One of my goals in 2024 was to write a newsletter a month. I say “was” because clearly that didn’t happen in January. I spent most of the month on my green velvet couch looking at my phone while convalescing with various illnesses: the worst cold in the world then Covid for the second time. (FWIW the cold sucked more, and the second go at Covid was a lot easier, though I still don’t recommend five days of being alone in your home.) It felt impossible to get a jumpstart on the new year. I know a lot of people argue winter is an unnatural time to kick-off anything, but I am a Capricorn Moon after all and I love to set intentions for a new calendar year, so to see myself fail at almost all of them was disappointing. Even though I was sick! Even though sometimes it was 20 degrees out! Even though no one was doing anything! Rationally, I knew napping my afternoons away was the best way to spend the time, but emotionally I hated it.
Well, now it’s February, and I have a chance to really kick-off the year, plus an extra day in the month. One of those intentions was to find a consistent way back into my own writing. This might sound odd because my whole life is writing: my job title is senior research writer/editor, I freelance most months, I write this newsletter sometimes, and I have an entire novel I’m still trying to figure out where to take next. But that’s mostly by title only because I don’t actually write all that often TBQH. I’m a little constipated in that area if anything. Sorry for the crass metaphor, but I spend more time talking about why I’m not writing than actually doing it. And I’m sick of this. I’m sick of my shit.
When I read my journals from the last few months, I find myself consistently envious of friends who have regular public writing practices. My longtime OG fashion blogging friend Casey Lewis writes a DAILY Substack on youth trends that is so witty and very well researched. Another fash blog friend Lexie keeps her Substack like a blog leaving Tumblr-esque posts on everything from parenting to angel food cake. When I told another friend I was envious of these efforts, she joked I just wanted to hustle more, but it’s not about that. I just want to write for fun, for myself. I want to add a little fiber back into my writing diet to unstick all the other stalled projects (see: novel, four-part climate change series I pitched for work but have not written in months—sorry to Georgia if you’re reading this).
So what does this mean for this newsletter? I’m not quite sure, but probably more of it. Ironically, to create more structure in writing, I need to forsake some of the structure of this newsletter. I won’t be including a recipe unless I really want to because they’re such a pain in the ass to format and often put me off of sending this. The thoughts will be looser, a little less polished, a little more of a glimpse into how I am actually thinking. The goal is to get some words down. I was inspired by this Choire Sicha question in a Vulture interview with Jami Attenberg: “What I say to young writers…‘You probably don’t write enough. You’re uncomfortable writing. If you wrote a thousand or 4,000 words a day, you’re going to feel more secure. You’re going to be a better writer every day that you write.’” And because I like having external accountability, it will be in this public Substack. (Sorry, I’m also a Leo Rising and I need attention for my efforts.) This won’t be daily, but maybe weekly? Honestly, you’ll see, but you’ll be seeing a lot more of me either way.
The Humblebrag Corner (okay, this does still exist when I have a byline):
-I wrote a really fun love letter to one of my favorite Atlanta dive bars, the Righteous Room, for Atlanta magazine.
Tess Recommends (I always have opinions, so expect to see this still):
-Plus One (now on Netflix) is a surprisingly great snarky little romcom about two friends, played by Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine, who agree to be each other’s plus-ones for weddings but of course should actually be dating. Jack Quaid is upsettingly charming in this movie.
happy to see your newsletter back in my inbox!
I love this and look forward to reading more of your thoughts in 2024! I want to be writing more also, but I find a public format where people I KNOW sign up to read it absolutely changes what I put on the page (for me in a not fun way)...but when I'm writing something I know won't go anywhere or be seen by anyone it just becomes a journal entry with mostly pointless drivel. I think I want the tumblr days of yore back! Maybe these are all just excuses.