do you need a duck (err... hug)?

+ joy and where to find it + it's a verb + enough protein?

I love it when you:

dear ones,

It’s hard right now. I don’t need to tell you. If likes on my instagram account are any indicator, this duck card garnered a lot of ❤️ . We are in need of light.

On the good news front:

• Joni Mitchell is back on Spotify, a cause for celebration.

• Iceland built an Air Vacuum!!

• Boomforest is building dense micro-forests in Paris!

• Jane Goodall turned 90 and had a dog party! Which reminds me of GO DOG, GO! a favorite book from my childhood. Which reminds me of Small Kindnesses, By Danusha Laméris. All of which are filled with 💡💛.

• This poem too, about where joy lives.

Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life. That’s how joy works.

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read:

Anyone with an ear to the ground has heard that the Romance genre is keeping bookstores and publishers alive. First off, writers and readers of Romance, I thank you!

I decided while here in Brooklyn I’d visit the Mecca of Romance: The Ripped Bodice Bookstore. OMG, what a surprising joy!

The Ripped Bodice, A Romantic Bookstore

The store is lovely, with such a fun vibe. The women behind the counter were delightful and when I confessed my Romance genre ignorance, they were full of suggestions:

• ROMANTIC COMEDY, by Curtis Sittenfeld, which I’d already read and I’ve shared with you in this newsletter. Highly recommend!

• WRITERS AND LOVERS, by Lily King, another book I’d already read and enjoyed.

• DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, another I’d read! Maybe I am a reader of Romance! (If you want to give this one a try, I highly recommend the audio book.)

• I’ve also been a fan of Jennifer Weiner’s feminist Op-Eds in the NYTs and she too is a frothy and fun romance writer. I enjoyed her book of essays, HUNGRY HEART, though I’ve not read her fiction.

• The booksellers also recommended Emily Henry, who seems to be a queen of romance. I ended up with BEACH READ, her first. I’ll let you know.

If you’d like to learn more about romance writers and publishing and booktok, there is no one more interesting than

Leigh Stein

. She is whip-smart, has an incredible TikTok account, will be teaching at COME TO YOUR SENSES in Collioure, France with my pal,

Karen Karbo

(where I will be teaching in the fall). Leigh’s novel, SELF CARE, is touted as, “Highbrow brilliant.” The blurbs describe it as a satire as “decadent and brutal as a vampire facial. It's an exposé of feel-good feminism, an indictment of contemporary capitalism, and an absolute treat to read.” I’m in!

Finally, I want to highly, highly recommend BROOKLYN, by Colm Toibin, which is a gorgeous portrait of Eilis, a young woman who immigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn in the 1950s, seeking opportunity. Toibin writes such a beautiful portrait. The book is about love and so I guess is romance. It’s also about duty and choices and is so grand. I’m happy to be rereading it in Brooklyn and will rewatch the film (I just watched the trailer and am crying as I type this) as soon as I’m finished.

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Hard to write. Hard to get right. Rejected by dozens. THE ACCURATE TERM is my essay about how my son helped me to reckon with something in my past, which ultimately led to a many layered healing. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

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Paid subscribers get the benefit of participating in read.write.eat. book chats. For April we’ll be reading Lorrie Moore’s, I AM HOMELESS IF THIS IS NOT MY HOME. The novel just won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. You can read a review here. If you’re interested in joining, and I hope you are, do drop me a note.

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Check my read.write.eat. Bookshop Store, where you will find many of the books I've recommended in the newsletter. Buying books from my shop is a way you can be a friend to the newsletter. 

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write:

Last week we lost the artist Richard Serra, known as the “poet of iron.” He uncannily made solid forms seem fluid, like the steel waves below, in his sculpture, Wake, at Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

As writers, we too take an ingredient—language—and try to convert it into something surprising. We strive to reach into our readers and bring forth an emotional response.

I just keep trying to make something out of words that you’d think couldn’t be made out of words.

~Deborah Eisenberg

Richard Serra has this famous list of verbs which are actions that “relate to oneself, material, place, and process.” He describes his art as having a debt to dancers.

Richard Serra Verbs, 1967 @ MOMA

Verbs! If these are so important to a visual artist, imagine how essential they are to us writers. Verbs! They are flavor boosters, calls to action, vivid and visceral. I challenge you to look over a recent piece of your work and examine your verbs. Are they tepid and bland? Or do they freshen the work and make the readers mind zing with inspiration, the thrill of the new?

Do you keep a verb list? I don’t, but I will now. I love this list from Serra because it is a peek at his process and reminds me that I too should be aware of my process.

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prompt:

This one comes from the musician and writer Jeff Tweedy. In his excellent and enjoyable book HOW TO WRITE ONE SONG he suggests making a list of a category of verbs, such as cooking verbs, or cleaning verbs, or gardening verbs. Then you use the verbs in that list to describe an act outside of the list.

For example:
cooking verbs: whip, brew, fry, blend, dice, stir, percolate, frappé, grill, sauté, singe, toast

Now, use those verbs to tell the story of falling in love!

More examples:

• gardening verbs/a work place conflict

• hair salon verbs/a breakup (you can’t use ‘wash that man right outta my hair!’)

• hospital verbs/a vacation gone awry

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As readers of my newsletter know I am a supporter of World Central Kitchen and Chef Jose Andre. The news of the death of seven aide workers in Gaza is another atrocity in a region filled with tremendous suffering. For all who upgrade to paid this month I will donate five dollars to WCK’s mission to bring food to people who are suffering. Food is a human right.

It is not a sign of weakness to feed strangers; it is a sign of strength.

~Chef Jose Andre

Thanks so much

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eat:

I struggle with getting enough protein. Do you? This crazy mash of a salad came across my instagram feed and I’m gonna do my best to recreate the recipe here.

• 1 ripe avocado, cut in half and skin removed

• 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled

• bread & butter pickles to your taste, diced

• 1 med shallot, diced

• 1/3 c cottage cheese for additional protein

• 1/4 c mayonnaise

• 1/4 c fresh dill, washed, stemmed, and minced

• 1/4 c fresh flat leaf parsley, washed, stemmed, and minced

• 1-2 T dijon mustard

• lime juice to taste

• salt, pepper, chili flakes

Mix everything in a bowl, or be like the dude in the instagram video and mash it all up on a cutting board. He serves it in romaine lettuce leaves, baby gems would be terrific. But it would also be grand on an everything bagel or some sourdough toast.

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Stanley too has a duck 😳 :

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Tell your people you love them, and take good care of your skin. 

xN