CSBC gets a glow-up
With a shiny new look, and a brand new advice column!
Hello, and welcome to the new and improved Cruel Summer Book Club! I’ve got gorgeous new design elements by the fabulous Ashleigh Keith, some exciting additions, and a fresh attitude.
TL;DR: Cruel Summer Book Club is a newsletter (and podcast) about making space for your art and yourself. This is where I share personal essays and supportive links for living well.
CSBC will continue to publish weekly on Tuesdays. Moving forward, I will share an essay once a month, the Cruel Compendium twice a month, and I’m introducing a new monthly advice column, Dear Jilla! You can submit your questions about art, life, and love now.
Stay tuned for the relaunch of the podcast in April…
I’ve been writing this newsletter for almost five years — and a lot has happened in that time! Ever since the day I was laid off the second the pandemic began, I’ve been trying to rewire my brain away from equating my self-worth with work. I’ve made some progress, but I still have a ways to go to live the everyday artist’s life that I seek.
More than anything, I want to keep documenting that journey to find my version of a “good” life. I will always write about chasing my happiness, and finding the happiness that’s already right here in front of me. This is a place of curiosity and discovery.
Of course, I’m still working, and constantly trying to figure out what I want my working life to look like. Over the last year, my ambition returned and I became more business-minded — a business bitch, if you will (that’s what my business checking account is nicknamed). This is a space for creativity, but also for self-promotion, which is a necessity of my work. I’m getting more comfortable with that and continue to try to take Cody Cook-Parrott’s advice that it’s okay to be annoying when I am telling people what I do. I will continue to share the juxtaposition between my urges to be a wealthy, best-selling author and to spend my days lying in fields of bluebonnets.
My big-picture goal is to make much more of my income under my own name and not rely on media companies that will surely lay me off (or completely go under!) eventually. I want to make six figures. I want to work less while making more. I want to share the skills I excel at with people while inspiring their own creativity. I want to do more of the work I enjoy, which always revolves around reading, writing, and connecting with others. I want to grow this newsletter and eventually ask people to pay for it. I want to keep making the CSBC podcast so I can talk with creatives I admire and continue to twist my life around literature and art. I want to offer real value to CSBC readers and listeners. I want this to be a space people look forward to settling into every week, like a welcoming bath.
Over the past six months, I did hours of thinking about what CSBC should be today. And the 51 of you who responded to my 2023 reader survey helped me understand what you appreciate most about this newsletter. The vast majority of you most enjoy my essays, my shares about what I’m reading, and my links to the vast corners of the internet — so those are all staying. Your interests align most with mine when it comes to exploring the topics of friendship, personal growth, self-connection, creativity, and mental health, so I’ll keep exploring those areas.
When I asked you to describe the newsletter, several of you said it’s fun, honest, thoughtful, introspective, informative, and funny — high praise! (I also cherish the descriptors of sparkly, girlie, and oddball.)
This newsletter is for reflection, growth, savoring the present, living with intention, and being curious about myself and others. Writing is how I make sense of the world, so I am grateful to share those musings here with you. I’ve also realized that much of what I write here is a note of encouragement — ostensibly to my readers, but also to myself. I want to share my optimism with you, ease your journey, and remind you that you are not alone. This will always be a love letter straight from my heart to yours.
The Cruel Compendium will continue to come out every other week, with a few changes. I will continue to share what I’m reading and thinking about, the words that are moving me, and the silly videos that make me laugh. I’ll also share more tidbits about freelance life, as I know I have a lot of subscribers who are also freelancers and media workers — we can figure it out together. I am proof that you can make a living as a freelance writer and free yourself from some of the most soul-crushing parts of the corporate world, and I want to encourage others to do so as best I can.
I am also committed to weaving my values into everything that I do, especially in the spaces I have full creative control over. My friends, many of whom are activists, as well as many Substack writers I admire (including Fiza Pirani, Hitha, Cody Cook-Parrott, Anne Helen Petersen, Jill Filipovic, Jessica Valenti, Ann Friedman, and many others) have been huge inspirations for me. You will hear about the politics, causes, and issues that are important to me here, and I will do my best to stand in my values in my life and work. I will also be accountable if and when I fall short of those values.
Now, let’s talk about what’s new! I am introducing a monthly advice column called Dear Jilla! I invite you to submit your soul-searching questions about art, life, and love. If we were sitting at a cafe together in Paris (why not, this is our fantasy), that’s what I’d want to talk to you about.
I want to hear about what dominates your thoughts when you’re lying in bed at night and what’s bringing you a surprising amount of joy. I want to know what’s confusing the hell out of you and what you just can’t decide about. I want to hear about your fears and hopes and invite you to take small but meaningful steps toward your dreams. As I work to become the human and artist I wish to be, I want to support your journey as well. (And you are an artist — every single one of us is.)
Longtime CSBC readers may remember when I first introduced an advice column in 2020…then immediately abandoned it! I won’t do that this time, I promise. I’m excited to have a more intimate space to connect with readers through this column. (Fun fact: I wrote a sex and dating advice column for Time Out New York for a couple of years!)
The CSBC podcast is also relaunching in April! Creating the first two seasons was the most meaningful creative experience of my last five years, and I can’t wait to talk with more creatives about how they make space for their art and themselves. Plus, I’ll be making a lot more solo episodes. More on all of this soon.
Woo! Congrats, it looks so good!
It looks great — congratulations on the five years!