Weekly recap 04.14.24
Corniness, poor quality eclipse photos, writerly updates, a writing challenge, my weird guilty pleasure, and a chapter sneak peek
Hey! Happy Sunday!
It’s been since the end of January since I posted a little weekly recap. Did you miss me? (Don’t answer that.)
Here’s the thing about these recaps: I have a hard time writing them partly because they take a surprising amount of time, and partly because who do I think I am, talking about my very average, very boring week then sending that info along to clog up peoples’ already-full inboxes?
But also: the weekly recap posts were some of my most popular and well read! Which means there are people out there who, just like me, love to read the intricacies of a person’s life, no matter how small or tedious. (Plus you can always just delete without reading, so…I guess there’s that?)
In all seriousness: every time I go to write one of these, I cringe. Like, truly, I don’t think I’m anyone special, and I don’t do anything that is worth noting very often. I cannot state this enough.
Hanif Abdurraquib, a writer I admire, recently admitted to moments of corniness (even though he is kind of the epitome of cool, but that’s probably because he’s okay with being himself most days, even if what he is being is corny). And maybe that’s my issue with posts like these. I am, at my core, a corny person and in many ways, a weekly recap is just one long reflection of that.
However.
The stories I like best are the ones about the lived, embodied experiences of a character’s life. Like, give me what he ate for breakfast or what she does for work. What does this character think about organized religion and also what books are on their nightstand? What brand of toothpaste do they use? Do they love or hate winter? What is their favorite, go-to joke?
Mine, by the way, which I made up when I was six-years-old (a child prodigy but also my peak years of comedy):
What do you call the undead leader of a game show?
A g-host.
All this to say: consider this my loud and proud(?) statement of corniness.
Will I continue these weekly recaps after this week? Maybe? Will I do it consistently—idk? Probably not. But I’ll send this out into the ether and trust that whoever enjoys reading this kind of thing will find something enjoyable here and whoever doesn’t will delete my email unread and probably unsubscribe.
In this recap, we’ll go over:
the eclipse
a Theories of Haunting update
The Artist’s Way challenge
What I’m reading, watching, and listening to
Plus a sneak peek of this week’s chapter!
The Eclipse
This week started with a celestial miracle!
I got some really bad pictures of the eclipse which I’ll share below. I was so close to the path of totality, but as you can see, there was still the tiniest pinprick of sunlight.
What was almost as cool was the way my backyard changed in the span of just a few minutes, from chilly twilight to a blazing late afternoon. All of my neighbors’ outdoor lights came on. It felt as if time was condensing and reversing which was strange.
Theories of Haunting
Theories of Haunting is in the middle of a long Deb flashback which I am loving! When I go to edit the book, I will probably cut out quite a bit of it—ultimately, I think it will be too distracting from the main story. But it’s helping me establish who Deb is as a character, what’s happened to her, and how that will affect her moving forward in the book, so it’s still super helpful to write. And I’m having a lot of fun with it—Deb is my favorite character. (Don’t tell Naomi!)
In case you haven’t read in a little while, here are a few recent chapters. Give them a read if they sound interesting to you:
Chapter 17: The theory of polite society
The start of the Deb flashbacks.
One of her earliest memories is of fingers in her hair. Patient, steady, gentle on the snags and snarls of a five-year-old’s head. Even when Debbie was squirming to get up, they never yanked, never pulled, only worked steadily until her hair was twisted away from her eyes so she could better see the mischief she was about to make…
Chapter 18: The theory of shark children
Deb’s sister Violet gives birth to twins and experiences declining health.
They marry in the autumn of Violet’s senior year, though Violet’s insistence on graduating is so vehement that her husband has no choice but to acquiesce. It is Deb’s one spark of hope that Violet might still, perhaps, shed domestic life like a too-tight skin…
Chapter 19: The theory of butterfly fragility
Deb and Violet drift apart.
Deb goes to Smith College that autumn to study Greek and philosophy. She spends long, lonely hours studying long-dead philosophers and a language that feels unfamiliar on her tongue. Each Friday evening, she packs up and takes a two-hour train ride back home…
Chapter 20: The theory of addition
Deb marries Peter and learns how her mother and sister share the same secret burden.
It isn’t until Deb is back at college that she will do the math of her own family: Deb and her seven siblings. On average, less than a year apart. Her father’s affairs make sense, now. Deb had found out about the other women after snooping through her father’s office when she was twelve years old. Deb brought the letters to her mother who read them, carefully re-folded them, and told Deb to hide these wherever she’d found them. And not to tell her siblings…
The Artist’s Way Challenge
Have you heard of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron?
I’ve had the book for years and every so often will flip through it, completing some of the exercises here and there. It’s a 12-week intensive meant to re-inspire creativity. I’ve been feeling the defeat of the publishing world recently and writing has started to feel a little futile, a little like failure.
asked me to join her for the full 12 weeks and I said yes. Week 1 begins this week, and I will post occasionally about my progress, thinking, etc.What I am…
Reading:
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
Land of the Lustrous by Haruko Ichikawa
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
The New Yorker on my iPad while I walk on the treadmill including this delightfully weird article about French all-you-can-eat buffets
Watching:
The Magic Prank Show (I have THOUGHTS about this show. Like…the magic is amazing but it is also SO MEAN.)
Ripley
Is It Cak3? (lol)
American Idol (lol)
Margaret Atwood’s Masterclass
Listening to:
The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma audiobook (I have to explain. This book is Very Bad. Peak corniness. But self-help books are my guilty pleasure. I listen to this in the morning on my way to dropping the baby off at daycare and feel like I can do anything in the world. Then, the day beats me up and it’s time to pick up the baby from daycare and I listen to this stupid book and feel on top of the world again. Rinse, wash, repeat the rest of the week. And in case you’re wondering, NO, I do NOT get up at 5am. I just like to dream of a world where I’m that energetic and productive and in the gentlest way (as in, I don’t beat myself up and call myself a piece of shit or something for not accomplishing it), it’s what keeps me going some days.
Coming This Week
Chapter 21: The theory of rats and TATs
The move to Harvard is easy. Deb, it turns out, has no earthly attachments whatsoever and happily sells, donates, and trashes whatever possessions she and Peter can’t fit in their new on-campus apartment. Peter laughs and calls her a vicious cut-throat when she tosses a picture frame that Deb had since childhood into the garbage bin, the glass crunching satisfyingly into a hundred pieces.
The work itself, however, is less amiable.
Peter returns one day from a departmental luncheon. Deb, of course, had not been invited, though the other male research assistants accompanied the psychologists. He is buzzing, invigorated, a little drunk, with new ideas for studying behaviorism and intricate plans for rat mazes sketched in pen on the backs of napkins and in the marginalia of the lunch menu.
This week’s new chapter will release at noon on Thursday. Be sure to subscribe to receive it straight to your inbox!
I think that’s enough for now. See y’all on Notes this week. Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.
In love and corniness,
Macey