Introvert mode activated

Catching up and checking in

Hello! It’s been a bit since I’ve last written.¹ I have excuses: work was busy, I went on vacation, I’m settling into this season of winter dormancy that feels particularly profound when the sun doesn’t rise until after 10 a.m… That’s some of it, sure. But I’ve also been reflecting on this space and how to use it. How exposed do I want to be? And as inspiring as it is to watch my writer friends (and strangers) producing content and end-of-year reflections, all seemingly thriving and in their creative primes, well, frankly it’s also a bit overwhelming and exhausting.

There are days when I’m not sure I can keep up.²

…Keep up? With whom? Let’s discard that thought. The mantra I remind myself of again and again is that no one can live my life but me. Whatever pace I’m at in this season is fine—newsletter-writing is not a competition. It’s just me, sitting here, choosing over and over again to share some words with the universe.

Periods of dormancy are necessary—the fertile pause, the safe place for growth beneath the surface. Just because we can’t see something from the outside doesn’t mean it’s not there. Root systems. The butterfly in its chrysalis. Emotional landscapes, verdant inner worlds. Just like the grass and seedlings and voles³ underneath the two-plus feet of snow we’ve received this week, I’m here too, alive and resting, despite my external silence.

In an effort to jumpstart my writing again, here are some reflections from the few months of this newsletter’s young life. Thanks again to all who subscribe—I love the fact that I don’t know two thirds of you. (I also love the fact that I do know one third of you… gotta appreciate the OGs!)

• Last month I took an online course called “Protection Magic” from The Moon Studio, aka Sarah Faith Gottesdiener: it was… really cool. My takeaways are less about the ~magic~ and more about it being a boundaries course on steroids. Some of the things we learned were the healing properties of plants, how to call in help from your environment (including inanimate objects/spaces), and many ways to get in touch with your energy and self. I’m still processing and it will likely live in my brain for a while! What a gift.

• Last month I also went on a totally vacation-y vacation! Meaning no remote work, no visiting family, just me (and a friend for part of the time) traveling to someplace new. Here’s my first (perhaps only) attempt at a vlog about my time in Milan and Venice—yes, I committed a vlogging sin by recording most of the footage vertically. Sigh. But hey, it was fun to take a look back at my trip and stitch it all together. The first minute is weird but then there are some nice parts I think… don’t worry, am not going to quit my day job.

• It’s only been a year since my first fiction piece (since college) was published! You can find it here, and my second one from this spring here.

• Speaking of fiction, my favorite newsletter so far was this one from August about choosing the right vehicle for different messages. Shameless plug to read it if you haven’t—I’m curious to hear more thoughts and to perhaps expand on the topic.

• If you want to get caught up with my past week, check out recent Anchorage snowstorm Twitter: the best⁴ thing about living in a place that’s perpetually a decade behind the rest of the country is that Alaska social media is alive and well.

• A plug for the recent episode of Vibe Check, “The Holiday Hottie Survival Guide.” I have been loving this podcast in general and these are some of the best holiday and family reflections I’ve heard so far.

And with that, here’s hoping that the light of inspiration returns soon… to me, and to anyone else who desires it. In the meantime, I’m sitting cute with some hot beverages and a parade of moose outside my window (no joke). Some footage of the pals:

I swear at least some of these are separate animals.

That’s all for today! A topic I plan to explore soon concerns repeatedly shoveling my driveway as a metaphor for Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s maintenance manifesto… if that isn’t going to up the subscriber count, I don’t know what is.

Cheers from the north!!!

xo, Julia

P.S. What do you think of the new email header? Is anyone out there a graphic designer open to commissions to make something that looks actually nice…? If so hmu :)

1. Do I sound like a weirdly formal version of someone you thought ghosted you from Tinder? Because that’s the goal, always.

2. Oh brother. Is she really getting pouty about a free, completely optional newsletter? Who is this lady anyway??

3. Okay, the voles aren’t entirely hidden… Laurie’s caught a few recently. Yup, that was fun.

4. Ed. note: this is definitely not the best part about living in Anchorage.