By Leslie Lindsay
A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more
Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book
~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~
Hello, Friends!
Let’s talk about transitions for a moment. They can be equal parts exciting and terrifying, right? You can want a change, even go so far as to curate that change, and then when it comes, it’s hard, hard, hard. You get me?
What about those changes you didn’t even ask for, but boom–here they are? Yeah, that too. And those other transitions–the ones you know are coming, didn’t really ask for, but you know…the seasons, the school year, a shift in your daily routine. Why the heck are they so hard? And what can we do when we ‘hit a wall?’ How can we embrace them?
Clear the slate.
For me, I like a little lead time. Maybe a day or two to ‘shift gears,’ mentally and maybe physically, too. The problem is, life happens fast. Sometimes we don’t have the space or time to ‘ease in.’ Then what?
Anticipate, anyway.
I do a lot of visualizing. What might such-and-such look like? Feel like? What might I say or do in ___ situation? Sometimes I even have imaginary conversations with myself (quietly, in my head). This really doesn’t require much time. It might be a few minutes before falling asleep, while driving, or exercising. Maybe it’s while walking the dog.
It’s totally normal.
Chances are, you’re not the only one feeling this way. This time of year always sends the message that it’s time to ‘go back to school,’ even if you’ve been in the workforce for years. I get the hankering to learn something new, get new shoes, or even acquire a new notebook or something. It’s a fine time to ‘take stock’ of the year as we move into fall.
Talk it over with a friend.
No shame in sharing your anxieties with a trusted friend. Even if it’s abundance and excitement about a change, it’s still a transition, and that can generate some big feelings and uncertainty. You might both receive some clarity and comfort.
I’ve got a great kids’ book you might love (and author interview; see below). It’s all about making new friends, feeling displaced. Kids books are great teaching and coping skills–for adults, too! They offer a script, a place to explore, and often have a satisfying resolution.
Tell me what you think!
Respond here in a comment, or find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
xx,
~Leslie : )
There’s more to this newsletter…keep scrolling!
You are reading Musings & Meanderings, a consistently inconsistent weekly newsletter about the literary life from Leslie Lindsay, author of award-winning Speaking of Apraxia (Woodbine House, 2020 and PRH audio 2021) and home of an archive of bestselling and debut author interviews.
What I’m Distracted By:
- Everything! It’s a weird day. I left the house not once, but twice because I was sure I forgot my phone (I didn’t) and then I was without my IPass and was going to be on the tollway, so went back. At the doctor’s office, the nurse thought I was a different patient and was concerned about my blood pressure medication (which I don’t take)! My daughter texted because she was worried about which bus to take home. I thought maybe Mercury was in retrograde, but that doesn’t happen until September 9.
- This in-person retreat at Corporeal Writing hosted by Lidia Yuknavitch this October. It’s called The Anatomy of Waves and I love both those ideas.
- A pile of books. More amazing ones popping onto the scene early 2023. My reading list is growing, growing, growing. You can check out what I’m reading, have read, and want to read on my Bookshop.org ‘shop,’ Always with a Book.
There’s more to this newsletter…keep scrolling!
NEW! Four Questions: A mini-interview series
Christina Sharkey Geist
BUDDY’S NEW BUDDY
- Without responding in complete sentences, what would you say BUDDY’S NEW BUDDY is about?
Christina Geist:
Making new friends by finding one thing in common, with one person, one day at a time.
2. Where did you write BUDDY’S NEW BUDDY? Do you have any special writing routines or rituals? Do they change with each project, or remain constant over time?
Christina Geist:
This is my third book in the Growing with Buddy series. Whether it’s bedtime, the first day of school or – in the case of Buddy’s New Buddy – making a new friend, I try to drop my readers directly into a moment in Buddy’s life that every family can relate to. Then, I twist the narrative just so, and take a slightly unexpected path with the story.
3. If you weren’t writing you would be…
Christina Geist:
I’m working as the Founder & CEO of Boombox Gifts, helping people create memory boxes for their friends and family, filled with their life stories and photos.
4. What book did you read recently that you cannot stop thinking or talking about?
Christina Geist:
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
For more information, or to connect with Christina Sharkey Geist via her website, click HERE, To order a copy of BUDDYS NEW BUDDY, please visit my Bookshop.org shop|Always with a Book
Recently-published Stuff You Might Have Missed:
- A piece in the nostalgia dossier of Levitate Magazine, about my childhood interest in a (vintage) kid’s rooms and spaces book.
- A Conversation with Marie Myung-Ok Lee in The Millions, about her new novel, The Evening Hero, featuring aspects of immigration, Minnesota, color, and medicine.
- A conversation with Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder about her book, Existential Physics (Viking, August 9, 2022) in Hippocampus Magazine.
- A conversation with Carla Zaccagnini about her book, Cuentos de Cuentas (Amant/Verlag, spring 2000) in The Millions.
- “Breaking Ground,” by Leslie Lindsay, flash fiction in The Tiny Journal
- “Making Space: Cicadas & My Mother,” by Leslie Lindsay, CNF in ANMLY
- The Midwessay: Fragmented Thoughts on Being a Missouri Girl in ‘the north,’ Essay Daily, May 9, 2022.
- In Conversation with Maud Newton, author of ANCESTOR TROUBLE: A Reckoning and Reconciliation (Random House, March 29, 2022), Hippocampus Magazine, May 2022.
- In Conversation with Kim Adrian, author of The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet, The Florida Review, spring 2022.
- Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech, 2nd edition (Woodbine House, 2021) through some online retailers, your local library, used bookstores (it’s now officially out-of-print), and the audio edition is downloadable (with additional PDFs, resources) through Penguin Random House.
Coming soon:
A piece about being a book ambassador, reading about family, inheritance, postmemory, and landscape in Moms Don’t Have Time to Write.
A a hybrid flash non-fiction piece about the mysteries of ancestry in ELJ Editions Scissors & Spackle.
My experience at a retreat/workshop abroad, featuring architecture and design, how writing is always a work-in-progress in The Smart Set.
A conversation with Kristina Langley Mahler about her new hybrid memoir, CURING SEASON: Artifacts (WVP, October 1) in Brevity.
I’ll be sharing my published interviews here, after they’ve ‘gone live’ with their various publications.
There’s more to this newsletter. Keep scrolling.
What I’m reading:
Emails. Texts. Getting caught up. Right now, I’m between books. But there are plenty that have caught my eye.
What I’m listening to:
These pretty great old-school tunes from the 1980s on Sonos Music/Yacht Rock.
You are reading Musings & Meanderings, a consistently inconsistent weekly newsletter about the literary life from Leslie Lindsay, and home of an archive of bestselling and debut author interviews. I’m also on twitter and instagram. I try to answer comments as best I can. Feel free to find my book suggestions on bookshop.org, and also check out the authors I’ve hosted in in-depth interviews HERE.
In the meantime, catch me on:
Reviewing books and talking about them with others on-line and in-person is one small way to engage with & support the literary community.
Thank you for letting me guide you on your bookish journey.
Let’s walk this bookish path together.
THANK YOU!!
Some of you have been reading my reviews, interviews, and meanderings for more than a decade now. That’s huge and I am so humbled. Thanks for being here.
Connect with me on Instagram, and Twitter. See what I’m reading on Bookshop.org. Find my reviews on GoodReads. I’m also a Zibby Books Ambassador.
Learn more HERE.
Leslie A. Lindsay| Writer & Creative 