Scribbles the Newsletter #9
After a brief hiatus: Winter-ish is here, my favorite small press, and some books I'm into
After the busiest of falls, I’m back with the newsletter. My hope has always been just for a small regular writing practice, regardless of quality, just to get some scribbles down on the page. This week, I wrote a micro-essay on the weather here in Texas, what it means to be a transplant, and the places that form us. I’ve also got the usual recommendation, some writing news, and some books I’m into.
First Chill: Micro-Essay
This morning, I swung out of bed and pulled on my sweatpants and socks. Eli followed close behind; I’d given up trying to get him back to sleep. When we exited my bedroom, he asked me to turn on all the lights, one by one, pointing and saying, “that one.”
When it was lit, I asked him if he wanted to turn on the fire. I turned the knob to light the pilot light. He watched me. “Big fire,” he said. I turned the knob again to acquiesce, too soon, because the fire went out immediately. “We have to be patient,” I said, and tried again. Once the fire was going, I made coffee. Eli helped me grind the beans. I asked the kitchen speaker the temperature and she told me it was twenty-nine degrees. By noon, it would be in the sixties again.
I’ve lived in Texas for eight years now and I still miss fall’s gradual descent into winter, the chill on a beautiful green evening right before the sun goes down, the shock of the first truly cold day, the excitement of the first snow. It will get cold here, and I will long for warmth again, but never as much as I look forward to the temperatures dropping as we near the holiday season.
I went outside to start the car and the wind pierced through my sweatshirt. The engine revved on and I blasted the heat. I searched for the ice scraper to get the frosted dew off my windshield. I retreated indoors and said “Brrr, brrr” to Eli, rubbing my arms and shaking my body. He mimicked me and we laughed. I hope it snows this year, just once, so he and I and his siblings can play in it together. Maybe we can even sled down by the pond, like the older kids and I did the year we first moved in, like I used to do with my siblings on the big hill in our neighborhood.
A Recommendation
My favorite small press is Belle Point, and not just because they’re publishing my fiction chapbook in the future. Belle Point is about community and about honoring our place in the world and the people around us. It’s something I’ve slowly been coming to an awareness of after pretty worry-free transitory life. It’s a great mission and it’s supported by some pretty great writing.
They’ve just released a membership program and are doing some great work over on their substack (
), where I’m learning a lot about the publishing world, small presses, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they have in the future.Writing Update
It’s been slow this fall, but I’m getting back into the Substack and I’ve been working on a few projects. My scatterbrain is struggling to focus on one, but hopefully I’ll find more direction as I get farther into them. I will be publishing an essay next week here on Substack, and I have another essay coming out at Press Pause sometime in the next few weeks. (I’ll include it in an upcoming newsletter when it’s released.)
What I’m Reading
I read and finished Edwidge Danticat’s story collection Everything Inside all in a week while traveling to my brother’s wedding. I’ve been listening to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet. I always loved A Wrinkle in Time, but I’ve been fascinated and moved with her nonfiction lately.
