What if...algorithm-free reco list, no. 12?
Stickers and scenes and smells and space
Hello!
Quickly popping out of the query trenches to bring you another edition of “things and thing-like entities/ideas!”
Sticker Planet
It turns out kindergarten teachers who use stickers as motivation are indeed onto something. I created a “chore chart” for my manuscript edits with a column for each chapter and a row for each of the problems I had to fix, and it worked swimmingly. Sticker Planet at The Grove is my sticker store of choice, but obviously, go with your local purveyor. The tinier the better (both the store and the stickers).
Empress Of - For Your Consideration
Exceptional album for dancing around alone in your house like you’re Maddie Ziegler in a Sia music video.
Unsubscribing
During my 75 days of no buying, I went brain-off and smashed that unsubscribe button at every opportunity. And now my inbox is a brighter, sale notification-free place. Deleting is fleeting, unsubscribing is forever (or at least until you end up back on their list).
The Vince Staples Show (Netflix)
Not enough people are talking about this! It’s surreal and sharp and at only five episodes—most of which are sub-25 minutes—there’s really no reason not to give it a whirl. If only so the powers that be continue giving Vince Staples the money to make whatever he wants.
Scenes as units of desire
I’m starting to think about book two and accidentally stumbled upon this video of Céline Sciamma speaking about her writing process as part of the BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture Series. The way she describes making a list of all her desired scenes and all the necessary scenes, and then pointedly shaping each “necessary” scene until it becomes desired (or killing it entirely)? I now cannot imagine any other way to think about scene work.
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
This is basically like that devastatingly underrated rom-com If You Were the Last meets that episode of The Last of Us with Nick Offerman. The world-building is excellent, the characters well-drawn, the romance just the right amount of angsty swoon, the pacing a masterclass—oh, and it’s also funny.
Cathedral thinking
Trying to summarize this piece by Sarah Thankham Matthews on political depression and “building the cathedral” would do it a disservice. It’s simultaneously moving, searing, and hopeful—an exceedingly rare political discourse combo.
Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn
Anna Dorn does not miss! If you love LA and the messiest bits of The L Word and books about books, this is a must. Warning: might induce six lost hours perusing Fragrantica’s hilariously bad UI then ordering a dozen samples from LuckyScent in an attempt to sniff the precise smells described throughout. (This comes out in May but it’s worth the pre-order.)
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Those pellet ice cubes that I don’t always like, but sometimes love, even in the most mediocre cold brew.
A Nature Valley granola bar (oats ‘n honey), at least 7% of which was also fed to my keyboard.