We are so back
Welcome back to the newsletter. And a life update.
I’ve been writing a draft of this “I’m so back, baby” newsletter for a few weeks now. But the pressure of writing my GRAND RETURN POST after letting CSBC snooze for so long was psyching me out. So I’m leaving the longer, more serious essay for next week. This week I’m just going to keep it simple and update you on what I’ve been up to in 2026, aka the five months I’ve lived-laughed-loved since I returned to Austin from my travels (yes, I’ll be writing about those more here soon).
THE GOOD
✨ I’m published in the New York Times! My story on an all-digital art show at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin graced two full pages in the Sunday paper on April 19! This was a lifelong dream byline — and I DID IT! I’m also doing some Texas election reporting for the Times this week. Old reporter, new tricks!
✨ I also wrote a story I love about how to cultivate a low-key, low-cost social life while energy and funds are low for Yahoo!Life. And I’m always writing about local arts, theater, and culture for Tribeza.
✨ I finished The Artist’s Way! Finally!!! I first started it back in 2021 and completed nine weeks before quitting. But this time, I joined a virtual group led by the wonderful Tatiana Gallardo and I took it seriously. I committed 10-15 hours a week. I did my morning pages, went to my artist dates, tended to my inner child. I painted and collaged and dreamed. I got exactly the kind of support I needed through a serious lull in my work life, and ideas to press forward in alignment with who I am now.
Plus something for those of us who have stopped and started The Artist’s Way x number of times (I see you, sisters).
✨ I threw a Make-a-Will party! (See my planning doc, and read a bit about it here.) I hosted ~12 people (most I’d never met before), hired a notary to be in attendance, and we wrote out legal wills, plus other documents like living wills (your wishes about resuscitation, breathing tubes, etc.). This important task loomed over my head for at least seven years — and now it’s done! And in the presence of good, thoughtful company. I plan to expand my Make-a-Will party to a bigger audience of Texans sometime this year.
✨ I’m still author Pooja Lakshmin MD’s Newsletter Editor, which is work I love and want to do more of! She just finished the first draft of her second book, Quantum Shifts (coming next spring), and I feel so lucky I get to peek inside of her creative process and learn from someone so open and real along the way. Speaking of newsletter editing…
✨ I launched three new offerings to work with me 1-on-1 on YOUR newsletter:
1. 1-hour Newsletter Brainstorm
Borrow my brain, find your newsletter’s identity and future.
2. Launch Your Newsletter in One Month
One month of personalized guidance to help you get your project off the ground with grace and confidence
3. Hire a Personal Newsletter Editor (That’s Me!)
Ongoing, attentive, 1-on-1 support in the areas YOU need to keep your newsletter exciting, sustainable, and growing
✨ I taught my very first workshop — and the next one is planned for tomorrow, May 23! I hosted Write Your Shit Pitch — a free workshop for freelance writers to beat pitch paralysis — for 20+ people in April, and had a blast doing it! Please join me for the next iteration, hosted with Anodyne Magazine, on Saturday, May 23, at 11am CT. Pay what you can and support my work! But don’t worry, there will be more free sessions coming up, too.
✨ I’ve supported my creative life with some really useful groups: Landscapes, the writing group hosted by Cody Cook-Parrott, and Flying Solo, a six-week course for advanced freelancers hosted by Charley Locke and Megan Greenwell. Highly recommend both!
✨ I am (finally) diagnosed with ADHD. At 38, after lifelong executive function struggles. I’m just at the beginning of educating myself (shiny object syndrome, anyone?), and processing how my neurodivergence has affected my life. But, more than anything, I’m relieved I can name and treat some of my longtime suffering, the things I’ve wrestled with since childhood. I’d love to hear your recs for reads and podcasts around the subject, especially centered around women diagnosed later in life.
✨ I’ve been doing a lot of linedancing and two-stepping this year! You can often catch me out at queer country night on Mondays at Sagebrush, the most joyful room in town. 🤠
✨ I was sober all of Q1!
THE MEH
🫤 My work and financial life have been the biggest struggles of my year. I knew it would be an uphill battle to replace the work I willingly gave up to travel in this economy, but man, it has not gone smoothly. Despite my efforts, I have not secured any new steady freelance jobs/clients for almost five months now! Sigh. But I am not giving up, and things are starting to come together. More on this in future newsletters.
🫤 I’ve been doing regular gig work on Rover as a pet walker/sitter since February. I did this intentionally after being inspired by what made me happy on the Camino: long walks, many hours outside, and so many animal encounters. With Rover, I do love the pets and my time outside, and I’ve made some money to help pay my bills (Rover is actually paying most of my rent this month, and that’s nothing to sneeze at). But it’s a lot of work/time for very thin margins (as so many service jobs are). Some people tend to treat me like I’m less-than (reminders of my year as a dive bartender in New York City). It also takes a lot of physical and mental time away from my creative pursuits, which are always the north star.
THE UGLY
💥 In February, I totaled my beloved 2006 Toyota Solara convertible that was passed down to me by my mother. I walked away with minor injuries, and I am so grateful for that! (However, the area I hurt on top of my left hand continues to randomly fill with blood and lightly ache more than two months later? Should I be concerned??) But buying a used car was actually my worst nightmare (I’m just a baby); luckily, my mom, buyer of many cars in her life, helped me, and I’m zooming around in a much newer ride now.
Okay, that’s what’s been going on. Plus, um, SO MUCH MORE, some of which I’ll cover here in the future and some that will rightfully stay with my therapist.
For now, I want you to know that I’m ready to return to the creative practice of a regular newsletter. I really miss writing to you all and feeling as though I understand my world better after I’m done writing. I miss having a place to talk about life, freelancing, books, beautiful/horrible moments I experience, and — as ever — the art I am striving to prioritize and create, every day.
Thanks for being here.
Welcome back! Congratulations on the NYT publication!
welcome back!