Just Between Us...

You may have noticed, I'm not much of a blogger. It could be my introvert tendencies, the same ones that make Twitter feel "loud" to me (although I'm loving Instagram). It could be that as a fiction writer I'd almost always rather "tell the truth but tell it slant" (with apologies to Emily Dickinson).

But there is one way I like to connect. My newsletter.

I know, I know it sounds like the kind of thing every company in the world is using to bombard your inbox. It sounds like "marketing." But not every newsletter is like that.

You may know that I'm a knitter. There are a number of knitting designers whose newsletters are a delight to receive. There are some I even get weekly, and I actually look forward to opening them.

So when it was time to start my own newsletter, I knew how I wanted it to make you feel. Like we're just chatting together. Like I'm sharing what I'm reading, cooking, knitting. And I'm being respectful of your time and attention.

And I thought I'd give you a little taste of a newsletter in this blog post.

I'll usually open with any news. Big news right now? I just got the advance reading copies of You Can Never Tell! I'll be giving away a copy in a random drawing for newsletters subscribers in the first week of May. In other news, the audiobook rights have been sold, so it'll be available wherever you like to listen to books at the same time it's published on August 10.

But then I like to move to something more personal in a 4-3-2-1 format. I use links to keep any one item from going on too long. Nobody wants to scroll through a whole long thing, I'm actually in five book clubs (although I don't usually make it to all of them every month), but I usually only feature four titles. This blog post gives me an opportunity to highlight the fifth.

FOUR books we've read in the Build Empathy Book & Yarn Club by Little Skein in the Big Wool. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell, The Truth Is by No NoNieqa Ramos, and Front Desk by Kelly Yang (and I can't stand it. Here' s a bonus fifth title: Free Lunch by Rex Ogle). More titles featured on my Instagram throughout the year.

THREE projects I'm knitting (switching from one to another as my attention waxes & wanes). Destination Cardigan by Mary Jane Mucklestone (I'm on the last sleeve, which is boring right now, but there's the thrill of steeking ahead). Evolve Cowl by Hunter Hammersen (whose Instagram is full of beauty), and Blossom Hat by Anne Vally (although technically it's blocking. I'm actually gearing up for a new colorwork project that drops tomorrow from Ysolda).

TWO new cookbooks I'm excited about. Cook Real Hawai'i by Sheldon Simeon (my rendition of Katsu Cauliflower pictured). My skeptical husband and both teenagers loved it! And Simply Julia by Julia Turshen. "Julia's Dressing" and "Simple Lasagna" from her previous book Simple Victories have both become regular staples in our house...and this new book looks (if possible) even MORE accessible and delicious.

ONE thing that has kept me sane throughout all this craziness and also keeps me from getting

a permanent crick in my neck and pain in my back. Taking Daisy, my hound dog, for walks. Sometimes it's a two hour trek with a friend (which reset Daisy's internal bar for all walks to four miles), sometimes it's the thirty minute one with which we start our day, most often it's just a five to ten minute walk to clear my head, shake off a problem, breathe some fresh air, and remember that the world is bigger than the study in which I spend so much time.

Thanks for reading this! If you'd like to be included on my newsletter list, I email about once a month. If there's tremendous, time-sensitive news, I might email twice and if time gets away from me, I might miss a month (or maybe there was NO January this year?). But if you'd like to hear from me directly and more frequently than I post on the blog, I'd be honored.

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