Happy Friday! Let’s get right to it.
Quote of the week:
“Everyone writes in a way; that is, each person has a ‘story,’ a personal narrative which is constantly being replayed, revised, taken apart, and put together again. The significant points in this narrative change as a person ages—what may have been tragedy at twenty is seen as comedy or nostalgia at forty. All children write. (And paint, and sing.) I suppose the real question is why do so many people give it up?” –Margaret Atwood (from this book)
What I’m reading:
Well, I finally finished Red Comet, the Sylvia Plath biography. I give it one million stars. I read Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel this week and just started The Art of Receiving and Giving by Betty Martin. I’ve got Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader on my coffee table and read a few entries each day. It’s so great.
I’ve also been re-reading The Meaning of Wife as part of research for the novel I’m writing, which is where I discovered this accurate quote.
What I’m listening to:
I’m listening to All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir. This isn’t marketed as a YA novel, but it definitely is in my mind. I’m usually not that into YA, but I’m liking it so far.
What I’m watching:
I have watched absolutely nothing this week. One of those weeks when I’ve needed more quiet than usual.
Writing news:
No big news this week, but this message on Instagram made my day. Reminder: Ways the World Could End comes out on May 10.
What I’m talking about:
- The Boston Marathon—10 days away!
- The concept of the “good enough” mother (read here)
- National Poetry Month! My favorite poet of all-time is Mary Oliver, but I’ve been discovering some more I love. I try to read a little poetry every day
- The confirmation of KBJ—such great news. I’m disturbed that the vote was so close, but trying to just celebrate and move on
- Jon Batiste’s Grammy wins. So well-deserved. I bought his album when it first came out and listen to it often on my runs (if this performance doesn’t make you smile, I cannot help you in this life)
- The atrocities left behind upon Russian retreat in Kyiv. Horrific. We are definitely in war crimes territory so…now what?
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Positive drug tests among US workers have reached their highest levels since 2001
- The word “picnic” evolved from the French expression pique-nique, which described a group of people who met for dinner at a restaurant and brought their own wine
- A handful of old mammals, such as the platypus, don’t have nipples, and instead just leak milk from their abdomens
- Astronomer Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan had a love story fit for a novel (read here)
- The heart of a blue whale is so big, a human can swim through the arteries
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Do animals dream?” I assumed they do (I’ve seen my dogs twitch in the midst of sleep, as if they’re being chased by a mountain lion in a parallel universe). Studies have, in fact, proven that animals have complex dreams (read here). Animals’ brains follow the same series of sleeping states as ours do.
What I’m grateful for:
- Feeling strong and healthy as I get ready for the marathon
- Blue-sky days that feel like summer (see photo below)
- Conversations that make me feel alive
- Excitement about the novel I’m writing
