A summer begins
A new book project, a long Devon walk and my summer reading list
Fidan Nazimqızı
This week’s project ~
I started to work on my next book! The working title is Notes From a Summer on Lake Annecy and it’s something I’ve been noodling on for a while now. It will be another memoir-in-essays and the themes are my usual obsession - identity and transformation with a strong sense of place.
In terms of process - I’m doing something radically different this time around: I’m planning to write from an outline! This is new territory for me as I usually write 70K words and then spend a year/lifetime trying to make sense of what I wrote. This time, I’m going into the writing process with a general sense of a beginning middle and end. I’ve got a list of 45 essays to write, in a very loose order, which will undoubtedly change. But it’s a road map! Also, I love a good list. Here are my notes to self:
1) Protect your writing time.
2) Look at the outline. Pick up where you left off. Keep going.
3) Do NOT edit as you go. Edit in September.
I’ve given myself a short time frame for this draft because I tend to get bored quickly and I want to keep my energy and vibes high. This is either a brilliant idea or completely unrealistic.
A quick trip to Devon ~
Stonehenge after the rain. ©Laurel Kallenbach
Haldon Belvedere: a triangular castle overlooking the Devon countryside.
This weekend, we took a made a quick overnight trip to Devon to visit some friends. We unexpectedly drove past Stonehenge to get there! The view from the highway was underwhelming. I’d love to go back for a proper look around - maybe on summer solstice? How much pegan fun would that be? Later, when the rain cleared, we went for a proper English walk and stumbled upon the Haldon Belvedere is a triangular castle overlooking the Devon countryside.
My Summer Reading List ~
My Summer Reading List!
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
Isola by Allegra Goodman
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova
I Seek a Kind Person Julian Borger
If You Love It, Let it Kill You by Hannah Pittard
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Until next week!
xo, L
Letting go and moving on
Graduation celebrations, food writing obsessions, and the joy of purging
Photograph by Bettman-Corbis
This week’s project -
My youngest daughter graduated from high school! Our days were filled with ceremonies, celebrations, dinner parties, cocktails. We were celebrating her, for sure. But you know what? I’m also proud of me. I birthed two babies, kept them alive and got them through high school. Congratulations to me!
Apart from journaling, there was very little time this week to work on my creative projects. But I did start brainstorming my next book… The working title is The Lake House Project. The idea is still forming in my mind and I can’t yet put it into words. But I think it will have a strong visual component as well as written words. Sophia’s agreed to be my photographer and art director! Should be fun.
Artist: Luc Lavenseau
Travel: Where I’m at, where I’m going -
We’re moving! The owner of our London home wants to sell and we don’t want to buy - so we have until September 30 to move out. I’ve looked out dozens of houses and apartments here in London, but I just can’t get excited about any of them. Both kids will be in the US for university, so we could literally live almost anywhere.
What I really want to do is travel around the world and be a nomad for a while… But what about work? Is that realistic? We are brainstorming options…
In the meantime, I’m going through the house room-by-room and deciding what to keep, what to donate and what to throw away. And Oh My God I Love This Process So Much! B asked me if I needed help going through the things in the attic and I was like YES MAN, TALK DIRTY TO ME! LET’S GO! We spent all day up there and then donated two carloads of stuff to our local charity shop. And then I took a carload of junk to the Refuse and Recycling Center. Is there anything more therapeutic? I FREAKING LOVE IT. Nothing is safe from my purging! I’m a woman on a mission.
HENRY’S book cover is fuzzy like a peach and I can’t stop petting it.
Books: What I’m reading -
I’m still making my way through Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen. I haven’t made up my mind about this book. I’m told the ending is phenomenal, so I’m sticking with it.
I’ve got two other reading obsessions at the moment. The first is I’m searching for great stories by exquisite food writers. A few months ago, I read The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (which I loved) and I just finished Butter by Asako Yuzuki (which I liked). Next up is How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry and then Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
I’ve also fallen down a rabbit hole researching visual memoirs. I might have made up that genre, but here’s what it means to me: Books where the images carry as much narrative weight as the words. Books like the perennial favourite Film for Her by Orion Carloto or It by Alexa Chung. Or even Sara Berman’s Closet by Maira Kalman or Elena: A Hand Made Life by Miriam Gold.
I know these two categories of books seem wildly different, but they are both feeding my next project!
Where I walk my dog. :) The River Thames, Chiswick to Hammersmith. Artist: Arabella Harcourt-Cooze
Look what I made!
My recipe collection, two book recs and some link love
Look what I made! It’s a cookbook inspired by my travels and organised by cuisine.
This week’s project -
I finally - finally! - finished the edits on my recipe collection and sent it to the printers! Turns out, collecting all the recipes and photos was the easy part. Formatting them into a professional looking book was supremely tedious. In case you're curious (and a process nerd like me): I used Google Drive to organize the content, Canva to create and format the book, and Bookvault to print.
The cover photo was taken by my daughter when she was in first grade and I was still young and beautiful. Apart from that one photo, I don’t own many of the photos in this book, so I can’t sell it or even distribute it as a promotional gift. But that’s okay! That was never my goal. My goal was to learn how to professionally print a photo-heavy book. Now that I know how to do that, I think the next project will be something I can share publicly.
Books: What I’m reading -
I started and finished James by Percival Everett in three days flat, because it’s that good. It’s a re-telling of Huck Finn, but told from the perspective of James - but it’s so much more than that. It’s a literary page-turner: a book you can’t put down, but that is also so compelling that it should also be taught in schools. I loved it.
On the lighter side - I’m almost finished with The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson which is super fun and should be made into a TV series asap. Think: between Veronica Mars meets Agatha Christie.
My local bookstore, as illustrated by Matthew Wright
Some link love -
You’re most repeated thought becomes your reality. I don’t normally listen to Jay Shetty’s podcast, but this episode has some gems.
Paris recommendations to consider by Shelby Chambers. (My own Paris List is much shorter!)
Women’s Prize Events are coming up! This is always a great way to kick off summer.
xo, L