completely booked • 2nd August 2023

July, I ❤️ New York

I went to New York, and boy, oh boy, did I have a good time. It was like the world stopped just for me, or maybe I entered vacation mode for one of the first times in my life and was able to successfully focus on my trip and just my trip. The humidity in New York City was absolutely awful, and if Seattle suddenly felt that way, I’d complain way, way more than I complained while I was on the east coast. Not that I didn’t complain. It’s one of the main topics of conversation, even for people who l

completely booked • 2nd July 2023

June, ARC, nostalgic, and yearbooks

One book I didn’t write about this month was my middle school yearbook. My oldest friend Megan and I sat down and flipped through three years of embarrassing photos, home phone numbers, and fashion choices. I love old yearbooks, especially ones I helped create! Megan and I were in yearbook class, so we helped highlight shirtless 12-year-old boys in a gross middle school pool, all their puka shell necklace glory on full display. Why did we give a four-photo spot to the motivational speaker rippin

completely booked • 31st May 2023

May, words and flowers

I got my reading groove back this month, and thank buck. (I’ve never in my life said or heard “thank buck” before, but it feels right, so we’re going with it.) I read a lot and tried to write a lot about what I read. I usually have some thoughts I’d expand on here, but my brain is full of May flowers. To the books!

The Egg & I by Betty MacDonald (1945) | Quick summary: A memoir by a relatively unhappily married woman about her life on a chicken farm.

As readers of my April newsletter may recal

5th April 2023

March, nothing made sense

This newsletter reminds me of the mixed CDs I used to make—there's no good way to settle in. I am all over the place in what I read this month and in my head. I'm sailing on the winds of change, baby!

None of the significant shifts and changes are bad, except the one thing that is so bad it has forever altered my loved ones and me. Every day since November, I've thought of Walter. I think that will continue to be true for the rest of my life; his presence is so big, his seven years of life as i

28th February 2023

February is for lovers

I'm not the kind of person who is ever going to start an OnlyFans or anything that's based on my sexual prowess or attraction. I hope I don't have to explain that I'm not a person who judges anyone for taking that path in life; it's just extremely low on my list of interests. I don't have anything to prove to anyone about my sexuality, and I certainly don't need any members of my family privy to my desires or literal naked body.

No one said, "hey Jess, when are you going to start an OnlyFans?"

3rd January 2023

December, I smell ice

This year ended in such a rush even though December was more frigid than ever. Here, we had snow and then an ice storm. Everything was cold and sharp and grounding. With too much time to reflect, I soaked in my grief over losing Mackenzie and was hollowed out as the realization that my small friend Walter will not live set in. Sets in? Knowing that a child is going to pass away is one of the grossest, worst feelings I’ve ever encountered. It’s shifted my priorities and centered my friendships in

8th December 2022

November, the month it all fell down

I hate when people are cryptic about tragedy or anything really, but I’m going to be cryptic about tragedy right now. I’m not personally ready, nor do I think it’s appropriate, for me to share what is easily the most tragic news I’ve ever experienced. It’s not my tragedy to share even though it’s absolutely my tragedy to help bear. I’m only even mentioning it because I have a series of newsletters I’ll be very proud of myself if I send out this month, including this sort-of-tardy November one, a

1st November 2022

October, October

I met a man named Milton Kidd the other day. Milton’s tongue, thick in his mouth, made it hard to understand him at first, especially with the rush of Seattle traffic—both foot and wheel—passing by. I was out for a drink with a few coworkers after an incredibly rare nearly-full day in the ghost of an office we once occupied. The few of us were at an (outside) table, discussing what was next for us all, career-and-otherwise, when Milton interrupted, asking if I’d order him some fish & chips.

I d

4th October 2022

September, coming in late

I’ve never actually read Marie Kondo’s book in its entirety but I have read enough of it and seen 2.43 episodes of the Netflix show that I feel confident in my understanding of the whole deal. You hold something, you feel nothing, you donate the thing.

I’m a big donator. I don’t like to keep things that make me feel bad—or worse—make me feel nothing. Even before the concept of “tidying up” gently shook American culture, I liked to tidy up. I perpetually have a box in my bedroom that I throw clo

2nd July 2022

June, goals and romcoms and nonalcoholic beverages

I’m not going to talk about abortion here because I’m so tired and I don’t feel well and the sky is really pretty and I just want to think about the sky being really pretty. I have, however, written about abortion fairly recently so please enjoy that instead.

Do y’all set goals? I used to be a big goal-setter but because of the way life is and feels now, I don’t go as hard for making a list of 5-15 aspirational things I hope to achieve. But every turn of the season, my little-list-making mind w

31st May 2022

May, please stop telling me to vote

I wish I’d started writing this before a kid murdered a bunch of other kids in Uvalde, Texas but I didn’t. When I used to use twitter more regularly, I remember starting to check what was trending before I tweeted something I thought was particularly clever or funny. It had become all too common to tweet something like “why is Channing Tatum so sexy but I don’t want to have sex with him” right as some truly awful news broke. It’s usually a mass shooting. I won’t spend time repeating the angry, h

1st May 2022

April, a Concept

I’m very tired from the month of April. A lot of people in my life had weird, big months. I didn’t necessarily have a weird, big month in that my life is the same as it was before April started however I did just co-organize a huge event and fundraiser all in the hopes of raising $215,000 for abortion access. That’s a crazy number. I don’t know how I read at all this month other than I haven’t returned to my Harry Potter games and being on social media in my free time is exhausting to think abou

3rd April 2022

March, and This Isn't About the Slap

Usually when I’m not consistently reading, I feel bad. Not bad in a “what will people think of me” way, but bad like when you don’t drink enough water and feel weird halfway through the day. I feel the same way when I’m not watching TV regularly. I spent most of March co-managing the launch of a major fundraiser for the Northwest Abortion Access Fund. I didn’t have time to read because I was herding cats, building excitement, and trying to make sure I didn’t miss anything fucking big. Funding ab

1st February 2021

January, It's Our Anniversary!

It’s true! I have been writing this thing for a full year! I feel like I thank people a lot for reading this even though I don’t have to because you don’t have to read it and maybe you don’t even read it! Which would be fair because I do not often read, in full, the newsletters that appear in my inbox.

But since I do really enjoy writing this and I really care to make it fun and good for other people, I’d like feedback. Is there anything you wish I covered that I don’t? (Example, publisher? Pub

5th January 2021

My Top 10 Favorite Reads of 2020

I am almost embarrassed to say that I read 109 books this year, but here we are. I read 109 books this year. To be more precise, I listened to 26 audiobooks and read the rest. Obviously reading is important to me but this year, I think it’s safe to say that it saved me too. I don’t resonate with doom scrolling. The internet and specifically social media bored me in a way that I have never experienced this year. I wasn’t envious of others, I was annoyed by everyone, and I genuinely didn’t care wh

1st January 2021

December, And We're All In Misery

I used to be so enthusiastic about Christmas that it almost embarrasses me to think about. I guess I wasn’t always into it because when I was young, I told my mother that I wanted to celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas because Christmas was for white people. (She said no.)

My feelings changed and by the time I was in high school, I was obsessed with it. I lived for the end of August, when the average person would start to complain that it was way too soon for Christmas to be creeping in on u

1st December 2020

November, A Good Time to Read

My mom has always made fun of me — actually she’s always said there is something wrong with me — because I am not an animal person. And it’s kinda true. I am not the person who needs dogs or cats in order to be happy or find companionship and I am not the person who is fine with dog hair all over everything and truthfully, I grew up in a chaotic environment and I think I’ve sought out like, calming spaces as an adult and unfortunately, pets don’t always fit into a non-chaotic life. (Neither do k

31st October 2020

October, *Insert Internet Shrug Here*

I don’t really know where I’m going with this one because there’s just too much to say. Do I want to get really angry about how everyone gets to choose which level of pandemic they’re in, even when we live in the same city? Do I want to go on and on about the impending election results? Do I want to talk about the exciting changes happening in my professional career? Do I want to talk about how I said, “I’m not even going to watch Home Alone this year” out loud to myself the other day and then a

1st October 2020

September, And It Was Hard to Breathe

Last month, my newsletter was called “August And The Earth Was On Fire,” but it seems like I could have waited to talk about that. For a good chunk of the month, my city, Seattle, was immersed in haze; a depressing sepia tone masked the entire west coast. And I was one of the lucky ones. I was nowhere near a fire, there was no threat of evacuation, and I didn’t have to, at least immediately, fear for my life. But it was miserable. The first day or two were the throes of summer, 80 degrees or mor

31st August 2020

August, and the Earth Was on Fire

I spent a lot of time walking this month, something like an average of three miles a day. I've never been a big "walk to clear my mind" or "run to clear my mind" person. I still am not that person and it's been very hot in Seattle (also everywhere, I know that) and I don't enjoy being outside (or anywhere) in the heat but I made myself get out there because closing my three rings on my stupid Apple Watch is the one little goal I set for myself every day.

On these walks, I have noticed how many

31st July 2020

July, A Series of Rapid Question Marks

I've felt myself drifting away into a new, though vaguely familiar, version of myself. Growing up, I was not an extremely social person. My family didn't do the things that kids these days do—playdates, field trips with friends, school co-ops where socialization is the priority. These things have probably always existed, but I was raised by a single mother who did not Play Well With Others (still) and would have walked into the sea rather than show up to a PTA meeting or an event with literally

30th June 2020

June, And Black Lives Still Matter

I have lived a thousand lives since I last sat down to write this. It's been chilling to see a national (an international) conversation, a true movement, especially since Seattle, my home, has been one of the biggest contributors. It has been mind-boggling to see people who I know for sure have never given any thought to a non-white experience dedicate their social media platforms to learning and growing. To see people who have never been humbled be humbled is a trip. My boss told us to take the

31st May 2020

May, Still Inside and I Accidentally Quit Audibooks

I can't believe the world we live in. I cannot believe we're here right now—in the midst of a pandemic, cities on literal fire, people arguing over whether or not Black people should get to be alive—though I also can't believe people who ask, "how did we get here again?" We have always been here.



I am not a natural optimist but sometimes I force myself to try to look on a bright side. I will literally stop to smell a flower or look straight up into the sky to try to find a beautiful cloud

30th April 2020

April, I'm Pretty Sure

I read such a bonkers variety of books in April. I guess there's kind of a theme among the audiobooks since I read a lot of celebrity memoirs, but otherwise, I'm all over the place. I honestly have more to say about each book than I have in past letters I've sent out so I'll keep this intro short and sweet. I also have nothing to say because, welp, it's quarantine, baby! Let's do it. Here's what I read in the month of April.
• None Bulletproof Diva by Lisa Jones

A very good friend sent me a co