I recently got back from Baltimore, Maryland, land of crab cakes and a terrific art museum with tons of Matisse paintings after attending the annual Graphic Medicine Conference, which focuses on the intersection of the medium of comics and healthcare stories. This year there was a lively discussion about how librarians are cataloging zines, and a keynote by the palliative care doc Nathan Gray about his forthcoming graphic memoir about med school and residency. Yes, 2026 is the year of the med school graphic memoir!

While I was in Baltimore I read the powerful graphic memoir Opioids & Organs by Arizona O’Neill. This memoir explores the author’s experience with her father’s fentanyl overdose and her ambivalence about donating his organs: “It did not take me long to start feeling guilty about having given his organs back to a society that does not care about addicts.” Both the storytelling and art are beautiful.

Speaking of storytelling, the graphic medicine conference ended with a panel on new books in graphic medicine (including See One, Do One, Teach One!), and one of the panelists called his book “a message in a bottle” to someone facing similar questions. I loved this particular use of the expression, and I think I’m going to start calling SODOTO a “message in a bottle to people considering med school.” This message in a bottle was reviewed on NPR.org last week, which was super exciting.

Okay, now that we’ve discussed medicine, comics, and books, it’s time to discuss a couple of my other favorite things: astrology and fashion. In terms of astrology, how was your mercury retrograde? I accidentally sent a phishing email to my entire gmail contacts, and then had to reply to an embarrassing number of people asking me if the email was real or phishing. It was fun to reconnect with every single person I’ve ever known.

Let’s move on to fashion. I am currently monitoring this mismatched shoe trend. First Russ (age 11) has asked me to buy these sets of sneakers, and then my mom and I both noticed one of the characters in the second season of the Netflix show The Four Seasons wearing these flats. Now I’m searching for a new pair of running shoes that are different colors, but I haven’t found any that I like. What do you think? Is this a trend that’s going somewhere?

I do love a multicolor moment, which you can see in the recent Cup of Jo home tour. Amber Vickery (an Austin photographer!) made everything look nice, and I had so much fun chatting with Jannelle! My older son George says that this article gives the impression that I am a dog person, which I am not. But our dog Putnam definitely thinks he is a supermodel. We recently bid farewell to the bunkbeds, so it’s nice to have these photos. Of course I also have a million drawings of the bunkbeds.

I might need to bring back the primal scream days after this week of abhorrent treatment of Fauci, the bogus claims of our current secretary of HHS, and the Clancy trial. To avoid the emotional toll of all of this, and to help with the post-World Cup comedown, Russ and I started the academic project of watching all of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies in order. There are 3 if you don’t count the Captain America movie where he is introduced, and the 2 Avengers movies where he “joins the Avengers” (whatever that means!). We needed to catch up because my Aunt Stella was taking him to see the new Spider-Man this week. I wasn’t really looking forward to watching these movies, so imagine my surprise when I loved them! Replacing the World Cup with Marvel makes total sense—it’s a global phenomenon, so much talent, etc. Last night we went to see Spider-Man Brand New Day and it was wonderful. I cried. I think I preferred it to The Odyssey and the The Invite, both of which I also enjoyed. All this to say, if you, like me, have previously been a snob about Marvel, no judgment! I get it now, though.

Okay, I hope the rest of your summer goes well. Any summer reading recommendations for me? I’m in the middle of a few different novels right now (one hardback, two paperback, and a few on my phone’s Libby app). I saw these photos, and thought ew, but I ended up checking out Asymmetry, which I am enjoying.

See you back here once the school year starts up again! xo

Now it’s almost Father’s Day, and the World Cup has begun. As Joni says, we are captive on the carousel of time! My dad and I went to see the new movie Power Ballad which was a nice early Father’s Day treat. The movie is set in Ireland (a pleasant surprise to us!), and explores songwriting and fatherhood. I am surprised that the ultimate dad—Odysseus—will not be on the big screen until later in July. I was convinced that The Odyssey was coming out this weekend. Oh well, we have the World Cup to tide us over.

Are you watching the World Cup? I have World Cup fever, which recrudesces every 4 years. I originally contracted it in 2022, and wrote a love letter to the World Cup. I even talked about it on All Things Considered. There are so many moments of joy this year:

• Vozinha, the goalkeeper for Cape Verde, blocking 7 shots. And now the news story that his mother will be able to come after all.

• Watching the Norway v Iraq game I was struck by how the players were all smiles when they gathered for corner kicks. They all seemed really happy just to be there.

• Messi’s hat trick, of course

• The goalkeeper Rangel from Mexico with his double save!

I could go on. What are your favorite moments so far?

Speaking of fevers and glimmers of joy, a couple of years ago I floated the idea of including a “grand rounds”/medical updates section in this newsletter, and then promptly forgot. But some really joyful news came out this week in the Lancet where researchers looked at the impact of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine introduction on cervical cancer deaths in England. HPV is a virus that is associated with cervical, oropharyngeal and other cancers, and the vaccine for it has been out for 20+ years now. (I remember getting the Gardasil vaccine during med school in 2005.)

So, how are things looking twenty years later? Things are looking good guys! Look at the green bar. Amazing. Here is the link to the article, and the BBC coverage. I guess we won’t see the impact of the vaccine on head and neck cancer for a while, but it will be such a win if and when those cancers follow similar trends.

In the spirit of victories, soccer, great saves and fatherhood, I rounded up some soccer books. The Keeper by is an awesome graphic memoir about soccer. I’m currently alternating between reading the romance novel Abby Offsides and the sports reporter/fatherhood/mental health memoir Legs Hearts Minds. I’m enjoying both.

Have you had a chance to check out See One, Do One, Teach One or More than a Million yet? I have loved getting photos of kids reading both! (Even though SODOTO has quite mature topics!) The Intima published a nice review of SODOTO. And More than a Million was reviewed in the print Wall Street Journal.

I had a great time chatting with ! You can check out the episode below. One of the hosts just had a really cool interactive piece in the NYT about circulation. Thanks Curious Clinicians!

The Curious Clinicians Podcast

Why Comics?

On this episode, we were so lucky to be joined by Dr. Grace Farris, who is a hospitalist and the author of a hilarious, poignant, profound graphic memoir of her career in medicine called See One, Do One, Teach One: The Art of Becoming a Doctor. In our conversation with Grace, we explore how she found her way into comic-drawing, her advice for people who…

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4 months ago · 13 likes · 1 comment · Curious Clinicians Podcast

Thanks for reading, hope you have a nice weekend. Let me know your thoughts on all things World Cup, romance novels, HPV, etc.

Dear readers,

Hello, happy Maycember (the term coined to describe the deluge of end-of-year activities, graduations, crazy sock days, etc). Also, happy (US) Mother’s Day Weekend. Has Mother’s Day gotten more elaborate in the age of social media? I don’t have any recollection of doing anything for my mom on Mother’s Day as a kid. When I was growing up my dad liked to joke that he “was getting tired of all the Father’s Day ads,” but that’s the extent to which I think there was any celebrating of these holidays. Now it’s brunches and tulips and kid art work. One year Russ brought home an actual shrinky-dink keychain that he had made at school.

All this to say, if Mother’s Day is a sad (or ambivalent) holiday for you, I hope you find nice ways to spend it. I have fine-tuned some approaches to Mother’s Day over the years (this was important as there were a couple of years where I spent Mother’s Day feeling annoyed and being quite rude to loved ones!) Here they are (do you have any?):

My Weekend Mom Approaches to Mother’s Day

British Mother’s Day

In March of 2015 I visited London for the first time with my friend Chris. We arrived on the weekend of British Mother’s Day, which was thrilling since I was about six months pregnant. I got so many sweet comments of “you must be knackered!” Since then, I always like to start my Mother’s Day introspection, celebrations, and treats in March during British Mother’s Day. I don’t tell my family or anything, but I do acknowledge it privately, in the lush confines of my imagination, and get a chocolate croissant or something similar. Frivolous!

Total Creative Control

In the days before American Mother’s Day rolls around, I try to make a lose plan for Mother’s Day. Last year I had a clinical shift in the morning, but in other years I would go to an exercise class and a brunch with another mom. One year I went to see the Challengers movie with friends and it was perfect! It’s important to make some kind of plan so no one has to read your mind.

Exciting Media to Consume

May is always a great month for books, so having a book I’m looking forward to starting on Mother’s Day is critical. Same for a show/movie. This year I might watch the new season of Running Point or Amandaland (if I can solve the mystery of where it is streaming). This trailer made me laugh and laugh.

Florals for Mother’s Day? Groundbreaking

I love a floral or plant theme for Mother’s Day. Lime tree? Yes. Tulips? Yes. Limes and tulips embroidered on a linen button down shirt? Yes.

The Mother’s Day Village

One year a friend invited our babysitter and kids to go to paint your own pottery with her and her children and my kids painted bowls and platters for Mother’s Day. It was so moving! It was also a lesson in remembering that we are all part of the motherhood community, so in some years I’ve had random kids who a materialize in our living room make cards for their moms. Maybe this weekend I will bust out the beads!

The Expansive Mother’s Day

In 2020 I made a comic for the Tory Burch blog about mother figures. I love this inclusive approach to mother’s day and all the people who do a huge amount of mothering outside of the mother-child dyad.

Ritual reading of Poetry

Is Mother’s Day complete without reading The Lanyard by Billy Collins? Or paging through one of Kate Baer’s books? Or going down an online poetry rabbit hole?

Tell me, do you have any Mother’s Day traditions? Anything you’ve done to keep yourself from turning into a Mother’s Day monster (I have been there)?

Time for a book report! I read two bangers that I wanted to share. First, the first book of my 2026 Year of Reading Books in Translation, My Husband by Maud Ventura. What a ride this was! This was a great pre-Mother’s Day read—the protagonist is a teacher, translator, reluctant mom of two, and wife. She lives in the suburbs of Paris, and the novel takes place over about a week. I love to join an unreliable narrator on an unhinged journey, and this was deliciously fun. I’m starting the author’s next novel this week.

The second book I enjoyed over the past month was So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder. Now, a couple of weeks ago my mom came over for dinner and chucked my copy of the book Heart the Lover onto the dining table saying, “You know I hate cohort novels.” If you, like my mom, dislike cohort novels (like The Interestings for example!), you will not care for So Old, So Young. But I love a cohort novel, and this is a really lovely one. A group of college friends reconvene over 20 or so years at five different gatherings, including a wedding and a disastrous suburban Halloween party. Do you like cohort novels?

Okay, now let’s have some Mother’s Day laffs.

Hope you have a fun weekend. Thank you for supporting my work! If you need a gift, Wirecutter recommends Mom Milestones as a gift for new moms. And Publisher’s Weekly has See One, Do One, Teach One on their list of “10 Books for Mother’s Day” (!).

For the rest of May this is me-

Hello readers,

Happy Spring! I hope you are doing well. See One, Do One, Teach One is out in the world now, and I have been enjoying chatting about it to anyone who will listen. I am so grateful to everyone who came to the Book People and Harvard Countway Library launch events. I spent the week talking about the romance of medicine, and how making See One, Do One, Teach One made me feel more connected to the profession, how I would encourage others to pursue medicine, and how inspiring it is to see young people called to the healthcare professions post-pandemic (and I do believe all of this!). Then, of course, on Friday while I was on back-up call I got called in to do a night shift! Never mind, I formally rescind all of my positive comments about physician life! Just kidding. Here are some fun photos from the events:

Two substackers came! writes about infectious disease (and the culture of medicine)—he has a great podcast (my personal fave is the antibiotic draft). I was once a guest on it! And writes comics about motherhood, the mental load, and identity. It was so fun to meet finally!

As you can see from the Boston photos, it was quite chilly! The temps reminded me of this Robert Frost:

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still,

You’re one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,

A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,

A wind comes off a frozen peak,

And you’re two months back in the middle of March.

You can find the full poem here. What a fun week! Then back to reality with that night shift.

April is the cruelest month… except when it comes to romance novels! I loved all of these. Catherine Walsh is an Irish writer, and I enjoyed spending time in the world of her recent release How to Write a Love Story. I read Found Time on the plane to Boston, and loooved it! Such a great execution of a second-chance romance. Then I read the hilarious The Starter Ex by Mia Sosa on the flight back. The Starter Ex fun and creative update of the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. After these books I’m planning to take a short romance break because in December after reading The Tokyo Suite I decided that 2026 would be my year of books in translation. On deck I have My Husband by Maud Ventura and Discontent by Beatriz Serrano. Have you read anything in translation recently that you enjoyed?

I had to include this last comic (from four years ago I guess, since my “seven year old” will turn 11 soon!) since I embodied it when I wore this dress to Book People. Nothing beats an old Zara fave!

I wore the other color of the Zara dress yesterday when I attended a dinner in honor of Dr. Becky’s Good Inside company which is launching Good Inside Baby. All of the attendees wrote on cards what they would tell someone who just had a baby, and one mom brought up anger/rage. Dr. Becky said that anger is a really helpful emotion because it tells you what you need, and what you are thirsty for. I was intrigued by this because I had previously heard a psychologist say that sometimes anger is a more comfortable emotion than sadness, and can be a band-aid for sadness. I had also recently watched Vladimir on Netflix, where the main character (a very unreliable narrator!) says, “I’ve always felt the origin of anger in my vagina and am surprised it is not mentioned more in literature.” (it’s also in the book by Julia May Jonas, Vladimir). On that note, now that I’ve mentioned three potential origins of anger, I must go to my evening shift. Where does your anger come from?

Thanks for reading! xoxo

How are you? Can you believe it’s March already? Although 2026 has already felt like five years. We have so much to catch up on. First, there was the Bad Bunny halftime show—what a beautiful celebration. There was also Elon Musk saying AI will replace doctors in five years, and the subsequent hilarious memes suggesting Elon be the first to receive his medical care from robots. Then I saw this study out of Mount Sinai in NYC and I remembered that I am about to launch a book that is an optimistic examination of the journey to becoming a physician. The robots haven’t replaced us yet. With the launch comes reviews and events, which I want to share here. Roll the infomercial. Just kidding, kind of. Here is a video introduction that I made for instagram. These toilet bowl blue scrubs are the only scrubs I own, and I mostly wear them on weekends.

There is an aspect to publishing books that feels like a cat bringing a dead rat to your door as an offering. Does anyone want this?? Why did I make this? To overcome this feeling, I have to go back to my basic cartooning mission, which is to make stuff I would like to read and to create stories and universes that make others feel ‘seen.’

One exciting piece of news is that the first book review of See One, Do One, Teach One, was very lovely:

You can pre-order here. My understanding is that preorders really help bookstores know if they should stock the book on their physical shelves. There are so many big books coming out this spring, so a preorder is really helpful! If you’re wondering what the target audience for this book is, it’s really anyone interested in medicine, memoir, balancing art and motherhood. One of my early readers was a friend’s tween who is interested in healthcare, but I have also heard from physicians in their seventies who enjoyed the opportunity to revisit falling in love with medicine. And it will enhance your The Pitt watching experience. Ha.

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My publisher made these images with pictures from the book mixed with some very generous early reader’s blurbs.

Okay, here is another obligatory preorder link.

I’m excited to launch See One (or SODOTO, the Swiftian acronym gave it) at Book People on Monday 4/6. Pooja Lakshmin will be “in conversation” with me about the book. If you have not gotten to see Pooja speak before, you are in for a treat. She is a psychiatrist and really thoughtful, especially about medical school and residency. Here is a link to sign up for the Austin event.

If you are in Boston, on Wednesday 4/8 I’ll be at the Harvard Medical School Countway library (located in the Longwood Medical area). Here is the link to sign up for the Boston event.

In terms of book recs, last month I read The Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lea and really enjoyed it. I also did something extravagant and ordered the book Female, Nude by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett from the UK, and it was such a great read. The story is set in Greece, with lots of lush descriptions of the food, scenery and art history. The plot involves a pre-wedding group trip, but every other chapter there is a more academic discussion about a different Female Nude by a woman in art history. Some of the works are by more well known artists like Alice Neel and Frida Kahlo, but some are older or more obscure. I loved this mini feminist art history lesson. Here is a fun article I found about one of the pieces in the book.

What have you read recently? I hope you have a fun weekend. Thanks for reading!

Hello readers,

How are you? What a heavy, sad start 2026 has had. I hope you are doing okay.

I’m sending an additional newsletter this month in honor of More than a Million’s book birthday and launch. Last week I visited my kid’s elementary school and, then, my alma mater Zilker Elementary. What a treat. Visiting the schools has reminded me so much of my futsal coaching days. So many sweet kids, so many soccer jerseys! I made a little diary comic about it.

I still remember when the library at Zilker first opened, and how special it felt. They had built window seats in various corners of the library and I don’t think I had ever seen a window seat in real life before that. It felt so luxurious! So it was completely surreal to visit it as an author. The kids asked when I first started writing books and I said, “Here, in third grade!” Here are some fun pictures at the two libraries:

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While preparing to visit Zilker I sifted through some elementary school ephemera, and I thought that this would be a great image to include here to mark my foray into children’s literature.

It’s Ann M. Martin, the author of the Baby Sitter’s Club series. We were so psyched to meet her at a book signing in Austin in 1993. I learned so much about medicine and developmental pediatrics from her books (the BSC and her other YA books). She wrote (with so, so much care and humanity) about autism and other conditions way before these topics were in the lay press.

At the end of the week I did story time at Book People and a fun afterparty and I was so thankful for the nice turnout! Here are some photos:

And then this week I got to go on an Austin-based morning TV show called We Are Austin (click on link to see the segment!) So fun.

Thanks for following along! Have a nice long weekend.

Well, the holidays are winding down (cue the emotional hangover!), and I hope you had a nice time. We visited my mother-in-law in Connecticut at the beginning of the holidays and celebrated her 75th birthday with a party and a trip to Wachusett for “night skiing” (sounded ominous but was very pretty). I’m not a skier, so I nursed a beer and a cider doughnut and snapped pics. We flew back to Austin on Christmas Eve. George (almost 14) was worried about this itinerary, saying “Mom, that’s how every Christmas movie begins!” but everything was okay. This week I have been at the hospital, on a team where I am paired with just one resident. She and I have been doing ‘poetry on rounds’ (where we start rounds with a poem) which has been dreamy. Here is one of the poems we read.

I have enjoyed reviewing various best of 2025 lists, so I thought I would round up a smattering of bests.

Best Unexpected Moment During Endless Chauffeuring of Tweens

I spent a lot of time this year in various carpools--middle school, soccer, basketball, camps--and even though I dislike driving, I have enjoyed all of the random conversations. Crush reveals! Interesting musical requests! Workshopping of new slang expressions! But the most lovely moment was a couple months ago when I had 3 ten year old boys in the car and the classic country song “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” came on the radio and all three exuberantly sang the chorus. Ah, to be serenaded by three ten year olds! What an unexpected moment of joy.

Best recipe

My friend Sara introduced me to the New York Times Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad at the end of 2024, but I think I made it more than twenty times this year. I have spent a lot of time wondering if it is more of a fall recipe (apple cider is involved) or spring (surely the radishes belong to spring), but I guess the answer is it’s a year-round delight. I find it really pleasant to assemble also, since it doesn’t involve any weird kitchen machinery that I don’t have, or any esoteric ingredients. It goes without saying that the kids don’t eat it. No matter!

Best basketball hoop encountered whilst on vacation

We visited a lot of nice basketball hoops in different places this year, but the prettiest one was probably in Stinson Beach, California.

Best carsickness episode

Speaking of California, we went to the Bay Area and Marin in August for a long weekend, and I had heard so many great things about the drive to Hog Island Oyster Co. I was so excited! Unfortunately, though, this route is really twisty (the area that you drive through is the same scenery that’s in the Hitchcock movie The Birds if you need a mental image) and by the time we arrived at the restaurant--very beautiful, very trendy--all I could possibly stomach was a baggie of crackers. My husband took this photo. The rest of my family enjoyed the food!

Best literary moment

In December the fifth grade put on a ‘poetry slam’ in the elementary school library. The 42 fifth graders each read a poem from their collections that they had been working on. Some read haikus, some read couplets and some read “I am” poems where they repeated statements about themselves. “I am a daughter, I am a good friend, I dream of the day when my little sister and I drive around to get ice cream.” Sitting in the school library, hearing about the inner lives and dreams of the ten year old was so moving. Everyone was teary. What a beautiful way to end the semester.

Best literary fiction theme

Millennial and Gen X marriage novels! I love The Ten Year Affair, Seduction Theory, Colored Television, Hazel Says No, Consider Yourself Kissed and, more recently, The Tokyo Suite.

Best movie to fill the void left by Shakespeare In Love

I saw Hamnet this week and I’m still emotionally devastated! Proceed with caution! Who do you prefer as your William Shakespeare? Joseph Fiennes or Paul Mescal? There are no wrong answers!

Best moments in my year of reading

So many highlights! The comedy in Fundamentally, the swoony book boyfriend in Along Came Amor, the mushroom in The Ten Year Affair, the prickly mom in The Tokyo Suite, the shockingly relevant narrator inEx-Wife (published in 1929), and so many new-to-me authors. Full list below:

Best opportunity to mention my new picture book

It’s time for me to talk IN ALL CAPS about MY CHILDREN’S BOOK that comes out TUESDAY! Have I mentioned it? It’s called More than a Million! I’m super excited to go to my children’s elementary school to read it, and then to go to my alma mater (Zilker!)! And I’ll be doing a storytime at Book People Sunday Jan. 11, 2026 at 10:30am. I hope you will grab a copy for the little ones in your life! In this book there are: grandparents, babysitters, teachers, dense urban housing, parents wearing scrubs, healthcare workers, libraries, soccer practice, bedtimes, jokes, insects, playgrounds, crayons, dinosaurs, yoga, grilled cheese and more!

And here is the whole collection:

More to come soon! Happy New Year! What were your bests?

Hello, Happy December! How are you?

I just got back from a very short and very last-minute trip to NYC full of highs and lows. I went up for a funeral in New Jersey and then a gala that was literally under the 59th Street Bridge. The gala was put on by the publication the Bond Buyer, and my husband was in a group that received an award!

While I was in the area, I squeezed in visits with my publishing teams. I stopped by WW Norton and Bloomsbury and, then on my last day, right as I was headed back to Roosevelt Island on an uptown F train, I got a message from my editor Melanie that the full-color final print of my graphic memoir See One, Do One, Teach One: the Art of Becoming a Doctor had just arrived. Kismet!

Here are some pictures from Bloomsbury: (I thought posing with More than a Million in front of the Sarah J Maas books could send important subliminal messages)

While out and about I also made a pilgrimage to the New York Public Library, where there was a cool exhibit on comics from Puerto Rico! On another day I tooled around Tribeca and got to see these beautiful acrylics by Katherine Bradford. Her adult son and daughter had written an interview/essay/monograph in the exhibition book. A Weekend Mom’s dream!

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I took the F train to Brooklyn one day to see , and then swooped up to Soho to take in the holiday shopping. Joanna recommended Christmas shopping at John Derian, where I bought this cute croissant ornament.

I didn’t do a ton of reading, but I did watch the Netflix holiday movie Champagne Problems which was AMAZING. Just kidding. The number of huge coats that the main character brings on a 3 day trip to Paris is fantastic. She must wear like 8 wool coats. Did they cut the montage scene where she buys all of these coats at the Paris Zara? Highly recommend watching, just for the coats. (If you’ve watched it, what did you think????)

These are my fave November reads. An emotional retelling of Persuasion, a funny holiday romcom, and a very funny novel about motherhood in the Hudson Valley. The Ten Year Affair has many funny lines in it, but this is one of my favorites: “It was not the town’s fault, but she took it out on the town. If she was lonely here, there must be something wrong with it. It must be terrain-based. It must be-should they check the census results?—that the people were dull and vain, duller and vainer than they were back in the city.” It’s also one of the best books I’ve read that spans pre- and post- 2020 pandemic experiences. I loved this part about going back to work in an office:

“I wanted to check in with the two of you to see how it feels to be back.”

It felt fine, they both said, though how did it really feel? It felt like the world should have ended and hadn’t. It felt like coming down from Everest and checking your bank balance. It felt like seeing the situation for what it was, in a flash, and then having to pretend for the rest of your life that you hadn’t.

Okay, thanks for reading! This chaotic newsletter is free, but if you would like to support my work, please check out these links to order More than a Million, a calendar, See One, Do One, Teach One, or the original Mom Milestones. Hope you have a nice start to December! Sending hugs!

Hi readers! Happy Halloween! I’m here with some Halloween frivolity. How is your week going? Last weekend I painted a version of the Mona Lisa to carry around tonight whilst yelling “stop, thief!” It was so fun to get the paints out and make editorial comments to myself (“Oh, I see you have a small path in the woods back there, Leonardo…”)

Anyway, this is the extent of my Halloween costume planning. My kids are kind of…over Halloween. Why are they so old?! George (13) plans to re-use his plague doctor mask, and Russ (10) thought about doing Pennywise (scary) but now is saying he wants to be a banana (?). So I will be sourcing a banana costume from the neighborhood moms. How about you? Any fun costumes?

Okay, it’s been awhile since I’ve made some romance novel recs, but don’t worry! I have read a bunch. Some duds, and some excellent reads. This month I read a handful of sports romances. Now, as a previously self-avowed non-sporty person, I didn’t expect to love sports romances so much, but I have discovered that the drama of sports is perfect in the romance novel setting. The main characters have big goals and obstacles (Olympics, trophy, underdog story, financial pressures) and the way they have to negotiate games and competitions really strengthens character development. There are always ample opportunities for the characters to touch—here, your grip on the racket should be like this, you get the picture. And, if the moment of the big race/game/competition gets your heart beating because of skilled writing? Well, chef’s kiss! This month I read a tennis romance that is out already, a rowing romance that comes out next year and a racecar/F1 romance that comes out in November.

I went back thought my mental archives to think about my other favorite sports romances and I remembered the golf (!) one by Tessa Bailey, the whole Alexa Martin series (which is hands-down the best sports romance collection IMHO), the soccer one by Jessica Peterson (had to include a soccer romance!) and Gillian Libby’s surfing romance. I would love to read more water sports romance novels—rowing, surfing, where is the Anzac sailing romance that I need? The only sports romance I haven’t explored is hockey. Do you have any sports romances I should check out?

I’m now reading Anne of Avenue A, which is the third in a series of Jane Austen inspired romance novels which I love. This one is a riff on Persuasion which everyone knows is the best Austen (and the ultimate second chance romance). Ha! Send reading recs! (Also, everyone loved Heart the Lover, but I’m having a hard time getting into it! I did love Writers & Lovers and Euphoria, though, so I’ll keeping trying.)

Okay, I will wrap up with some videos I made to promote More than a Million. Here is the Bloomsbury one:

And here is an instagram one:

If you are able to, please pre-order! Finally, here are some fun Halloween comics from past years. Look at how my little guy has a pacifier in his mouth in one of these! What is time?!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Russ (age 10) and I love Bad Bunny’s songs, from the hilarious “Tití me preguntó,” to the haunting (and very political) “Una Velita” to his most recent album. The song (above) DTMF, or “I should have taken more pictures” always makes me teary.

Back to the Taylor Swift of it all, this podcast had the definitive take (and by ‘definitive’ I mean made me laugh until I cried many times) on the new album: that these are all wedding and/or “hen-do” (aka bachelorette party) songs. I love the explanation here that kids and grown ups will dance to many of these (radio edit) songs at a wedding, “Children like the idea of dancing through lightning strikes. They’ve seen Disney films. They’ve seen Frozen.”

From Sentimental Garbage: Taylor Swift: Life of a Showgirl, Oct 6, 2025

Ha. So, now that we’ve covered some pop culture highlights, back to books! Over the past few weeks I have really enjoyed writeups of how her graphic novelization of the classic Tuck Everlasting came to be, so I thought I would describe the birth of my picture book More than a Million which comes out January 6, 2026. But you can very much pre-order now.

The Idea

As you probably know by now, I love drawing people, especially families, parents, and kids. I always have. When I was a tween I used to draw portraits of imaginary families. When Mom Milestones came out I started receiving photos from friends and online readers of their kids reading Mom Milestones! Trying to glean some trade secrets, perhaps? The was unexpected, but made sense—I loved looking at these kinds of slice of life illustrations (like Starting School, below) when I was a kid too.

So, as I was starting to think about making a picture book, I thought I would want a book that showed lots of families in quotidian moments. I also thought of what my kids like—funny situations, kids foiling a parent’s careful plans, etc—and I thought of what I liked to read at bedtime. During the years of long, drawn-out bedtimes with lots of snack requests and multiple renditions of “Teddy Bear Picnic,” I enjoyed rhyming books for two reasons: they felt easier to read when my brain was on autopilot, and (allegedly) they were good for children’s early literacy. My kids also had a long phase of discussing numbers—million, infinity, googleplex—so I thought it would be fun to talk about numbers.

The Process

When I make most of my comics and illustrations I usually draw as I write—the drawings seem to inform the writing—but this time I started with a poem that was about 36 lines. This was very different from how I went about the See One, Do One, Teach One (my med school graphic novel), which I will explore in another post! Above is one of the couplets that didn’t end up in the book. Once my agent Wendi and editor Mary Kate had reviewed the text, I started on the sketches.

There are still a lot of “millions” here, but Mary Kate suggested subbing in different numbers, which I think was a great idea. Then it was time for the color! Coloring in the illustrations is one of my favorite parts of the process. Since I do all of my illustrations on an iPad, I have a palette that I have tweaked over the years (one version of the palette is on the spine of Mom Milestones), and I usually put characters in fun outfits at this stage.

The Font

In the color image you can also see that the lettering is now a font. Placing the text in a font is handy in the event that someone wants to translate it to another language (dream scenario). I love making fonts and have used the app Calligraphr since 2018 to play with handwriting fonts.

The Cover

I think I will leave the cover process for a separate post, since it is its own beast! And there are a ton of cover images that didn’t make the cut. A random part of making this book has been having the kids make up joke couplets that involve more gross-out humor than I would ever put in a book! For example: “Love you more than the hundreds of lice on your head, love you more than a thousand cookie crumbs in your bed.” Ha.

Once again, please pre-order More than a Million if you are in the position to! It’s so helpful to authors to pre-order! I had some items made for a pre-order campaign, so more info on that soon!

Hope you have a nice weekend. Tell me your takes on the new TS album! I would love to know. Also please send romance novel recs. (I enjoyed Exit Lane.)

Also unexpectedly inspiring? A high school info panel I attended this week. The other day I realized that next year my two kids will begin high school and middle school. How did I allow this to happen? I’m trying not to let those two impending transitions cast a shadow over this academic year, and yet… As part of the preparation for high school, George (thirteen) and I (forty three) attended a high school student panel this week. The panel was held in his school’s cafeteria, where the lunch smell (burritos? macaroni? burritos and macaroni?) still lingered at 5pm. George sat with the other eighth graders and I sat on a cafeteria table bench against the wall, slowly sipping an apple cider flavored sparkling water. At the front of the cafeteria there were seven or eight alumni (now in ninth grade at various high schools around town) sitting on folding chairs facing the audience. A couple were wearing their prep school’s uniform, a couple wore braces, and one wore a bright cobalt trucker hat. The principal emcee’d the program. The kids introduced themselves, talked about their schools and then the principal began a Q&A session. The questions had been submitted by the eighth graders earlier that day. I wasn’t expecting to get much from the panel. I mean, they’ve only been in high school for a month or two. But again, Gen Z surprised me. The growth mindset! The sweetness! Here are the lessons I learned from the panel.

Join some clubs, it’s just fun

The beginning of the Q&A was just general tips and one students advised, “Join some clubs, it’s just fun.” I loved this statement. It wasn’t couched in “it will look good on your college applications” or anything like that. Just that clubs were fun and interesting, and you might make some friends through them. Which brings me to the second lesson.

You could meet a new person every day of the school year

Several of the students pointed out that their high schools were large, and that you could potentially meet someone new every day of the year. It was a nice reminder of where they are in their life—just beginning—and excited to meet a new person every day. But in my work as a hospitalist, I usually do meet a new person every day. In fact, this is one of the neat parts of my work—meeting cowboys, factory workers, leather craftsmen, surgeons, psychologists, 101 year olds, retired school bus drivers, etc. What a gift it is to meet someone new each day.

It’s a lot of work, but you can do it

This theme came up a lot during the info session. First when the principal asked about balancing the demands of athletics with academic activities and homework, but also in general. The panelists seemed to agree that high school was a lot of work, but that everyone was equipped to handle it. What a message. And in case you’re thinking “Okay, Grace, clearly these are all academic all stars,” I don’t think that’s the case. They also talked a lot about navigating setting up their accommodations, managing dyslexia and dysgraphia, and dreading in-class essay writing.

Just lock in on your friendships and you will be fine

This might have been the most heartbreaking moment. The principal asked the panelists about how their friendships had changed since starting high school, and one speaker said she had “just forgotten to keep texting a few friends.” Another speaker advised the eighth graders to “lock in on being friends” which I guess is Gen Z speak for committing to staying in touch. Um, thank you for the life lesson. This made me want to text every single one of my friends immediately.

The panel ended with the final question from the Q&A, which was “What does your school have in its vending machines?” This question generated the most varied responses of all. Who knew that the high schools of Austin have wildly different vending machine options? For example, one high school has Red Bull in their vending machines. Yikes. One high school only has “healthy” options like “White Doritos” (what are White Doritos? Tortilla chips?).

By the end of the panel the students had the air of soldiers returning from battle. They had faced the finicky selections in the vending machines, they had participated in sunrise marching band practices, they had taken electives called “Introduction to Investing.” They had returned to the middle school to dispense their best advice and hug their former algebra teacher. Their advice, even with (or maybe especially because of) the Gen Z phraseology, felt more universal than what I had expected. Is all of life just high school? I hoped not. I thought of the enduring charm of the movie Clueless, I thought about John Cusack holding up a boombox. Maybe I’m just a sucker for school, though. After all, I’m eternally on an academic calendar, meeting new students, writing recommendation letters, expecting them to change the world.

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This week I also took the kids to the dentist, and when we scheduled the 6 month follow up appointments I discovered that my med school graphic memoir releases in 6 months, which means the picture book More than a Million comes out in 3-ish months! Both are available for pre-order, and you can also recommend them to your library, and mark them as “Want to read” on Goodreads.

Have a nice weekend. Thanks for reading! I’ll resume my book recs next issue.

Hi friends! How has your summer been? (I mean, besides everything that’s going on in the news. At least there is this).

School is finally back in session—my kids have started 5th and 8th grade. These photos are from the walk to school with my younger son Russ over the past few years. Look how little he was in 2023!

Our summer vacation activities already seem like a blur, but I’ve taken notes on the games we’ve played because they seem so specific to this year. One day in June, while we were waiting in line at a popular pizza place here in Austin, George summoned his inner (future?) camp counselor and said, “Russ, blind rank these 5 candies” and since then we have been doing a lot of ranking games (where you don’t know the order of the list ahead of time, so you have to do your best guess). We have ranked World Cup teams, various sports, “Mom’s friends” (not my idea!!!), places to go on vacation, etc. The key to this game is that the player has to rank each item as it comes up. For example, in the candy ranking, you could start with M&M’s, and then do Skittles, but they don’t know if the last one will be Nerds or Almond Joy. Have I adequately explained it? (If you require more explanation, you can watch the Kelce brothers rank Will Farrell movies in this clip. Caveat: there is a lot of cheerful cursing) Here are some sample games you can try with your crew.

We also played some Exquisite Corpse (my favorite game) while we were in Maine. Here are some old ones from 2022 that popped up on my phone:

And my cousin Ashley in California introduced us to a funny new game called Telestrations. This was so fun! A mix of the game telephone and Pictionary. While we were driving to Point Reyes two weeks ago, and I was feeling violently carsick, the kids workshopped some really annoying games like “who can make mom mad faster” and “who can be louder” and “who can make dad mad,” but I can’t recommend any of these games!

On to some book recs! Nothing beats the intimacy of a notes app note. I’ve enjoyed this summer’s reading, and have a huge stack (the TBR) ready for me. Season of the Roses and Mimosa are both graphic novels. Seduction Theory and Emma of 83rd Street were both books that I first became aware of via my substack feed, which is interesting to me. Both of these recs hooked me because they are two of my favorite types of books. Seduction Theory is a wry campus affair novel and Emma of 83rd is a Jane Austen retelling as a contemporary romance. Where are your book recs coming from right now?

Okay, look how cute More than a Million looks with Mom Milestones, the new Mom’s Family Calendar and the calendar’s stickers! If you, like my mother-in-law Eliza, are concerned about why More than a Million comes out in January, it’s actually the Valentines day push I guess? But if you wanted to make it part of a Christmas/holidays present, the calendar is out! Please pre-order for the little ones in your life! Thank you!

Okay, that’s all for now. How is your Labor Day looking? I’ll be working, and there is a soccer tournament as well! I’ll leave you with the best medical meme I saw this week!

On a lighter note, this week we returned from our annual summer vacation to Rhode Island (with a couple detours to Maine and Connecticut). Here are some beach pictures:

Haha, just kidding these are just a fraction of the basketball courts my ten year old Russ begged me to take him to since he doesn’t love the beach. Doesn’t love the beach! Can you believe it?

2025 has been such a nice reading year for me, and so far my summer reading has exceeded expectations. In June I began with Along Came Amor which was, in a word, excellent. The perfect finale to this series. Then I read Square Waves, another romance, which I loved for the setting (Bay Area), the surfing, and the redemption arcs. Then on to When Javi Dumped Mari, a delightful When Harry Met Sally retelling. It’s a Love Story was very fun and the graphic novel about a group of U17 women soccer players in suburban Paris Season of the Roses is so beautiful.

This week I read the climate change literary thriller Wild Dark Shore which I think is a loose retelling of Jane Eyre (although I can’t find any confirmation of this anywhere even though a paperback copy of Jane Eyre is present on the island and is a metaphorical albatross. There are also actual albatrosses nesting on the island.). Have you read it? What did you think? I would love to know what you thought about the ending especially. The premise is that a woman washes ashore on a barely inhabited “subantarctic” island where a dad and his three kids are the caretakers of (what remains of a scientific lab and) a seed vault. Has something nefarious happened??? The atmospheric vibes from the very first page suggest yes.

The author seems to have accomplished two impossible tasks here: making a novel about climate change that doesn’t feel preachy, and writing an unputdownable thriller that somehow has occasional chapters devoted to the natural history of the dandelion or thistle. Wait, this makes me think of the heath, so let’s pause for a little Bronte break. Once on a trip to the UK I convinced my husband to take me and our kids to the Bronte parsonage and that portion of the trip did not unfold the way I wanted it to, which actually felt very true to a Bronte storyline.

In Bronte adjacent news, my mom and I went to see the French movie Jane Austen Wrecked My Life at the Austin Film Society. If you are in Austin, I recommend that location for movie viewing! Such a nice art house cinema feel. The movie is still playing there, and is such a delight. I’m also enjoying the new season of the Buccaneers.

Today is the final day of the Barnes and Nobles annual preorders sale, where preorders are 25% off. You can preorder More than a Million here! It comes out in January (aka Valentine’s szn). Here’s a sneak peak below. I’m so excited about it, it’s so cute!

While you’re at it, you may want to preorder See One, Do One, Teach One which comes out in March (!). It’s a graphic memoir about med school and residency, how I met my husband, my son’s birth (!!), etc. More to come, including the cover.

Ok guys, send me your book recs, fashion finds, longreads, etc. I might send out some preliminary data from my 2025 swimsuit search next week. Have a nice weekend!

I went up to the east coast to attend the Brown Medical Alumni Awards ceremony (where I won an award!) and since there are no direct flights from Austin to Providence, I flew in to Boston to visit friends and soak up the Boston vibes, ha. It was great to various Weekend Moms, walk around some old haunts (including the hospital where, ten years ago, I had my little birthday baby) and check out the new romance bookstore Lovestruck Books in Harvard Square. Which brings me to… (drumroll)… romance novels!

I did a week on the cardiology co-management service this month (and learned a lot) and (no spoilers!) but there is some major cardiology in the new Carley Fortune book One Golden Summer. I asked for that book and the new Emily Henry book for Mother’s Day, and tore through both. Don’t make the same mistake I did! Savor them. S-A-V-O-R them. I had read some online grumblings that the new Emily Henry book was not great, too much story within a story, and, like, what? I thought it was one of her best. All this to say, I have broken the seal on the 2025 summer romance reads. Bustle had a funny article about how this it’s GTFO summer which sounds right to me.

These are some of the romance novels I’m looking forward to this summer. I just bought Along Came Amor and I’m so excited. If you haven’t read the other Alexis Daria books, you are in for a treat.

In other book news, did you see the cover reveal for More than a Million?

This is a picture book I wrote and illustrated and now it’s available for pre-order and comes out in January. I think you will enjoy it! It’s funny and it rhymes and I think it will be fun to read at bedtime.

I didn’t realize until after we finalized this cover that it borrows from a cover design I did in fourth grade (the bubbles). Anyway, I’m so excited about this book! There are lots of different caregivers (moms, dads, grannies, teachers, even a dog) featured and a good amount of kid hijinks and mischief. Have I piqued your interest?

Okay, I hope you have a lovely weekend. What books are you looking forward to this summer? Tell me!

Hello, happy Mother's Day Weekend and happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

It seems like everyone I know has had something either destabilizing or truly terrible happen over the past couple weeks, and yet, outside there are flower buds and bird nests and kids shrieking on their bikes. I was sitting on my neighbor's side walk the other night and she said she had started volunteering at the Austin Diaper Bank where she learned that around half of parents are ‘diaper insecure’ meaning they need to ration diapers or can't afford them at all. I then remembered that we had a few sleeves of diapers in our house (why??? I have no idea) and got to send those with my neighbor for the bank. One teensie good thing.

For Mother's Day weekend I'll be at the hospital, intermittently doing an exercise I like to do when I meet an older patient, where I try to imagine the patient's mother who, in 1935, might have looked down at her little baby and said, "I'll name him Herbert" or "what an adorable Orlando" or "should Floyd's middle name be Norman or Earl?" There's something so hopeful to think about these people as babies, and, now, suddenly they are in their 80's, just played nine holes of golf and need their medications tweaked.

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In other Mother's Day adjacent news, I dedicated April to health maintenance. If you are squeamish about medical things or despise millennial oversharing, just scroll down to Saumya Dave's interview!

Anyway, in April I squeezed in a mammogram (ha!), a gynecology visit, a dental cleaning, a PCP appointment, and, as a grand finale, an oil change for the car. (I’m on a different appointment schedule with my very excellent (and former co-resident) dermatologist.) I tried to incorporate tiny elements to make it feel celebratory instead of full of dread ( talks about this a lot in her wonderful newsletter). For the mammogram appointment I made a playlist of women singing duets (get it???) to listen to on the drive there and back. For the gyn visit I added some songs to the mammogram playlist to give it some gynecological flair: WAP, Guess, Paint the Town Red, etc).

Actually, come to think of it, the grand finale will be in June, when my Mirena IUD turns 10 years old and I get it switched out for a new one. "Ten years old, Grace?" Yes. When I sheepishly went to see my new Austin gynecologist a few years ago I was under the impression that I had let my Mirena remain in place for far too long, but she told me it's now FDA-approved for 8 years. Recently, though, I’ve noticed that it’s lost some of its hormonal oomph, as I’ve started to have more officious spotting, usually preceded by 24 to 48 hours of loathing and despair. Message received: time for a new Mirena. Well, that wraps up my health maintenance discussion! None of this is medical advice, but, wow, I always forget how unpleasant it is to be on the patient side of the equation.

Speaking of patients and doctors, I have a great Weekend Mom interview for you! Saumya Dave is a doctor (psychiatrist), author, and mom of two kids (ages 5 and ten months) in NYC. Her third novel The Guilt Pill just came out, and I loved it! It’s a departure from my normal romance novel fare, but I think you’ll enjoy it.

I emailed with about her Weekend Mom habits and medical school, and then, in order to prepare this illustration, spent a creepy amount of time on her Instagram stories and grid. This post made me LOL. Here is my interview with Saumya:

What are the little things you look forward to on the weekends? Slow mornings, multiple iced coffees, a Pixar movie, extra books at bedtime

Do you have a Weekend Mom uniform? Beloved indie bookstore sweatshirt, leggings, iced coffee, cap with another bookstore

The Guilt Pill has some great NYC locations in it. What are your favorite restaurants to go to with kids? Favorite playground? Favorite day trips? L'Appartemente 4F for croissants, Books Are Magic for a new read, Fort Greene Park to play, and love day trips into Manhattan to the Natural History Museum

What lessons did you learn in med school that you still think about? Learn every part of the job, not just the part you want to make your career. Know and value the essential work of your team members. Always be open to learning more--medicine is ever evolving and there is always more to learn.

Did you like med school? I liked med school and I absolutely loved residency (I'm very lucky to have been around wonderful peers, colleagues, and teachers throughout training).

What medical tv shows have you enjoyed? Did you watch the Pitt? Love all medication television shows. The Pitt is my most recent favorite—I absolutely love how they show care teams working together and what it means to work in such a complicated healthcare system. I also loved Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. If there's a medical show, there's a good chance I'll love it, ha!

What advice would you give you someone who wants to be a doctor but also nurture their creative side? Creativity might look different in different seasons and that's okay! Remember that you can keep your creativity nourished in different ways. Keep a notebook or a note open on your phone for ideas. See what happens when you don't put pressure on yourself to make something. In my opinion, curiosity is the foundation of creativity, so if you are curious and seeking, you're nurturing that creativity even during seasons when making something may be more difficult.

I love this advice! Thank you Saumya! Here is another link to The Guilt Pill. Saumya will be in Austin at Book People on Monday, May 12! I’m hoping to make it to this if Maycember activities allow!

I hope you enjoyed this interview. I meant to include a link in my last email to this fun interview with my friend

HEAs & Other Obsessions

Chats with Creatives (Part 1)

Grace Farris is a doctor, mother, and illustrator living in Austin, TX. Her art has been featured in the New York Times, Cup of Jo, and National Public Radio, among others. Her book, Mom Milestones, is out now, and you can also buy her delightful wall calendar…

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a year ago · 11 likes · 8 comments · Gina Banks

I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend, and I will see you again soon! In the next issue of this newsletter there will be a cover reveal! Eek!

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In Weekend Mom news, tomorrow I’m going to be “in conversation” at the Books and Bees Festival! If you are local, please come by! It will be fun! There are some great kids events happening at the festival too!

Here is a Mom Milestones link if you want a copy!

After a meh 2024 in terms of reading, I am having a fantastic 2025 year in books.

These romance novels were all fabulous! I read all of Alexandra Vasti’s well-researched historical romances over spring break, and then read A Tropical Rebel gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera, which features a female doctor as the protagonist. Then I pivoted to present day Hollywood with How to End a Love Story which is romantic and steamy, but will also make you cry all the tears.

In terms of non-romance novels, I read Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross, which comes out in June, and I loved it! It reminded me of a cross between Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld and Modern Lovers by Emma Straub. You can pre-order it now. I’m starting Saumya Dave’s new book The Guilt Pill which comes out Tuesday and is also available to order! Saumya is also a doctor mom!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a nice weekend. Sending hugs!

Ah, yes, I’ve added a hat news section to this newsletter! Initially I was planning to put a pic that popped up on my instagram of Keira Knightley traipsing through London with an overstuffed tote bag and wearing a baseball hat, looking very, very Weekend Mom. But then I felt bad about sharing a pap pic, so here’s the link to the hat (sold out, so it’s not a temptation). An art hat! Which I would consider literary hat adjacent. I had to look up Anni Albers, who is a textile artist and wife of Josef Albers. I’m not sure I would wear a hat with a human’s name on it. I think I prefer an irreverent expression or vacation locale. What are your thoughts on hats? Hat thoughts?

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This week I read two books that came out last Tuesday (they were both so good I stayed up til past midnight! Past. Midnight.). Both started as library books, but I ended up purchasing them because they are so good. Deep Cuts is a bildungsroman and/or a Künstlerroman (you know I love to trot out these terms!) about a woman named Percy. We meet her in college in Berkeley in Y2K and follow her until 2008. She loves pop music, and I am definitely not a music connoisseur, but the “tracks” she references brought back so many fun Y2K memories. I cried a little bit toward the end, even though it wasn’t sad at all! Just emotional, the way a true Pisces-season literary release should be.

I also read Fundamentally, which I got from the library as an audiobook. I have a hard time paying attention to audiobooks, so I quickly bought the text version, but if you enjoy audiobooks, this one has a wide range of accents that feels very immersive. Fundamentally is a comic novel (and also a bildungsroman?) that takes place mostly in a UN mission in Iraq in 2019. Funny, edgy, poignant—all the things. The author takes a sensitive topic and makes it accessible, and makes it look easy! Both of these books have beautiful redemption arcs that remind you of why it’s so rewarding to read fiction.

Speaking of libraries, I’m excited to be speaking and signing books at the Books and Bees Festival here in Austin in April. I’ll be in conversation with my friend (and librarian) Maureen Turner Carey from high school. Please come! It will be fun! (Also, yes, this is me hard-launching my new headshot taken by Sarah Natsumi Moore. My, my, my, how the Texas sun has lightened my hair! Winky face emoji.)

Okay, I’m signing off for now. Hope you have a nice weekend.

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The other day I walked into my mom’s house and she looked up and said “I just finished one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.” It was a reissue of Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott. I downloaded it on my Libby app and read it as fast as one can read a book. Here’s an excerpt:

I went to look at the other McNally reissues, and discovered that Ex-Wife has a gift bundle where you can order the book and a hat. Below are the US and UK versions. I’m not planning to order the hat—my husband might find it confusing!—but this does bring me to another favorite topic. Literary hats.

Or, more specifically, how many literary hats is it reasonable to have?

Anyway, hard to know how many would be unreasonable. But stop what you are doing and read Ex-Wife. It’s really uplifting and full of hope, and reminds me of a combination of The Great Gatsby, Awakening, The Bell Jar and Heartburn.

Second rec, very apropos of all things RFK, is the Netflix show Apple Cider Vinegar. I thought the storytelling in this show was excellent, and the handling of the medical profession quite fair. My sister had to abandon it because she thought it was too sad, but my husband and I really enjoyed it.

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One last fun thing is all of the very interesting terms my kids have taught me. Besides the ubiquitous “bro-mom” as in “Bro-mom, I need to find the pump for the soccer ball,” here are some other terms I have enjoyed learning:

And here are some recent comics for Cup of Jo:

Which hot drink are you?

Have a nice weekend!

Hello, February greetings. I meant to send a missive in January, but wow, what a grim month. I know some readers of this newsletter may have had an unspeakably horrible month (between the fires in LA and everything that’s followed the inauguration), and I’m sending warm and healing thoughts.

This week I’ve been alarmed by the measles outbreak in Lubbock. Measles was considered eradicated in the US in 2000. Now, five years after massive interruptions in routine vaccinations and healthcare access in 2020, plus vaccine hesitancy, here we are. So scary. You might be wondering what all of these shell pictures are about, and how they relate to vaccines. These are drawings by my great aunt Grace Eager, who was a zoological illustrator at the University of Michigan in the 1930’s. She only lived to be 47 (a few years older than I am now) because of complications from polio, a viral illness that now has a vaccine and is preventable. These images are a reminder of how lucky we are to live in the age of vaccines. What kind of art might this Grace have made if she had lived longer?

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On a lighter subject, what are your weekend plans? Last weekend, while out on a walk, I bumped into a few artists from Plein Air Austin. I ended up bringing my easel out to do a short painting, which felt so luxurious.

This weekend, I will be working in the hospital, as well as coaching futsal. I would love to have a Superbowl Party. Or a half a Superbowl Party? Like come for the first half, watch the Kendrick Lamar performance, eat lots of chips and then proceed with your Sunday evening party? Is that reasonable? Would only someone who got into professional sports quite recently do this? Also there is the longstanding concern: is our house too messy for a party?

Finally, a romancelandia update. Have you read any goodies? I am 150% into the entire enterprise of the 831 Stories project. I love the covers, the art, the colors, the concept of a slim romantic novella that you can read in a sitting. I have read all of the books, and have enjoyed my time in DC, LA and Brooklyn so far. I’ve also been enjoying the Elsie Silver books, which are cowboy-ish romance novels set outside Calgary.

Finally, you can still grab a Mom’s Family Calendar if you need one! Comes with fun stickers. Have a lovely weekend!

Okay, I could go on! As you can see, my holiday plans typically revolve around peppermint bark, romcoms, and easy crafts. This year I have done pomanders (quite witchy), dried citrus slices to hang as ornaments, and painted brown grocery store bags with little Santa hats and mittens.

I also rounded up my favorite holiday romance novels, which brought back such great memories! A friend recommended Catherine Walsh’s books to me this week, and I have already read two: Holiday Romance and Snowed In. Very festive! Fun to read an Irish romance writer. Also, I left this out above but Jackie Lau has a 4-part series that is fun that takes you from Canadian Thanksgiving to Valentines.

Are there any holiday romances that I missed? That I should read post-haste?

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Speaking of books, I enjoyed looking back at my year in reading last year, so here is my list from this year. The caveat, of course, is that maybe the best is yet to come? One of my favorite reading experiences ever was reading Trust Exercise by Susan Choi on Dec. 29, 2019.

Wishing you a happy holiday! If you are like me and you experience a torpor of despair every NYE, sending strength! Also, if you would like to support my work, my new calendar is available! It’s calendar season! Cheers to 2025!