February's List and The Artist's Way
Plus a new framework for "keeping up"
Dear Readers,
I have compiled a list of stories for February! Many of these are stories out of actual books. As I add them, I will see if they’re available online. Some may not be. Buy the books or check them out at your local library. Buying a book is a nice thing to do for the world, whether it’s a physical or digital version. The list of stories is near the end of this post. Any stories not highlighted with a hyperlink are unavailable online.
My recommendation: choose one or two of these stories for each week and commit to reading them. Don’t try and keep up with me. I can barely keep up with me! As the year goes on we’ll see how I can keep up. There may be a couple posts that simply list the stories read and a few sentences about each one, though if you can tell I really love writing about them. It’s just a matter of my energy.
The Artist’s Way Expedition
We’ll be embarking on Sunday, February 13th. In order to join, you need to be a paying subscriber to this newsletter. I won’t ask much of you, personally. I know what life is like right now. The only solid commitment you need to make is to take 12 weeks and dedicate yourself to the process. I assure you, it’s transformative.
What’s the process? Well, get the book first. Each week is different. But there are two non-negotiables.
Morning Pages
For twelve weeks you will devote yourself to producing a certain number of pages. Julia Cameron (the author of The Artist’s Way) recommends 3 pages. This depends on the size of your notebook and how large your handwriting is and how you write. If you are (like me) a slow, contemplative writer, you may choose to write two pages. But if you’re like me, slow and contemplative, you may be overthinking your writing. Cameron asks us to devote ourselves to this time spent writing but not to the writing itself. Choose a shitty, not-so-nice notebook. Or a nice one you’ll burn afterwards without regret. (You don’t really have to burn it, but that sure sounds fun).
If you get anxious thinking of discarding any of your writing, this may be exactly what you need.
A weekly artist date.
This is solo time, just for you. A challenge for us all but especially for those of us caring for children. Nevertheless; essential. You’ll take yourself somewhere out of the house. Cameron gives suggestions in the book, but you get to decide. Go for a walk, to a coffeeshop, a museum. Whatever your sweet heart desires.
Those are the two things you must do.
The rest is extra.
There’s ample opportunity for growth as you work through The Artist’s Way. There’s also ample opportunity for annoyance, activation, and anger to surface, just like any other process of unearthing.
I’ll tell you this: I teach yoga but I am allergic to most new age bullshit. I think “manifesting” is prosperity gospel and, when pressed, will share my views on the Akashic Records and the Law of Attraction and all that stuff that works fantastically for some people but which I consider to be all one thing given a thousand names. This book isn’t woo-woo, though the word god (capital G) is invoked often. It’s grounded, and its effects are clear.
When we start on February 13th we’ll have a short meeting and decide if/when we want to meet in addition to the encouragement and container I provide through this newsletter.
If you know of others who’d like to join or want to bring along a friend, please feel free, but for the sake of my energy and work, please make sure that whoever joins is a paying subscriber (or gift them a subscription). That’s all you need to do. There’s nothing else I require from you.
All paying subscribers will have access to these materials, so if you’re already a paying subscriber there’s nothing else you need to do!
February’s List
“Williamsburg Bridge” by John Edgar Wideman
“Gooseberries” by Anton Chekhov
“Unguided Tour” by Susan Sontag
“A Family” by Jamel Brinkley
“Best Features” by Roxane Gay
“Araby” by James Joyce
“Anything Could Disappear” by Danielle Evans
“Wild Milk” Sabrina Orah Mark
“The Watery Realm” by Yuko Tsushima
“What’s For Sale” by Nicole Dennis-Benn
“Daydream and Drunkenness of a Young Lady” by Clarice Lispector
“202 Checkmates” by Rion Amilcar Scott
“Meneseteung” by Alice Munro
“The Breadnut and the Breadfruit” by Maryse Condé
“Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Z.Z. Packer
“I’m Your Horse in the Night” by Luisa Valenzuela
“Bright and Morning Star” by Richard Wright
“Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead” by Milan Kundera
“Bee Honey” by Yoshimoto Banana
“The Key” by Nnedi Okarafor
“My First Goose” by Isaac Babel
“The Sacrificial Egg” by Chinua Achebe
“Yente” by Olga Tokarczuk
“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado
“Cosmopolitan” by Akhil Sharma
“The Huntress” by Sofia Samatar (flash)
“Barbara, Detroit, 1966” by Peter Orner (flash)
“In The Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka
Let me know if there’s a story you absolutely want me to add in March.