A gentle close to the week

And 11 things that made life brighter and better / Issue 1,453

Oh, hi friends!

What day is it? What week is it?

There is no time.

There’s only summer.

That’s the conclusion

Aransas Savas

and I arrived at during our weekly Friday check-in. 

And you know what? 

That’s a good place to be! 

It’s so easy to want to fight the tides. To do more when others are doing less. Or to do more full stop — have more fun, go more places, enjoy everything just a little bit more more more — but if there’s one secret to the summer, maybe it lies in accepting where you are in both place and mindset, work and life, and enjoying this moment for only and exactly what it is.

Idk basically I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week feeling “behind” (???) but then finally allowed my mind to clear. And out of that clearing came all these new ideas and frothy little enthusiasms. Even if nothing happened, that’s OK, too.

So, you know, eat the chips, read the book, take the nap. 

Enjoy what you can, where you can.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Who else is still singing Katy Perry, 14 years later? (source)

11 Things That Made Life Brighter and Better This Week

• A major help to clearing my mind was going for what I’m calling a “reset run” every day and sharing things I find on Instagram. (I’m @karacut!) I would pay almost any amount for the joy and clarity a few miles gives me; how ironic that they’re free?

• Damson Chola Jr. was a winner at the Jimmy Awards, the annual ceremony for high school musical theater artists. (YES HE’S IN HIGH SCHOOL!!) His performances of “Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime and “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors were LEGENDARY. But what he shared in the NYT gave his win even more meaning: “My parents are immigrants from Zambia, and I’ve been raised in that ‘keep moving forward’ thing,” Chola had said. “They’re getting old and I want them to retire, but America is not very kind to immigrants when it comes to retirement. I would love to hopefully one day give them the American dream. This is just one step closer for me.” I cannot wait to see this man on Broadway.

• I love donuts. I love entrepreneurs. I love documentaries. The Donut King, about how Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy created a million-dollar donut empire in California, is wistful, inspiring, cautionary. On Hulu! Big thanks to Jonathan Huang for accurately predicting my rabid interest in this story.

• The “Garlic Spread Dip” from Trader Joe’s is the only thing I want to eat for the rest of my days.

• Nestled in this wonderful reflective post by

  Meg Oolders
  of
  Stock Fiction
  is an A+ exercise from a writing class.

  The exercise: Write down 100 things you’d like to achieve in the next 5 years.

  “There were no rules about what types of things we’re allowed to want. They don’t have to fall in chronological order. They can be writing-related or personal. They can be small, results-based goals, or massive, dumbass, dreamy-eyed wishes.” Wow. 100 things will stretch your imagination in the way it wants to be stretched.

• I spent a few hours playing with NotebookLM, Google new AI tool for projects. I gave it a wild task: I dumped in my document of every newsletter I’ve written and asked it questions. (This is impossible to do with most other free AI tools; the doc is over 500,000 words!) It highlighted themes and progressions I’ve never noticed. This tool is going to be useful when I have a lot of source material for a project. Here’s a tutorial if you want to get the most out of it. Thanks to Justin Burr for knowing that I’d appreciate this!

• Btw, craving some accountability and structure for your writing project? Camp NaNoWriMo runs through July! It’s free! (Thanks to Heidi Cohen for sending my way!)

• Love love love this story of my friend Sara Lieberman auditioning for a fall production of The Music Man. She followed a thread of interest, which is how most good things begin!!

• “Father’s Day” by my pal Jack Adams is a tremendous, moving, rich song. Listen on Spotify and follow him on Instagram! 

• Had a really big breakthrough Launch the Plane session. Sorry but I will ask you questions that launch you to an answer!!

• Oh and I truly almost couldn’t watch Hacks because it’s a perfect show, but I finished Season 3. Absolute writing masterclass in character development, ensemble chemistry, world-building, and dialogue. I learned so much.

That’s all, folks! I’d love to hear what is making your holiday week brighter and better!!