This bright light of a book is essential reading

Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of traveling across our country to share the story behind 107 Days. Here are a few of my reflections from the road:

Going to need to create a new account to contain all of my commentary on the new Love Is Blind season

!! A dream opportunity to work with a dream team of writers

For @womenofletters.org, I had the great pleasure of talking with Anna Malaika Tubbs. We discuss her latest NYT-bestselling book, preparing for her viral TED Talk, her relationship to social media, what she’s working on now, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/anna-malaika-tubbs

Convinced the world would be better if everyone had to take 1-2 years of lit seminars like this one before graduating to full adulthood

Diagonal siding Anamoose, ND

New email autoresponder just dropped

Wow what a lovely review from my proofreader!!! wilcoxediting.com/articles/202...

Still so moved every time I see a shoutout to our podcast out in the wild. This one from Erin, who worked on @corinnelow.com’s amazing book, meant a lot

New interview with 2x NYT-bestselling author Anna Malaika Tubbs on @womenofletters.org tomorrow ✨ Come say hi: womenofletters.substack.com

Okay now it’s the holidays

Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.

The disclaimer I add to any meme I send in the group chat

During the first season of Women of Letters, things were so hectic and uncertain that we were often scrambling even to publish our very next interview — because we hadn’t yet been able to secure it, because we had but something had come up along the way, because because because 🧵

I'm editing an anthology about unlikable characters and seeking work from younger writers, 15-21. If you know of one such writer who might want to submit their work for consideration, please share this call for submissions: audacity.substack.com/p/acquired-t...

Here is a morning puppy.

It is genuinely incredible to me how much evidence there is to support investing in the public good and how much animus there is to do this simple, effective thing.

“Part of me wishes I’d opened my eyes up to writing earlier, but in a lot of ways I’m grateful that I had a different experience than most writers I know.” Emily J. Smith — @emjsmith.bsky.social — on how her years of experience as a woman working in tech informed her debut novel:

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░ 87.33%

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2025! "Each of these books arrives in English in expert and accessible translations that honour the art and voice of their original authors." tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v

Icons on icons

Spent an hour sitting across the table from the hottest person I’ve ever seen in my life this morning and instead of saying literally anything about that I said “what are your plans for Thanksigiving”

am reminded of the old joke: what did James Watson discover? Rosalind Franklin’s notes.

A website I’ve never visited: you’ve reached your monthly article limit

This is such a small thing, but I melt every time it happens: My go-to email signoff is “Waving from my desk, Jana.” A lot of times, I’ll send a first-ever email to someone new, and in their message they’ll sign off saying “Waving back, [Name]” 🥹

Tuesday's sky.

I was lucky to have seen Laura give a talk on this work back in 2024. So thrilled at the news of the cover reveal and can’t wait to read the book

This is my Roman Empire. I can’t picture images in my head and didn’t realize until a few years ago that it was something other people could do

This might be the best email I’ve ever received.

I’ve become so absorbed, over these last few days, by a new-to-me book series — it’s all-consuming to the point that I’m involuntarily skipping meals, not sleeping, & running my iPad down to 0% charge because I can’t put it down

(podcaster wedding vows) OK so first let's talk about how we got here

This was so good

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

One of the questions we ask all of our guests, on @womenofletters.org, is what keeps them going. For me, a lot of it is a combination of the desire to do a good job, to do it with care, & to do all of that in such a way that it ends up meaning something to the people I respect

Beach sand.

Me any time I read an acknowledgements section in a book

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @emjsmith.bsky.social. We discuss her debut novel, her background in tech, how she navigated the transition to writing full-time, what she’s working on next, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/emily-j-smith

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @emjsmith.bsky.social. We discuss her debut novel, her background in tech, how she navigated the transition to writing full-time, what she’s working on next, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/emily-j-smith

From @whyy.org in Philadelphia, our talk with Terry Gross. Now on video! An honor to celebrate half a century of @nprfreshair.bsky.social.

The only podcast I still listen to at 1x speed

This was an absolute treasure trove of thoughtful advice. And I already know I’m going to continue sitting with Priya’s resonant phrase, the “geography of the possible,” for the rest of the day

we hit 2 billion posts today! 🥳

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @corinnelow.com. We discuss her new book, the economics of women’s lives, why she left a job at the top consulting firm in the world, becoming a tenured professor at Wharton, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/corinne-low

For Women of Letters, I had the great pleasure of talking with @corinnelow.com. We discuss her new book, the economics of women’s lives, why she left a job at the top consulting firm in the world, becoming a tenured professor at Wharton, & so much more. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/corinne-low

Her debut memoir, the importance of having mentors, the decision to open a bookstore and write full-time, & so much more— A wide-ranging interview with LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow Nikkya Hargrove. 📚💙 womenofletters.substack.com/p/nikkya-hargrove