I got an email from a woman in response to last week’s newsletter — and it intrigued me. Like me, she’s a copywriter, she’s a mom of young kids, and she’s written a few books (so far unpublished). She asked me how I balance my copywriting business with writing books. What intrigued me about this […]
Rethinking Communication
I preordered Cal Newport’s new book, A World Without Email, months ago — in both Kindle and hardback format, because I’m a total Cal Newport junkie. I devoured the book as soon as it arrived, and it didn’t disappoint. In it, Newport challenges the notion that email is beneficial in the workflows of knowledge workers, […]
Silence and Chocolate
I don’t remember ever truly craving quiet until I had kids. But then, before I had kids, quiet wasn’t a luxury — for the most part, it was something I could have whenever I wanted it. I could close the door, put in earplugs, go for a walk by myself in nature, or go sit […]
The Network of Good
I’m a tinkerer. It’s my superpower. I get obsessed with puzzles and technical problems and I tinker until the pieces connect. I am always on the lookout for threads, connections, common themes — everywhere, with everything. I think in networks. Which is why I love Roam’s graph database. I’ve been using it for a couple […]
Burnout and a Mad, Mad Barbie
The book Burnout, by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski, was a timely read for me a couple months ago. It explores stress in a modern woman’s life and healthy ways to deal with it. (It also explores how patriarchy has been one long gaslighting — but that’s a rant for another time.) The thing is, stress isn’t […]
Balance and Bystanders
Lately I’ve been thinking — a lot — about how the world works. What I keep coming back to is this idea of balance. Not in the “even / level” sense of balance — but in the “ebb and flow / to and fro / rise and fall” sense. In the sense of fluctuating between […]
