Control what you can control. Let the rest take care of itself. — I came across someone on Tik Tok this week. They have 10 million followers. Ten. Million. They put on makeup and 10 million people pay attention. And someone else who has 1.5 million followers. They got a book deal. I’m not going to lie. It’s hard to look at my…

It’s time for the second annual Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge! — Last June, I thought to myself — what if we challenged everyone to write a blog post a day for one month. That morphed into something more like what if we challenged everyone to write a blog post a day for a month and turn those posts into a book? …

Meet FRED . . . — FRED is the folder for reaching the end of your draft. And he is magical. This deceptively simple little tool keeps me on track, reminds me that I’m a real writer (when I need that reminder), and makes sure I actually finish my projects. …

An essay by Sharon Astyk — Sharon Astyk is a science writer who has written four books about current and coming hard times and how to move through them, both independently and collectively. This publication collects some of her essays. [ed. note: This is part one of a four-part series that Sharon posted between the January…

Thank you for that. — I came across a TikTok video this morning made by a creator called Andrea Gibson that was just two sentences. I any moment, on any given day, I can measure my wellness by this question alone. Is my attention on loving, or is my attention who isn’t loving me. …

An Essay by Sharon Astyk By Sharon Astyk First published on May 12, 2022 Don’t forget to follow this publication and subscribe to the newsletter, to get Sharon’s new posts delivered to your inbox. — S. What I really want to talk about today is: This coming fall Why I…

An essay by Sharon Astyk — By Sharon Astyk First published on May 11, 2022 (A Note From Shaunta: As I prepare to publish this for Sharon, my daughter has Covid. She’s not a child anymore, but this still struck a nerve for me. Even more than Sharon’s work usually does. My daughter has asthma and…

Here are a few ‘tells.’ (See what I did there?) — I chose the above picture for this post, because it’s so easy to illustrate the difference between showing and telling with it. He was kissing her. See that? I’m telling you — they were kissing. It’s already happened. It’s easy to tell this is telling, because it’s past tense. Even…

We all need one sometimes. — It’s FINALLY not winter in northwestern PA. It’s going to be 80 degrees today. It’ll cool off again, but to the 60s, not the 20s. Hallelujah. And I’m finally feeling energized and like my regular self. The wet blanket that is Seasonal Affective Disorder has lifted for the year. It’s…