making whimsy in the dark

When I was in 6th grade, we had to write a single sentence with each of our spelling words every week. A sentence? Bah! I had access to Word, with its beguiling newsletter templates, and a desire to make things. Instead of a sentence, I crafted a weekly newsletter about a fictional community, weaving the spelling words into the “articles.”

So this month I’m throwing it back, albeit a nonfictional newsletter about what’s been happening around here. If it’s hard to read here in Substack, you can see the larger page images here, complete with embedded links. It’s a dark time right now, and I’ve got no sense of authority, to say what anyone should be doing. All I can say is that I’m listening, and donating, and trying to keep making love and whimsy wherever I can.

Links:

• Enter the world of Homebound

• Publisher’s Weekly: Writers to Watch

• “American Symbolism” by Brandon Taylor

• “On Romanticizing Fresh Starts” by Tricia Mowat

• “A day in the life of a bookseller” by Fisher the Bookseller

• Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

• Preorder Homebound

I would love to hear how you are — what you’re reading and watching, what’s growing in your backyard or neighborhood, how your heart is doing.

Warmly,

p