It's Friday and the dreary weather here is pushing us along towards accepting that summer is coming to an end and school is about to begin. Somewhere I read advice about "writing what you would want to read" and since I love finding useful resources online, here are a few...

1. Newsletters

Understanding oneself is a funny thing because one can be nearing 40 and still learning that transitions are tough... I think that's why I appreciate McKinley Valentine's newsletter The Whippet, where, besides learning about stuff, I can come across an observation like "I sometimes think the biggest difference between super-successful people and the rest of us is how easily they transition" that makes me think long after I've left my e-mail.

Austin Kleon's newsletter today linked to a quote by Lauren Groff who explains why I sometimes have trouble sitting down to write even this measly little post: “The ‘fear of imperfection, which can be combatted by a writer carefully training herself to let her work be messy and impermanent.’”

And Recommendo lead me to Mari Andrew's delightful list of "100 Things I Know".

2. Clothes

Between the statements "I need clothes" and "I want to develop my sense of style" lays a canyon of advice (trails), marketing (views) and contradiction (you could get lost). Having the authoritative voice of a friendly guide like Becky Malinsky means the venture might be (kinda?) feasible (i.e. I think I'll buy some Levi's this fall...).

Also, it made me chuckle to see this headline "Packing Light? Not for me, thanks" after having read Ann Mashburn's essay "Take It or Leave It"

3. Movies

Christian and I turned the summer's blockbusters into a date night scheduled every Tuesday over three weeks. We brought our own drinks and snacks and participated in the pop culture moment along with the rest of the audience and delivered our star-ratings to our kids next morning. Fun!

4. Eating

I made corn fritters this week, from a cookbook I've had for a few years now. It sometimes takes me awhile to get around to things, but this picture of a note scribbled on top of the recipe title stuck in my mind. I'm not sure if I could call it a haunting... Catherine Newman's scribbled "so f-ing good" never left my mind... When I went back in her blog archives to find it I realized this mental note had been hanging on since 2018. Good grief. (As an aside, I've often turned to the Ben and Birdy blog for gifts or entertainment ideas. The recommendations are perennial.)

5. Seen around here

This is our garden... it has yielded beans, cucumbers and zucchini, and lately, carrots! Funny squat carrots that we've mixed into lamb ragu and pulsed into Muhammara.