So glad I asked...
On needing help, finding it, and what I'll read when I'm on the road
Before we begin
Think about the last time you asked for help. Was it easy? Was it hard? Did you actually ask or die a little inside waiting for someone to guess what you needed? Are you more comfortable giving or receiving help?
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I think I’m getting better at asking for help
One of the characters in the novel I’m writing is one of those competent people that others naturally look to for help. When it comes to asking for or receiving help, however, she has trouble. I’m learning that for her, helping is one of the ways she secures her place in the world. By making herself useful — maybe even essential — to others, she is making sure she won’t be alone. Her name is Charlotte and she has a lot to figure out. I recognize Charlotte’s character flaw all too well. I like to think I’ve grown beyond it.
Case in point: I’m going to be traveling for the next couple of weeks if all goes as planned. The trip will be packed emotionally and logistically and I knew I would not be able to write to you myself during that time. Still, I will be thinking of you and I wanted to make sure you had something wonderful to read in your inbox for the next couple of Saturdays. So, I asked for help. I am so glad I did.
Next week, on June 10th, you will meet Rosalynn Tyo who will share her thoughts about two very different novels and the weird, twisty idea of a family tree that shapes each of them.
The following Saturday, on June 17th, you will get a look at a book-in-the-making as Courtney Cook shares a moving essay that has become one of those she is collecting to turn into a new book that fuses together the science of mapmaking with the human needs that drive and inform the maps that result.
I will meet you all in the comments as I move about New England, reading when I can and following my own set of internal and external maps that guide me back to family, friends, and places that make up my history and my sense of home.
Until then, here are some great reads, a few announcements, and a wish for a great start to your summer.
And remember,If you like what you see or it resonates with you, please share Spark with a friend and take a minute to click the heart ❤️ below - it helps more folks to find us!
My “Substack” magazine
Historically, I’ve always treated myself to a couple of magazines while traveling. I would pack a copy of The Sun or an issue of The Atlantic I never got around to reading. Once at the airport, I used to make a ritual out of stopping at the news stand for chocolate, water, and People which I would then conceal within the covers of one of my other magazines. No one was fooled.
This time, though, I’ll just bring my iPad and read my favorite Substacks, the ones I usually catch up on over the weekends. I will read current issues and back issues of ones I love and check out some of the news ones that have caught my eye. I suspect they will also give you a sense of who I really am when I’m not deep into a book or trying to write one.
Here are some of them.
- by : I love salad. I can make any meal into a salad and I specialize in big salads, so big and so intricate that when I ask friends what I can bring to a dinner gathering they’ve stopped asking for salad because no one can eat that much. Emily Nunn would understand. She is the food writer who really gets me. She is funny. She is creative. She is thorough. Spending time with her here is one of my go-to getaways.
The other food-related newsletter I try to keep up-to-date with is Time Travel Kitchen by
who found herself in a new Chicago apartment during the pandemic that was stocked with a very old cutting board. She found herself following the inspiration to travel back in time and make food with a nostalgic twist. She is a baker but this newsletter also contains everything from cocktails to main dishes. I will never make some of these things (I most definitely am NOT a baker) but I do love the photos and the stories behind the recipes. Here’s a piece based on some picnic posters by Herman Miller.- by . Getting an inside look at how artists and writers think is always fascinating to me and one of the best ways to do that is to read the notes they make largely to themselves. Jillian Hess does the work and we reap the results. She gathers all the papers, journals, marginalia, sticky notes of writers from Beatrix Potter (stunning artwork) to Octavia Butler (such focus) to Oscar Wilde and Francis Ford Coppola and Kurt Cobain. Then she provides a narrated guide with pictures that fascinate me. They require time to read so I always read once quickly and then go back to let an issue or artist I like really sink in. Pure pleasure.
- by . I glommed onto this one the day it launched. I’m fascinated by the power age has to define us or not. There are voices here all along the growth curve in interviews, essays, video casts, debates such as this one focused on Martha Stewart’s glam shot in Sports Illustrated. It’s a lively place.
- by . I came upon Anne’s newsletter via and (two others I read for the laughs, the angst, and the ideas). I love what she is doing here: making her New York available to me, all the way back here in San Diego. She treats her city like a small town and offers fun features like her regular, reader-driven investigations. She recently went in search of a phantom steak house that got great online reviews but, apparently didn’t exist.
by Luiza B. Campos. This is a brilliant idea by a generous and enterprising person. She spotted the gap in Substack’s offerings and, rather than wait around for the company to do it, she filled it herself. Every week, she provides a curated list of the Substacks that lean more “indie” than famous, more off-the-beaten path. It “encompasses art, science, history, books, movies, and all other forms of inspiring ramblings.” She serves up a sampling of some of the essays she liked that week and has, so far, never failed to surprise and delight. Check out this most recent issue which included such tasty morsels as “I Stared At One Painting for Three Hours” and “How I Would AI Myself.”I look forward always to
‘s weekly newsletter which I read even before it came to Substack. He won’t be new to most of you but if he is and you are in the creative community, you will find at least two or three bits of gold in each weekly list of “ten things worth sharing” such as this one.Writers whose books I have loved also have newsletters that I will check in on. Among them:
by Lauren Hough, Release McCracken by , by byLast but not least, I’ll be catching up on all the book reviews and recommendations from my fellow #Bookstackers.
recently observed a 7th anniversary and offered up a great list of seven favorite novels and seven favorite nonfiction books from the last seven years and I want to spend time with that one.
Announcements/Events/Activities
Craft Talk #1000 words of summer starts on June 17th. If you are a writer and are new to this, think of it as a two week writing challenge you get to do with lots and lots of friends. Attenberg and writers she recruits write brief, daily notes of encouragement and there are lots of discussions, connections, and support to be found in the community that has formed.
I just added a new resource for writers to our Resources for Writers page — a guide for the every day writing that everyone does — or used to do by Anne Welsbacher who created Well Worded to help us all focus on the letters, obituaries, and small but essential communications we do in writing.
I’m looking forward to making it easy to discover books by the authors among us here at Spark as well as the professionals who help with craft and business of writing. See below for details. I plan to launch the new pages in late June and will update them regularly so it is never too late to add your name if you fall into either of these two categories. See details below.
Still time: an invitation to Spark authors and those who help them
We are lucky to have many published authors and writing professionals among us. Why not make a place where readers can find new books and writers can find help right here in the Spark community? Here’s an invitation for authors and writing professionals to add their names and information to a central place where readers and writers inside and outside the Spark community can find you. Click on the image above or here to learn more: An invitation to authors and those who help them from our community. The new page will be available in late June.
The return of the loons
Even when I am not in New Hampshire, I still look forward to the return of the loons and the lupine. I don’t know if I will see them this time but I hope I will.
Spark is Yours: Chime In
Have you just finished a book you loved? Tell us about it. Got a great resource for readers or writers? Share away! How about sharing your book stack with us, that tower of tomes rising next to your bed or your bath or wherever you keep the books you intend to read – someday. And if you stumbled on a Moment of Zen, show us what moved you, made you laugh, or just created a sliver of light in an otherwise murky world.
Thank you and Welcome
Thank you to everyone who has shared Spark with a friend. Please keep it going! We are growing every week and it’s exciting.
Welcome to all new subscribers! Thank you so much for being here. If you would like to check out past issues, here’s a quick link to the archives. Be sure to check out our Resources for Readers and Writers too.
That’s it for this week. Let me know how you are and what you’re thinking about. And of course, always let me know what you’re reading. If there’s an idea, book, or question you’d like to see in an upcoming issue of Spark, let us know!
Remember, If you like what you see or it resonates with you, please share Spark with a friend and take a minute to click the heart ❤️ below - it helps more folks to find us!
Ciao for now!
Gratefully,
Betsy
P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…a morning bath
Splish, splash, but done with such grace! These two were captured by Miki M. outside her window one recent morning.
Calling for Your Contribution to A Moment of Zen
What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.
Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.
And remember,If you like what you see or it resonates with you, please share Spark with a friend and take a minute to click the heart ❤️ below - it helps more folks to find us!
Thank you so much, Elizabeth!
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