And Everything Else (10/5/20)
Life updates you didn't ask for.
Hello! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I spent a large portion of mine binge-watching The Boys on Amazon Prime (more on that in Thursday’s upcoming edition of Did I Tell You About…) and organizing our apartment for… our upcoming move! ! !
Yes, we’re moving—like for real moving, to another state, not just to a different apartment in NYC. For more on that and other exciting life updates (spoiler alert: that’s the biggest one), read on for the latest edition of And Everything Else.
#1. We’re moving to Raleigh!
It’s all happening, folks. Next month, Kurt and I (along with Ellie and Mim, of course) will be leaving New York and heading down to Raleigh, North Carolina. And before anyone assumes, no, it’s not because NYC is dead. That is dumb and wrong. NYC is fine. OK? Good.
We’re moving for a number of reasons—primarily, the ridiculously good BBQ. Okay, maybe that’s not the *main* reason, but it’s definitely high on the list. Other factors include the warmer weather (we’ll still get all four seasons, but none of them will be freezing!!), the friendly, college-town-y vibes, and the cheaper cost of living that’ll allow us to finally indulge in the luxurious lives we deserve (read: a two-bedroom apartment).
We’re super excited, but we also don’t know anyone in Raleigh, so if you live in the area and want to say hi—or if have recs you want to pass along—please do! I’m all ears.
For now, I’ll be saying goodbye to New York via walking down my favorite streets and eating as many bagels as I can before Nov. 7, such as the one below from my beloved Bagel Pub.
#2. I made some serious progress on my book
As of last night, I’m almost 17,000 words into my book! Sure, it’s still pretty far from the end goal of 60-90k average for a work of contemporary fiction like mine, but hey, it’s still a LOT OF WORDS.
I’ve never written fiction of this length before, so I’m super excited by the progress I’ve made and how things are looking. Surprisingly, the hardest part so far hasn’t been sitting down to write most nights, but stopping myself from making changes to pages I’ve already written because I’ve realized that a plot detail/character note/etc. doesn’t make sense. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a first draft, and first drafts are messy, and that I’ll have plenty of time to go back and edit. For now, I need to just keep pushing forward.
#3. I wrote about why we’re all sleeping so badly
After last week’s presidential debate, I couldn’t fall asleep for hours—and, as I saw on Twitter, I was far from the only person. Turns out, the stress of the upcoming election has caused major sleep problems for all of us! Fun, right?
Since this is clearly a (very bad, very unwanted) trend, I decided to dig a little deeper, and spoke to experts about the science behind our sleep issues and what measures we can take to get some rest. Yes, there’s hope!
You can read my story on HelloGiggles here. Let me know your thoughts!
#4. My Creative Nonfiction 101 class starts in two weeks!
According to the Gotham site, there are two spots left. So if you’re interested in nonfiction writing, have a working laptop for Zoom calls, and don’t mind listening to my dorky jokes every Monday night for six weeks, what are you waiting for? Sign up here.
That’s a wrap! With love from me and Ellie, who frolicked in the park together on Saturday,
Rachel