’s reign is well underway, but level-by-level, you lose what few allies and advantages you gain until you are alone, and each time you revisit an environment, it’s in a deeper state of degredation and harder to navigate. Every game must be survived to be won, but A:I narrows the focus of this objective until it’s so incremental, it’s less playing to win than confronting and enduring a brutal moment in time until it’s finally over—and I just think that’s beautiful! There’s nothing I can compare it to. While I’ve replayed Isolation so much I know its constants by heart, thanks to the variables provided by an incredible AI, I’ve never played it exactly the same way twice. The game’s loving design feels like a natural extension of the horror-survival based universe Ridley Scott established in Alien. As a result, it’s a better sequel than any of the films that followed it. Perfect organism.
The Quarry: The Quarry is essentially a playable horror film about a bunch of summer camp counselors lucky enough to survive the season, who then make the fatal mistake of staying at camp one day longer than they should have. You head-hop between characters and the choices you make can damage or strengthen their relationships with one another—if they don’t end up getting them killed. The Quarry is abundant in atmosphere, with beautiful environments that capture the spirit of the creature features that inspired it, stellar writing, and a fantastic cast. Even better, with multiple endings and pathways to them, the game is designed to be replayed. Each outcome reveals something new about the characters, their motivations, and leave you with the understanding a ‘good’ ending might not be an earned ending, and a ‘bad’ ending might prove most entertaining. Interactive choice-and-consequence games like this are an excellent way to learn about narrative branches, character development, dialogue and just—good writing.
💬 Your questions, answered—
Talk skincare, any new favs?
La Roche-Posay Ultra Fluid Face Lotion SPF 50. This is the best sunscreen I’ve ever used. Lightweight, absorbs beautifully, is exceptional under makeup. Honestly, I have the BEST makeup days when I use this.
Creative advice?
I return to Seth Godin’s advice a lot, about having the courage to tell consumers when a work isn’t for them and focusing on reaching ‘the smallest viable audience’—who the work is actually for—which is quite substantial, but often neglected in our quest to reach the elusive ‘Everyone.’ I think publishers and other gatekeepers who approach their work with this understanding have the potential to be true tastemakers and make a lasting impact, and artists who approach their work with that understanding will spare themselves future hurt. Never compromise at the expense of what your heart set out to say, because that’s all you have, should all else fail.
What newsletters are you subscribed to?
By no means an exhaustive list, but here’s a sampling: Nova Ren Suma’s, Veronica Roth’s, S. Jae-Jones’s, Chani’s horoscopes, Lithub Daily, and the Book Marks Bulletin.
Favorite unexpected thing that stuck with you?
When I signed copies of I’m the Girl at my local bookstore and posted about it on Instagram, I never expected readers to seek those copies out—and they did! With few exceptions, front-facing opportunities were never made a huge part of my career and it’s not a way I’m used to measuring reach. On social, everything feels like a small and lovely gathering, which is so nice, but still denies a bit of that context. I mean it when I say I’m still so shocked and very touched when readers come out for me that way.
Biggest life lessons?
Jennette McCurdy said it better than I could: “If saying the truth ends a relationship, [it’s] probably a relationship that needed to end. There was probably some painful, uncomfortable truth that was just needing to be expressed for a long time and if saying that out loud is going to end the relationship, it’s probably better off not being in a person’s life.”
Reflect on your terrible coffee choices.
OKAY. If you’ve followed me, you know for a long time I put instant coffee in my coffee because I equated the taste of terrible coffee with strong coffee, but also it was actually strong because it’s double-fucking-coffee. Well, anyway. I’ve now graduated to a Nespresso machine and sometimes I mix espresso and coffee which Google tells me is called ‘A Red Eye’ but is a higher quality beverage overall. So I’m happy to report I’m better now. Thank you for inquiring after my mental health.
What has most delighted, disappointed, and surprised you this year?
This experience probably encompassed all three of those emotions at various points and, speaking of, I am so overwhelmed by and filled with gratitude for the way that piece was received and responded to. Thank you so much.
More Baby-sitters Club content:
Kristy Thomas is a lesbian and so am I.
Tell me 2023 will be better.
Well, let’s decide that here, now, and together—it will be.
Thank you for your kind indulgence, for the space you made in your inbox to hear from me, and about my work, thank you for the generous support and love you’ve shown in reading and championing my books. Thank you for the time you’ve given to connect with me, to share your thoughts, opinions, stories—your selves. It’s been wonderful to be here in your company. And if you got all the way to the end of this newsletter, I’m calling it a few weeks early, just for us: we made it.
Happy new year.
Purchase I’m the Girl.
Happy new year, Courtney! I’ve read about 125 books, drafted a rom com during NaNoWriMo, and edited the ever loving heck out of a YA fantasy I plan to query in the new year.
I have read 31 books this year, nearly all of which were re-reads of my favourite books & authors.
I watch around 150 films & TV shows (both new & rewatches) highlights being: Everything Everywhere All at once, Euphoria, Yellow Jackets, Gomorrah, The Sinner, Dare Me, Drag race UK & Canada's Drag Race.
Music: ah I love Mitski! So definitely Laurel Hell, Glitch Princess by Yeule and Hold the Girl by Rina Sawayama. Also Lana Del Rey's new song did you know there's a tunnel under ocean boulevard.
Video games: Life is Strange True Colours & it's add on Wavelengths.
As for a question 🤔... favourite thing you were brought or gifted this year, and your favourite gift to give?
Happy New Year (in advance), I'm excited to enter your new era 🥰