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~
August?! How did that happen?!
How is it already–<gasps!> the middle–of August?! Are you ready for summer to be over? If you’re not, that’s okay. I like this quote from our poet laurate:
I think it’s OK not to talk, not to make, not to create, not to produce, produce, produce. How can we listen to the world if we are always talking to the world?
–Ada Limon
I think it speaks to our culture and society-driven standard that we always have to be in motion to get ahead, to be successful. We don’t. Sometimes just ‘being’ is enough. More than enough. I try to remember that there is a season for everything. Maybe now we are observing, absorbing, taking in. Maybe we’re creating and in the thick of things. Maybe we’re gearing up for the next stage. That’s how I see August. It’s a gearing up, a shedding of old skin.
Question:
How might you start to revision your time? Do you need ot make some changes (I do!), how might this season better prepare you for the next one? You might not know yet, but you will.
Respond here in a comment, or find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
xx,
~Leslie : )
This issue of Musings & Meanderings is jam-packed with some really great stuff to get your [writing and reading] summer off on the right foot. Coaching, book recommendations, where to submit, reading recommendations, author interviews, recently published prose, and a quick 4-questions insights interview with Jennifer Cramer-Miller INCURABLE OPTIMIST (SWP, August 15 2023).
By the way, I do not get any ‘kick-backs’ or other kind of payment (in-kind, or otherwise) for mentioning these classes/workshops/books/individuals. Sharing because if helps me, maybe it’ll speak to you, too.
Some Writerly Things:
- I’m really intrigued by this November evening webinar/Zoom class featuring Kristine Langley Mahler: All Prompts All the Time, on writing the experimental. Yay, fun! I’ve taken a class with her before and her tips and techniques are definitely generative. CHECK IT OUT, registration required, fee-based. And also, pre-order her forthcoming book, A CALENDAR IS A SNAKESKIN.
- Maybe you’d like to take those experimental essays and work them into a cohesive essay? We’ve got you covered in this Layfayette Writer’s class Expand and Transform Your Essays with Paige Tower. This class meets 10/26 via Zoom and is fee-based.
- I recently discovered this literary arts organization, Art Lit Lab (ALL) in Madison, Wisconsin and wanted to bring it to your attention, too. Lately, I am finding myself drawn to my first love, visual art. I really dig the pairing of art + text and this place seems to support just that. They offer readings, classes, a gallery, residencies, more.
- Poets! Looking to submit? Palette Poetry is open now for their chapbook contest judged by Danez Smith now through August 20th. Details HERE.
- I love this guest post by Erik Harper Klass via Becky Tuch’s LitMag News on things to do before submitting your short story. Don’t worry if you don’t write short stories, it’s an amazing resource for longer manuscripts, too.
New! Featured Author|Insights
Debut Memoir
Jennifer Cramer-Miller
THE INCURABLE OPTIMIST
Living with Illness and Chronic Hope
Leslie Lindsay:
Without responding in complete sentences, what would you say INCURABLE OPTIMIST is about?
Jennifer Cramer-Miller : Letting go of the life you’ve planned, seeking to accept the life you’ve been given, chronic hope, people helping people, incurable optimism, and life’s tricky mix of beauty and bummers.
Leslie Lindsay:
Where did you write INCURABLE OPTIMIST? Do you have any special writing routines or rituals? Do they change with each project, or remain constant over time?
Jennifer Cramer-Miller : I wrote a good chunk of Incurable Optimist late at night in my home office. Quiet house. Everyone asleep. No distractions. But I also plopped on my family room sofa and wrote while cuddled up next to my fluffy pup, Penny. Plus, I wrote plenty at a co-op working space for women, where I join a weekly writing group. There’s nothing like the support of other writers to jazz me up.
I don’t have a list of writing rituals, but I require four things before I dive in. My laptop, a pen, my notebook, and my phone. Then I make a mess with my thoughts—my brain fires in many directions. I’ll jot a random note in my notebook, spark a memory from a photo on my phone, and spill a heap of words into a document. This messy beginning creates a mound of supple clay. Eventually, many edits later, the words start to reveal a cohesive sculpture.
Leslie Lindsay:
If you weren’t writing, you would be…
Jennifer Cramer-Miller : I’ve worked for years in the custom home industry and I love all things home design. Now I devote most of my time to my writing career, but if I wasn’t writing, I’d help more clients choose selections that make them feel beautiful in their spaces. I also serve as the board chair for the National Kidney Foundation, as a kidney patient PEER Mentor, and a Donate Life Ambassador. I dedicate my time outside of writing to these causes near and dear to my heart.
Recently, graphic design has become a delightful hobby. I find myself cascading down many a Canva graphic design rabbit hole. And I love it. You’ll also find me dancing energetically (for exercise) as my dog looks puzzled, deeply absorbed by a podcast, or fully immersed in a book.
Leslie Lindsay:
What 10 words do you use every day—in writing or speech?
Jennifer Cramer-Miller : My favorite word is affinity, I just think it has a nice ring to it. While editing my manuscript, I discovered that I used the word sheepish too much. Who knew? I also say the word dinner everyday—it’s my husband and my favorite topic. Plus, I rattle a six-word Spanish greeting every morning as my dog greets me with her wagging tail. It’s the only Spanish I know after a brief dalliance with Duo Lingo.
A raw, heartfelt, and transformational read for anyone needing levity in the face of adversity. I love how Jennifer’s humor-laced resilience beautifully encourages the reader to always make room for joy and hope!”
—Julie Burton, author of The Self-Care Solution: A Modern Mother’s Must-Have Guide to Health and Well-Being and owner of ModernWell
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jennifer Cramer-Miller’s memoir, Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope, launches on August 15th and is available now for pre-order. Her work is featured in Zibby Mag, Brevity Blog, The Sunlight Press, Grown & Flown, The Erma Bombeck Blog, Star Tribune, Minnesota Physician, Mamalode, and Medium. She lives in a suburb of Minneapolis with her witty, golf-obsessed husband, and her waggy, treat-obsessed pup.
- For more information, or to purchase a copy of INCURABLE OPTIMIST, pop over to my Bookshop.org
- You can connect with Jennifer on Instagram
- Or visit her website
Browse my Bookshop.org see what I’m reading in 2023, and other titles featured on Insights|Musings & Meanderings …and more!
You can find me, Leslie Lindsay, on Instagram for more bookish news, book unboxing reels, artsy flatlays, and book talks.
Some Readerly Things:
- I really like this piece in Aliya Mughal’s Substack about finding a ‘Shangha’–that is, a like-minded group.
- This piece, in The Normal School hits on a lot of themes near and dear: house and homes, mothers and generations, clutter and dirt.
- Are you a memoir-enthusiast? Like reading them? Writing them? Check out this list from Author’s Publish, top memoirs you ‘should’ read if you’re writing a memoir. Have you read them? Do you agree?
- I loved this piece, Dream People, in The Rumpus from colleague Kate Brody at Kenyon Writer’s Workshop. Kate’s literary thriller, RABBIT HOLE (Soho Press) launches in January 2024.
Some Recently Published Interviews, Prose, Etc.:
- A double-interview featuring Cassandra Jackson and Jasmine Brown and their respective books, THE WRECK: A Daughter’s Memoir of Becoming a Mother (Viking, May 2023) and TWICE AS HARD (Beacon Hill, February 2023) ran in Hippocampus Magazine. See how and why I chose to pair these two titles and my connection to the material.
- I had the honor and priviledge of chatting with Priscilla Gilman, author of the memoir, THE CRITIC’S DAUGHTER (W.W. Norton, February 2023 for The North American Review. We talk about Guess jeans (with ankle zippers!), being the responsible older sister, challenging parents, and more. Gilman is the daughter of renown literary agent Lynn Nesbit and Richard Gilman, Yale School of Drama professor and theater critic.
- This poem, CLOTHES ON THE LINE was published in Abandoned Mine and was inspired by my fascination with ancestors. It’s speaker is a young girl in a dreamy, almost flow-of-conscious voice.
- A hybrid piece, AMERSAND & EPHEMERA was published in the latest print issue (vol. 16) of DASH Literary: Futurisms, and it’s a gorgeous issue all around. It’s a bit of a centro in which I cobbled together titles from spines of books on a shelf into a cohesive memoir-poetry-catalog.
- This piece, MODEL HOME: A Study Under Compression, in On the Seawall, is something I am so proud of. It was conceived in a craft store when I wandered down the model train aisle. At home, I already had the moss and tiny house and vials. I wanted to depict something with words and photography that would spotlight my family falling into disarray…my mother’s mental illness, the ‘perfect’ home, the family divided. This was my answer. It’s my first text + image publication. Here’s a sampling:
- I am bowled over by the reception my poem, CREVASSE, received by Luke Johnson in the Spring 2023 issue of Ballast. Check out our dialogue about one another’s work HERE. Also, that landing page! Swooning.
- Two pieces of poetry, TRUNDLE and HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS were published in Neologism Poetry Journal and both have to do with mental illness, one is particularly emotional; it has to do with my mother’s first psychotic episode when I was ten and Dad had to lock me in my room for safety.
- You can find some of my other poetry at Empyrean Literary Journal. This piece was conceived in a workshop at StoryStudio Chicago in which the prompt was to combine two totally different things with one’s childhood street. I chose my grandfather’s profession as stained-glass artist and the year 1989. The resulting piece is COLLAPSE.
- Thrilled to have this byline in LitHub! Here, I chat with 82-year-old poet Pattiann Rogers about her new collection, THE FLICKERING (Penguin Poets, April 2023).
- 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.
There’s more to this newsletter. Keep scrolling.
What’s Obsessing Me:
- Totally obsessed with this gallery offering, ‘The Aesthetics of Loss’…what happens to the things left behind when someone passes away? It becomes art. Tee-shirts, photos, other memorabilia turns into a striking observation. Runs July 11-Sept 1 2023.
- Part-art, part-cookie [biscuit], part-book, check out Ella Hawkins’ literary take on these ornately decorated English biscuits.
- Houses and homes and all things ghosts completely intrigue me. Minitaures, too. That’s what makes this Sarabande Books zine lunch with poet, Adam O. Davis so appealing. Check it out and follow along on this archived video.
- Back-to-school! I’ve always been a sucker for office/school supplies and this round-up from ZibbyBooks has me drooling.
What I’m Listening To:
A lot of Taylor Swift. It started because my teenage daughter went to her concert this summer. And then it became a way for me to engaged with writing. Songwriting is so closely related to poetry. And storytelling, too. Plus, it’s an instant mood booster.
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.
More than 2,800 folks read Musings & Meanderings.
Wishing you much renewal & sunshine
- I am still thinking about this book, HOMESICK–the form, the content, the scope. A dear friend alerted me to this article about why the author (Jennifer Croft) chose to incorporate photographs into the text.
Created by Leslie Lindsay. I’m a proud book nerd. Let’s connect on Instagram, and Twitter. See what I’m reading on Bookshop.org. Find my reviews & ratings on GoodReads. I’m also a Zibby Books Ambassador, part of the Riverherd with Riverhead Books, a proud supporter of the Between the Covers podcast hosted by David Naimon and produced thru Tin House, and an early reviewer of Penguin Random House titles. My book, SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech (2021), is available in audio only by PRHaudio.
Learn more HERE.
Are you following us on Instagram?
That’s where you’ll catch bookreels, cover reveals, & bookmail : )
I support writing organizations, authors, publishers, and more. Occasionally, you’ll get a peak behind-the-scenes, too.
Get occasional bookish news delivered to your inbox.
One last thing: I love Between the Covers podcast with David Naimon. Not listening yet? If you’re a serious reader and writer, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Leslie A. Lindsay 
Got something to say? Tell us!!