Writing long
Issue 13: 20k words in 3 days Dear reader, I did it. I wrote a total of 23,941 words in three days. It’s the most I’ve ever written in that amount of time. It was cool to prove to myself that I’m capable of more than
Archive
A collection of 13 issues
A very royal château birthday
Issue 12: Writing about a week away in the French countryside from upstate NY I turn thirty-five today. I’ve scheduled this newsletter to send on the morning of my actual birthday, because I’m currently upstate at a writing retreat with my sister. By the time we return
Resisting metaphor
Issue 11: Lessons from McCormack Writing Workshop In February, I finished McCormack Writing Center’s Winter Workshop (formerly Tin House Workshop). It was such a nourishing and rewarding experience to luxuriate in the fullness of a literary space, a good and timely reminder of how invaluable that energy is, and
Perennially perennial
Issue 10: “Can you stretch without striving?” Even after my 2025 reflections, I was having a hard time finding my word for 2026. How could I follow perennial? Especially when Everything is Perennial, as Charli XCX has said to me personally? Nothing was striking a chord, and I no longer
A most perennial year
Issue 9: 2025 Year in Review—The Age of Contentment I love the first day of a new year. I love the scent of possibility, the texture of an imagined fresh start, the swell of excitement that comes with the “temporal power” of January 1, as my friend Alice poignantly
How to creatively direct your life
Issue 8: Who’s going to tell you not to? “Doing is living,” the artist Ruth Asawa said, talking about how she saw both her life and art practices come into being through action. “That is all that matters.” I found a lot of inspiration in seeing Ruth Asawa: A
The Art of Time in Fiction, and in Life
Issue 7: Then, now, later “All art is a negotiation with time,” begins Gina Chung in her One Story craft lecture, Tempo & Rhythm: Manipulating Time in Fiction. “Maybe this is because we have trouble with the passage of time in real life,” she jokes. This is over Zoom, so
Summer of Change
Issue 6: A formal farewell to the passing season I rewatched one of my favorite films twice this summer. The first time was at Écoles Cinema Club in Paris with Allison, CEO of Boy Movies, to celebrate her birthday; the second, at my neighborhood cinema, BAM, with Alice. At BAM,
“Enjoy the view!”
Issue 5: A simple yet powerful instruction for life I took a mindful “hot girl” walk through the park on a rainy Sunday morning, and because it was raining, I a) felt very strong main character energy and b), all the benches lining my usual promenade were empty. I started
“What would it take for you to do this for real?”
Issue 4: The habit of art I’ve been thinking a lot about this question my friend, Kat, asked me a few months ago. We were at a group dinner celebrating her birthday and our friend Vicki’s book launch (you can buy a copy here!) This group of four
Practicing Living
Issue 3: Lessons from my Beginner Acting class “What is acting?” My teacher, Scott Organ, posed this question on our first day of class. Most simply, it is saying and doing something in a place. But more than that, acting is living truthfully under artificial circumstances. All of us know
All Are Welcome (No Men Allowed)
Issue 2: A Two Year Celibation Esteemed members of the nunnery, you are cordially invited to Our Lady of Perpetual Peace for a Two Year Celibation, honoring our Reverend Mother, Her Singleness. We will eat, drink, and be merry in honor of this blessed day. Libations will abound: fruit, savory
A Very Belated Brokeback Valentine's
Issue 1: Welcome to katie mag This year I've really been feeling like life is coming at me, not from me, and this “newsletter" will be my attempt to carve out some space for that intentionality — to quiet my newly Severance-pilled brain, to create a space