Writing and Publishing Rx and other "Good Things!"

Join Kevin Kwan (bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy) and me in conversation tomorrow! Also book reccs and a very smart pig.

It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from me. I’m so jealous of those of you who find a regular writing schedule freeing because it often makes me feel like a racoon who’s fallen into a trashcan. You know what does make me excited to reach out though? Having good stuff to share and I DO: a new virtual discussion series, Writing and Publishing Rx, that offers practical writing tips you usually only get from close writer friends. Also— a great book recc, a recap of last week’s writing and horseback riding retreat in Wyoming and more.

No-Nonsense Advice for No-Nonsense Writers

There seems to be so much instruction available about writing better sentences, plotting, or craft generally— but less about how to send a really good email to an editor you’ve never met or if it’s okay to submit to two places at the same time, or how soon is too soon to send a follow up email if you only hear crickets? There are great folks like Courtney Maum offering spectacular advice here on Substack (and via her books and courses) but there can never be enough. Which is why I’m thrilled to offer Writing and Publishing Rx— a virtual discussion series, together with Stanford Medicine’s Medical Humanities and the Arts Program. Our first two sessions were with bestselling chef and author Samin Nosrat and award-winning journalist and author Bonnie Tsui. Tomorrow we will host the #1 NYT bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan. All sessions are recorded in case you can’t join us in person. They are 90 minutes long and you will have chances to ask questions of Kevin and I both. We will cover topics including (but not limited to): writing good characters finding agents and editors who believe in you, adapting your work for television and film, getting creatively unstuck, how Kevin’s experiences with grief (and the American healthcare system) have affected his writing, fiction as advocacy, doing creative research and finding inspiration in the most surprising of places. I know that you’ll find him, just like I do, to be incredibly kind, insightful and generous with his hard-won wisdom.

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Ranchlands Wrap Up

Part of our group out on a typical morning ride on the ranch.

I got to lead a writing and horseback riding retreat last week with a group of incredible folks on the Paintrock Ranch in Wyoming with the good people of Ranchlands Collective. We spent our mornings riding along the rivers, up and down the canyons and over the red hills, our lunches writing in meadows or under the cottonwoods, our afternoons swimming and writing some more, and our evenings around a campfire, sharing our work under dark skies crowded with stars. If I didn’t have so much photographic evidence, I’d wonder if I hallucinated the experience. I’ve already decided to do it again next July—this time with one of my best friends, the award-winning author, dancer and playwrite Larissa Fasthorse. Sign ups haven’t opened yet, but we will announce them soon. In the meantime, you can pick up a piece of your own Ranchlands magic via their online shop. I came home with a knife sheath and a bandana that I adore.

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Speaking of friends…

Samin holding a pan of the most delicious banana bread I’ve ever eaten, in Hawai’i in 2023. Recipe is on page 414 of Good Things!

Samin is the sister I never had. She is family. And I couldn’t be more excited about her new book Good Things. Maybe you saw her on Colbert last week or are listening to her on Fresh Air today, or going to see her live on tour— but if not, let me tell you that this is a book you need in your collection. And it’s not because in it Samin discloses just how hard I liked my eggs cooked (to a disgusting a degree if you ask her lol) or that it’s dedicated to a select few of us and it was a surprise that made me cry. I think this book is so special because it is full of the unfancy stuff Samin makes the most. My favorite salad dressing of hers is here (on page 117) and so is our friend Sarit’s ashura cereal recipe (page 146) that Samin made and put in my Christmas stocking last year (and I ate exclusively for three days because I couldn’t stand to eat anything else). It was hard work making this thing—and you wouldn’t know it because it looks so beautiful now. But maybe even more than Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat—which is an icon for a reason— this is a book of her heart and it will be one of yours too.

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Some good medicine to cheer you up if you need it….

• Back in July this cool news about a plant virus that kills cancer cells came out.

• 23 minutes of Yo-Yo Ma’s “Music for Global Health and Peace”

• Heartrending epitaphs ancient Romans wrote about their dogs.

• This very smart pig typing out very important thoughts.

Yours, till next time,

Laurel