I will never forget today’s date—January 17, 1994 was when the Northridge earthquake happened and my family lived pretty much on the epicenter. To this day, when a big trucks drives by, causing the windows to rattle, I dive under the nearest table. Traumatized much? Today, I’m thinking a lot about everyone in Los Angeles, recovering from a completely different natural disaster. It’s all so much. Life can be so hard and so breathtakingly beautiful.
Quote of the week:
“I don’t know what it is like to not have deep emotions. Even when I feel nothing, I feel it completely.” —Sylvia Plath
What I’m reading:
I’m about to finish The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. It’s so good. I was intimidated by how long it is (650 pages!) but I’ve been so immersed in the story that I haven’t cared how long it’s taking to read.
What I’m listening to:
I got The Secret Language of the Body: Regulate Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, Free Your Mind as an Audible deal and went in totally blind. Wow. This book is so good that I’m buying the hard copy to have on hand for future reference.
What I’m watching:
I just started No Good Deed on Netflix and I’m loving it.
Writing news:
The book cover is here and it’s a beauty. I can’t wait for this book to come out into the world. It’s going to generate some interesting conversations, I think. You can pre-order wherever you buy books. On Amazon, you can pre-order for just $3.99 on Kindle.
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Some female chameleons can reproduce without a male present. My daughter is about to get a chameleon and what do you want to bet I end up with the self-reproducing kind?
- The French term L’esprit d’escaliar translates to “staircase wit” and refers to the moment on the stairs as you leave a building when you think of the thing you should have said while you were still inside at the party
- Heliophilia is love of sunlight. I am a heliophiliac
- The Japanese word komorebi refers to the kind of light you see in a forest. It literally translates to “sunlight leaking through trees.” So pretty
- The largest bowling alley in the world is in Japan and has 116 lanes
What I’m grateful for:
- Antibiotics. My daughter got strep AGAIN. For three years in a row now, she’s had back-to-back cases of strep like this. No fun. Thankful we have easy access to care and medication
- All the lovely feedback on the book cover. Publishing a book doesn’t feel real until there’s a cover. I’m getting excited
- Finishing a draft of my 2026 novel and sending it off to my wonderful agent. I’m excited about this one, too
- Calming winds in LA so firefighters can make more progress toward containment
- A 13-mile run this morning that felt really good. I’m building toward a half marathon next month and the Boston Marathon in April
Snapshots:
From top to bottom: we value quality cat time in our household; the look of love; long run views
