Hi, Friend.
It’s August now, and I’m trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer. I have a list called “Summer Fun” in the Notes app on my phone, and we’ve been checking things off left and right: movies, picnic in the park, live music, sleepovers. It’s been the calmest summer I’ve had in years—easy, fun, mostly unstructured. One of the best things I’ve done for myself is take a long walk each morning. I usually head out early and walk about 4 miles before the day has a chance to get at me. I listen to music and marvel at the clouds, and before I know it, I’m back home.
I had coffee with my friend Andy Pizza recently, which inspired me to take an episode of his podcast with me on one of my walks this week. His advice on finishing a big project was encouraging and useful for me, and I hope it’ll be both for you, too.
One of the things Andy talks about in the episode is “bringing the idea home.” Your work on a creative project isn’t finished when it’s released. When you’re proud of something you’ve made, you want to get it into the hands of as many people as possible, and that takes hard work and planning. I was walking in my neighborhood thinking, YES! I’m so excited about my next book, Dear Writer, so I’m brainstorming ways to help it find its way in the world. If you haven’t already preordered a copy (or two, or three), I’d be grateful if you’d take a moment to do that. It really does make a difference.
My relaxing summer has been full of books, of course—a few picked up at Myopic Books when I was in Chicago recently, and a few from Storyline Bookshop in the Columbus area. I had a signing there for their grand opening and couldn’t leave without doing some shopping!
Any Person Is the Only Self: Essays by Elisa Gabbert
Água Viva by Clarice Lispector, translated by Stefan Tobler
Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones: A Memoir by Priyanka Mattoo
Carrie Carolyn Coco by Sarah Gerard
Liars by Sarah Manguso
Library of Small Catastrophes by Alison C. Rollins
Invitatory by Molly Spencer
Independent bookstores are the best. What are your favorites?
Some recent online reads: Lyz Lenz in conversation with Sarah Manguso about her new novel; this poem by Wendell Berry (“Be joyful/ though you have considered all the facts.”); and this NYT piece on real estate that is also about the power of poetry.
On the topic of real estate…for TIME, I wrote about home. Our house turns 100 next year, and we’re planning to throw it a birthday party.
I think home is more about people than about place. This old house is home because of my children and our community. They’ve made this place beautiful.
TV rec: Okay, this isn’t a rec, but it also isn’t not a rec. I finally finished season 3 of The Bear with my daughter this week, and…hmmmm. I feel like this season is a poem—very interior, a lot of flashback and montage, mostly happening in the characters’ minds. You know I love poems, but I came to this wanting a story. I’m hoping for more action next season.
Film rec: This one isn’t out yet, but I’m so excited to see Sing Sing. Even the trailer gives me goosebumps and makes me cry. I also need some new horror recs for this fall.
What are you looking forward to? What’s bringing you joy right now?
Wishing you more of it—
Maggie
Kamala Harris, the daily thunderstorms, the blue grosbeak at my feeder and the Olympics are all currently filling my cup with joy. And I LOVE that portrait of your house.
I have a bay window in my old, Victorian house and I finally built myself a window seat in it last weekend, ten years after moving in. It's the only place in the house that gets proper southern light so I also hung plexiglass plant shelves in all three upper windows and have started filling them with plants trailing down. It needs a cushion, but I haven't figured that part out yet, so I just filled it with folded extra blankets and throw pillows, making it basically a well-lit nest to curl up in and watch the world pass by while I drink my coffee in the mornings or read a book. My future winter self, who will spend the long, cold months curled up there, is feeling so joyful.