Cruel Compendium #67 ❄️
The new rules of the group chat, an output year, and listening to trees
Before we begin: My newest for Cosmopolitan is live! This is my fourth Cosmo piece and I love being a Cosmo girlie!
Group Chat Rules for a Post-Group Chat World
ICYMI: Last week I shared three simple ways to get to know your voice and how I’m using Tarot to further connect with my intuition.
Be sure to click “View entire message” at the end of this email so you can read the whole post in your browser. On to the links!
What I’m Reading
Taraji P. Henson Is Tired of Fighting by Kyle Buchanan
A candid interview where Henson discusses decades of fighting for the bare minimum as a Black female star that her white counterparts receive without question.
Things on output and input years by Madeleine Dore
I'm committed to an output year and I'm excited about it! And for those of you in an input year: In 2024, stop expanding by Ashley Rodriguez.
My $112,873.06 freelance year by Jen A. Miller
More transparent, vulnerable talk about money and the ups and downs of freelance writing, please! Here’s mine.
Phone addiction, Stanley stans and the out-of-office message I struggled to send by Caitlin Dewey
On Wednesday, I sat down to answer emails for the first time since December 19. Since that date, I've been hiding behind a vaguely worded out-of-office message that I composed in a hurry on my phone before collapsing into grief. I lost another pregnancy that day — the third in a row. And this one far enough along to look at least like the Rorschach blot of a baby when we viewed it on the ultrasound.
How do you euphemize that type of loss? Sanitize it for polite, professional communication? I've come up with a few phrases that I deployed that afternoon, and again as I responded to my backlog of messages.
"We got some bad personal news," I sometimes wrote. Or: "I recently learned of a health problem." Maybe we were going through a "tough period," the origin of the toughness left to imagination.
My prepared remarks to Senate Dems by Jessica Valenti
Abortion, Every Day author Valenti testified in front of Congress on Republicans’ calculated cruelty. Read her whole statement here.
All of which is to say: when Republicans feign surprise or compassion over post-Roe horror stories, they are lying.
They knew that women would suffer and die as a result of their laws, they decided it was a tradeoff worth making, and everything they’ve done since Roe was overturned has been in service of hiding that fact.
Second finished book of 2024: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
It took me five months to finish this tome, and it singlehandedly knocked me off my reading goals for 2023, but I did it!
This book was good...but SO LONG. TOO LONG. I've wanted to read Hugo's classic for years because Les Mis is my favorite musical, and I wanted to read the original story for myself. Parts of it were incredibly beautiful—I highlighted many a gorgeous sentence (I can only imagine how stunning the prose is in its original French). The characters are somewhat familiar and Hugo gives you such richness, following them for decades. But it's TOO LONG. It took me five months to read! Pro tip: skip the chapters where Hugo leaves the story behind to dive into French history. That's the only way I made it through!
I’m listening to:
I recently saw Origin, Ava DuVernay’s film about Isabel Wilkerson’s nonfiction book, Caste, which connects the oppression of Black Americans, India’s Dalits, and Jews in Nazi Germany to a linked caste system. It was deeply moving and heartbreaking — I was shaking with tears at one point — and highly educational about some of the horrors of the world you might think you already know about.
I listened to DuVernay’s Fresh Air episode and discovered that, at 51, she has had three distinct, successful careers and keeps reinventing herself by following her passions. I felt inspired after listening.
News to Know
No indictment for Brittany Watts by Jessica Valenti
Who is funding Canary Mission?
Twitter Explodes With Antisemitic Misinfo After Secret Tunnel Found Under NYC Synagogue
Netanyahu vows no Palestinian state
Gaza hostage relatives burst into Israeli parliament, calls for action mount
Actions for Palestine:
There is a global strike for Palestine, called for by Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, January 21-28. There are many ways you can participate; commit to what you can.
Register for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights’ Action Kickoff Webinar on Jan. 25 at 12CT. Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib will be in attendance.
Purchase eSims so Palestinians can communicate with each other and the outside world. This is a way to directly benefit people in Gaza.
Download the 5 Calls app to easily dial your representatives and demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Sixty-five members of Congress have now called for a ceasefire — these calls are working.
Use Jewish Voice for Peace’s (JVP) action items to email and call President Biden and your Congressional reps to call for a ceasefire now.
Join JVP’s daily Power Half-Hour for Gaza (2pm CT Mon-Fri) to hear updates on the movement and take action for peace in Palestine.
Questionable Self-Care Advice
Support System
This one’s a shoutout to my fellow freelance writers.
Last week I participated in Amber Petty’s free Half-Assed Writing Challenge where she helped hundreds of us get out of our heads, get our ideas down, and get our pitches sent. When it comes to finishing your draft and sending it off to your editor rather than procrastinating on it and missing your deadline (like I have certainly done) she asks you to consider this low bar for your writing:
Is it worth two minutes of somebody's time?
In the end, that’s likely how long someone will spend reading it, while they’re scrolling on their phone in the lobby of the dentist’s office or sitting on the toilet. (Sorry, that’s real.) This is a low bar we can all hit! Done is better than perfect!
PS: Here’s Amber’s free guide to 250+ places that pay writers.
Vision Board
Obsessions
📝 Does anyone have an example of a networking/client tracking spreadsheet or Notion template they’d be willing to share with me? Please reply to this email or share with me at cruelsummerbookclub@substack.com!
🖨️ Mixing up your work environment by Freelancing for Journalists. I need a change of scenery from my at-home office, and I signed up for a coworking space this month. I plan on heading there 2-3 days a week and I'll report back on how it feels different from sitting in goblin mode at home 24/7.
🍿 The excellent films I’ve seen recently: Mean Girls. The Boy and the Heron. American Fiction. All of Us Strangers. Origin. The Zone of Interest.
📚 Are you in the top 1% of book readers in 2023? (I made the 92nd percentile.)
💸 Political strategist Brian Derrick reminds us that NOW is the best time to donate to political campaigns for November’s election. Listen to the CSBC podcast ep where I ask Brian all of your burning, basic politics questions, including why your votes, calls to Congress, and donations matter, or read more about the main points we covered.
🎶 Great songs about not drinking on NPR
🖼️ I love seeing this artist’s daily collages. I have the same Pantone postcards and am thinking of a daily creative habit I could use them for!
👚 Five steps to clear out your wardrobe from The Wardrobe Edit
❗ Taylor Lorenz breaks down how viral tweets of a man claiming to hear Yiddish underneath his apartment tie directly to a group of far-right white nationalists. Good reminder to stay vigilant about online and media literacy (and be wary of what you share).
✅ AI to-do list breaks down your tasks for you
🌲 tree.fm. Listen to a forest while you work.
✨ Never forget the miracle of your existence
🧖🏼♀️ Documentary footage of me in January
📓 Try Skillshare free for 30 days + 40% off (this is my referral code)
Minerva moment
Mood
Literally me all winter.
Thank you for mentioning my piece!!! Love this!!!