Mid-maternity leave update

Goop, Veep, books, 'stacks

Hello friends! I had a baby!

I am undecided on family privacy so, for the moment, allow me to use my new daughter’s official nickname in our house: Goop. (This is because her tear ducts weren’t working so she was getting goopy eyes for a while, although I also loved Jon Stewart’s joke about 100,000 white women being called “a Goop of women”.)

I was looking for a piece to cross-post this week and couldn’t decide on just one, so I thought I’d link a handful of pieces and you could choose your own adventure.

First up, for those figuring out their next adventure, there’s a new Substack all about authors who have or had other careers prior to writing. I did an interview for Cori at Second Chapter a bit before baby time rolled around.

"When I started struggling at work, writing a novel became a therapeutic task for me, and it really saved me"

Also in the days before I had Goop, I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and I got a lil hyperfixated on it and decided to delete all my social media from my phone and not use it at all during the first month of my postpartum time. When I had my first baby, I got SUPER addicted to TikTok. I would scroll so long that one of those warning videos would pop up. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, good for you.) So I thought it would be good to get ahead of that this time around, and it felt SO good.

I’m now about two months out and I still haven’t gone back to Instagram at all. I will confess: I have watched TikToks over Ben’s shoulder, and I have looked at trending topics on Twitter a couple of times re: politics. At this point, some things have crept back in: I’ve looked at the news a fair amount, and have watched stuff on YouTube. Not a total media blackout. But for sure a reset from the things that were pulling my attention the most.

If you’re interested in cutting back on the internet, might I suggest this piece:

The INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA vs CREATIVITY and WRITING

Meanwhile, if you’re looking to lean into the internet and have something to promote, be it your writing or reading, consider the very funny Kate McKean’s:

Should You Be On TikTok?

Because I’ve been less attached to my phone, I’ve done some reading during breastfeeding and while Goop has slept on me, but it’s randomly been all nonfiction. I’ve read some of Colette’s My Mother’s House, and I borrowed Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo from Cloud Library. (That one reads like a suspense novel, but apparently it’s meticulously researched and not embellished at all.)

a line from My Mother’s House, which I highlighted and texted to my husband immediately, because it me

Just this weekend I took all the unread and in-progress books off my nightstand because it had become quite a tower, and I rediscovered two novels I really want to read, each of which have been mentioned on Substacks that I love:

Kellye Garrett’s Missing White Woman is highly recommended on What To Read If for those searching for their next thriller. Elizabeth says that Garrett manages to pull of “threading the needle of critiquing a social issue while also delivering a page-turner.” More here:

You're Eating a Lot of Tomatoes

And Natalie at Subverse Reads (one of my personal favorite Substacks) wrote a love letter to Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez:

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

“It felt like a mash-up of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, House of Leaves, and A Little Life.” UM, R U KIDDING ME? Why haven’t I started this book yet?!

One of Cal Newport’s big things in Digital Minimalism is, after taking a thirty-day break from all digital distractions, he encourages you to thoughtfully let back in only the things that are going to serve your life. A few weeks ago, I started looking at Substack again, reading pieces at random and without feeling any sense of obligation, and it felt good. I don’t know what I’ll do with my Instagram and other accounts…I can feel how much I don’t want to go back to them, at all, but I can’t squash the voice in my head that says “but you need them in order to be a successful author. Don’t delete them. You’ll just be starting them over again one day.”

For now I’m punting the decision, staying off, and focusing on Goop & the family. (Oh, and like everyone, I am rewatching a crap ton of Veep.)

Ben cradling a hot dog and a baby

I hope everyone is well, and I’ll be back to writing substantive pieces in September!