this quarter in being social

in

Recording a new TSR interview tonight so I thought I’d provide a quick recap of the last quarter:

  • First up, Abbott Kahler and I discussed writing and selling her debut novel, WHERE YOU END, as well as her next work of narrative non-fic, THEN CAME THE DEVIL, 200-page outlines, and more: listen

  • Next, Christina Rice returned to wax ecstatic with me over our shared love of all things THE GODFATHER: Pacino's menace, Puzo's original novel, the underrated, the overrated, and the essential magic of James Caan's James Caan-ness: listen

  • In episode 0011, Justin Duke, the creator and resident plate-spinning human behind Buttondown, joined me to not only talk all things newsletters, longevity in the digital age, and what makes it all worth it, but also solved a mystery I couldn't figure out for 15 years: listen

  • And finally, Wallace Stroby, author of one of my favorite novels of last year, HEAVEN'S A LIE, returned to discuss my favorite film of all time, Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, as well as the music of Ennio Morricone, the history and impact of spaghetti westerns, and OUATITW's influence on his work: listen

If you've enjoyed the show, you can find earlier episodes here, leave a review at Apple Podcasts, and/or subscribe via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast delivery system. Thanks, as ever, for listening.

accepting a lack of acceptance and the journey to or against

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Every time I do a TSR interview, the worry that I'm unprepared arrives three days before and lasts until the morning of the interview itself (my general method is to spend the day of the interview fully immersed in the guest and their work, so that the conversation is the final part of that immersion). This perpetual unprepared-feel stems mostly, I think, from my inordinate capacity to forget – even though I've been working this way for nearly a year – that I'm ALWAYS working on everything, gathering disparate fragments and shards and throwing them into the project folder, waiting for the morning of to assemble and collate into a cheat sheet / chord progression for the interview itself, usually completed to my satisfaction within my first 105-minute block of the day. Same deal with the newsletter.

I keep telling myself that eventually I'll settle into a rhythm of acceptance but I doubt I will. Perhaps this lack of / journey to acceptance is part of my process and I have to accept that lack of acceptance as part of the deal?

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Blood sacrifice has been given and the wait to learn how bad my numbers are (I’m already resigned to saying “let’s check again in four months” because the last four months have been such a staggering clusterfuck) and whether or not I have rheumatoid arthritis (inherited autoimmune disorders FTW) but hopefully this time they won’t screw up the tests and tell me I had a positive COVID test after not being tested for it but I’m not holding my breath for hope to spring eternal.