I hope you all are having a lovely time. I’ve had two cups of coffee, and this morning and I went on a lovely run around Manhattan! We’re starting a pretty casual run club for Hot Literati New York, so if you’re interested join and run with Hot Literati!

From the blog:

• interviewed and wrote this brilliant piece. read it now!

A few updates:

• I’ve been sitting in my little room alternating between writing and working on Hot Literati’s new platform. You can now make your own world inside of the Hot Literati Universe. On Web, it’s organized by what you create versus what you consume, and then lastly, when you want to be social!

• I’m working on a huge update right now that will allow Hot Literati Members to begin tracking their favorite films in addition to what they’re reading

• Book Club is SO good, join us to continue reading Proust :)

Join Book Club

Upcoming Events:

Our last event in New York was one of my favorite nights EVER. I giggled SO much and we had brilliant discussion. Here are upcoming events:

• TOMORROW - for members I’m hosting a virtual writing sprint. Come for accountability to sit down and WRITE - sign up here

• NYC - Tuesday, September 15th - We’re having a salon about Art and Tech, discussing the relationship and tension between the two - sign up here

• ST. LOUIS- Tuesday, September 15th - Same topic and we’ll compare notes globally - sign up here

• LA - Tuesday, September 15th - Same topic and we’ll compare notes globally - sign up here

• SF - Wednesday, September 16th - Same topic and we’ll compare notes globally - sign up here

• CHICAGO - Tuesday, September 22nd - Eve Babitz Party! - Come discuss the life and legacy of Eve - sign up here

I emphasize that the goal of these is hanging out and community. You don’t have to be an expert and they’re the sort of events that are IMO really fun even if you come alone. They aren’t readings or panels where you stand around looking awkward, but we run them in a way that facilitates friendship, fun, and strengthening the Hot Literati community!

Hot Literati Events

Hot Literati Academy

This is one of my favorite parts of the website and app. You can find short, digestible courses on all sorts of things help you become extremely well-rounded. Some of my favs:

• Intro to Artificial Intelligence - Controversial subject, which makes it imo really important to understand the history of the field and how AI is defined - Take the course.

• Literary History 101 - Learn more about how literature became it’s own field. Like the origin of the novel :o - Take the course

• French New Wave - I’m a SUCKER for a French New Wave film. And before they were filmmakers, they were just a bunch of rebels with a magazine and NO budget. - Take the course

Ok that’s all! I need to write. Writers write, right? But why is sitting down to write so tricky sometimes haha.

Hot Literati Academy

Have a great weekend and hope to see you in the Hot Literati Universe and at an event!

xo

hailo

Join Hot Literati

Subscribe now

It is Monday. I am sleepy! I hope you all had a really lovely weekend. I went to a Piano Recital in the West Village, wrote a ton, and ate some yummy things cooked by my bf.

Let’s get into today’s order of events:

Some really fun updates to the Hot Literati Universe :D

Hot Literati Academy

I’ve added a bunch of courses, including primers on artists like David Lynch, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, and more.

There are also lifestyle and more general courses like “Dating with Intention” or “Thinking Better” (and these are backed by more research!).

They’re much easier and more fun to complete than the courses on our old platform and you earn HL Bucks for doing them, which can be used to unlock merch tiers in Shop Literati or can be used to buy more courses (two courses per month are included for members!)

Hot Literati Academy

Tools for Writers

As I, a writer, am trying to finish my own manuscript, I’m trying to build a super writer-friendly app and platform overall.

This includes a timer to do writing/reading sessions, as well as projects on hotliterati.com/write, where you can map out scenes within story-structures, and on web you can even start drafting projects into the platform. (You can also submit to the blog on that page)

I’m sort of building the software to help someone write longer-form work as I write my own novel. Creating both a manuscript and software at the same time is super stimulating and I hope will be helpful to other people.

Read our Blog

Events

As Hot Literati continues to expand globally, my goal is to help facilitate connection and community both locally irl and online.

This looks like our monthly events which are posted online for September!

I’m thinking we’ll shift from disparate author-themed salons to a model where we’re all having an intellectual salon/party on the same topic globally so that we can continue the broader discussion on our platform.

Events

In Sum,

I’m having a lot of fun building this thing. It attracts the coolest people somehow (like YOU ;) ) and I’m very excited and extremely grateful. If you have requests or big ideas, tell me in the #members chatroom.

If there’s one thing I’m always willing to do, it’s try.

all my love

hailo

Join Hot Literati

I’m very excited to bring you a Hotter Literati this week focusing on becoming Hotter and Smarter and more in love with your own life.

Read more

Good afternoon Hot Literatis

I hope you had a fun, eventful weekend. I wrote A TON, wrote some more, and made a healthy dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

New Podcast Epsiode

This week, I’m discussing beauty as a virtue, which I do believe in, hardcore. I need things to be pretty to feel motivated or inspired by it.

Watch the Podcast

Hot Literati Book Club

This is the week! We’re starting to discuss Swann’s Way this week. I’ve been wanting to read this one since I saw it on someone’s shelf during my freshman year at Princeton and I’m so excited to read it with you all!

Join Book Club

Join a Hot Literati Chapter

We’ve been doing events for a while now :) and just had some really fabulous ones in LA, SF, St. Louis, Chicago, and New York. I’m really thinking about what it means to build community and how to do it.

In order to start a chapter in a new city, we’ll need ~ 20 members there first, so if you’re a literary cutie in a city that needs more joie de vivre, join and get your friends in too! One your city hits 20, we’ll start party planning.

We have upcoming events in New York, LA, and Chicago confirmed for September.

You can sign up here

Hot Literati’s Obsessed with…

We’ve been partnering with LES Wines for a long time at this point, because they rock. The owner, Gavin, is so cool and his philosophy around spirits has a really rare intention. They carry a lot of rare spirits that you’ve probably never heard of, and if you ask they’re all so knowledgable and happy to share.

They’re hosting classes to share their knowledge and help you expand your palette, so you can sound chic when you order your beverages and maybe even know how to make one.

• September 8th, they’re doing a Tequila Class

• September 16th, they’re doing a wine class

Get tickets for Les Wines Classes

Want to go but need a buddy? Connect with people in the New York chatroom on Hot Literati and then maybe you can all pull up to an LES Wine class together. It’s also a great way to find Hot Literatis in your city and to stay connected between irl events. <3

Ok that’s all!

Have a great week!

When asked if I could look at birds for the rest of my life, or stay in bed with a good book, I would always choose both.

Subscribe now

xo

Join Hot Literati

hailo

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

Subscribe now

p.s

our old website still exists (even though the new one is so much cooler) so people have time to transfer over etc. It is available at classic.hotliterati.com. If you have any questions please reach out!

p.p.s

the android app is wonky, but I’m talking with support to fix it. Until then, you can still access the entire Hot Literati Universe at hotliterati.com

If you’re still here

check out the arcade lol

Join Hot Literati!

also

Sort of a pipe dream, but I’d love to get to 1k paid members on our platform by the end of the month. And I think to be a little crazy and constantly improving, you have to be willing to set goals that you could fail at. Currently, we’re at 13 members :)

Join the movement <3

read this one our site

Hello Hot Literatis

(in my head when I type that it’s a bit like Charlie’s Angels)

I am sitting at my kitchen table eating roasted Japanese Sweet potato and drinking coffee from Porto Rico. Life is good.

I said in Monday’s newsletter that I was going to write about dating, but honestly I find thinking about dating a little bit boring at this point in my life. Maybe because I’m really obsessed with all my little projects and also because I have a partner now. The TLDR on that is 1) communicate 2) journal and 3) don’t date people who make you sad.

Now, let’s get into some of the interesting stuff.

Generative Economies and why they’re really hot

I’m sort of obsessed with some convos I’ve had recently with young people. Lots of American children want to be entrepreneurs or Youtubers because they perceive it as being free from the 9 to 5. Before I can really get into my thoughts on this, I think I need to explain my thoughts around work.

My thoughts on Work

I love working. I think work is a fundamental part of being a human being. But I am extremely principled in my work and work ethic and I need a lot of mental stimulation. and challenge to be fulfilled by work. That’s why I love Hot Literati, because it’s extremely mission-driven for me. We are trying to create a culture, both online and in person, of intellectual thought, optimism, and beauty.

Work throughout History

Lately I’ve been SO obsessed with the history channel. Learning more about history has dramatically changed my perception of what is possible for my own life and in the world broadly.

This show “The Food that Build America” showed how visionaries like Henry John Heinz created the infrastructure for the first factories that restructured American lives by creating environments where people left their home to clock in and returned home at the end of the day. Or Milton Hershey, a maniac who is one of my favorite entrepreneurial stories. And as time went on, we got the need for unions and labor rights, but the point I’m trying to make is that a few people with a vision created that first big shift.

Work isn’t just Work

The workplace became a bit of a third space. All of a sudden, people had co workers that they stood next to every day and a new shared identity around a company.

In my head, this connects to Jane Jacobs, who I’m obsessed with, and her exploration of cultural and economic diversity. She talks about how bringing people into an area at different times creates “economic pools of use.”

Technology and Work

I have a lot millennials in my life. I love millennials. I love Gen Z, and I’m convinced Gen Alpha is going to be BRILLIANT.

The millennials in my life talk about a time before email and phones and zoom meetings. A time where you had to send a fax to get something across. So I think we take for granted the fact that we can send emails instead of getting someone to deliver a note, like they always are in a Dostoevsky novel.

So, it’s clear considering this to think about how technology has clearly restructured work and created this new type of white collar job that is “click clack type at computer.”

This isn’t necessarily a problem -- I love computer, computer is FUN-- but one thing I wish everyone knew and thought about more are ...

Extractive vs. Generative Economies

Learning more about economics literally changed the way I view EVERYTHING. Money is a social tool for trade, it’s not evil!

When we pay for things, we actually appreciate them more and take better care of them because we have the skin in the game.

But how does this connect to work and the broader world?

So before the maturation of the technology industry, work used to be a geographically embedded place-- the factory, the office, the shop. Workers interacted irl with customers, suppliers, and surrounding businesses. This is still true for many types of companies, but for the big ones and often the ones with higher salaries, technology unbundled work from “place.”

Now the “place” where most of us work is the internet. Email. Zoom. Click clack keyboard blue light. And algorithms determine how the Internet is organized. Instagram and Substack and Facebook are all platforms. TikTok is a platform. And when you spend time there, you’re sort of letting your brain surf the waves of their algorithm. But each platform is like a different pool in a waterpark.

That’s why I made a Hot Literati App and platform, generally. So we can have our own pool.

So, people spend a lot of time in front of screens. Originally for work and commerce. And then for fun. And COVID accelerated this BAD. Zoom zoom zoom. And you lose out on a level of interaction under the surface every time you take a call or do an email instead of meeting face to face.

And the answer isn’t going all in on IRL, the internet is really cool and really useful. Email protocol and search rank algorithms are INSANE when you crack them open and learn about them.

BUT when most cultural and economic exchange happens online, cultural and economic value is extracted from local economies. Then you’re money and attention goes towards a company that a) isn’t participating locally so does not usually think about the benefit of local economies and b) Usually lets you use it for free so they can sell your data.

Hot Literati is run by one woman (me!). And now I’m bringing in Hosts and Ambassadors and really lovely people. And we all really care about local economies and art. And I am not selling your data.

So now, what are we building toward?

What is a healthy local economy?

A healthy local economy is one where the ecosystem supports itself because everyone engages with everyone in the local economy.

And shopping, selling, and participating locally requires us to delay gratification and go out of our way to discover our community and meet people. Circulating a local dollar is very good and if you can’t find something locally that you want, you could start selling it there and then BAM, you have a business!

So-- How does Hot Literati play into this?

We are an online community, and we’re building local communities for Hot Literati members.

By opening our blog up to submissions from members, you’re now able to submit stories about artists, business, and more who are local to your area and these blog posts will also be turned into points on the Hot Literati Map.

The Hot Literati Map will feature posts (by Members) about local business.

And lastly, there’s a lot of gunk online. Most of it is trying to sell you stuff that you don’t need.

We are trying disseminate useful information and create a beautiful way of life that we can all participate in and build together.

I am convinced we can move past the eight hour click clack generation. And I’m just crazy enough to try.

And all it takes is a few people :)

And with 270 readers on the app and 13 members, we have more than a few.

Join Hot Literati!!!

xo hailo

Subscribe now

Good evening Hot Literati’s and Aspiring Hot Literatis ,

I hope you have all had a really nice weekend. I went to a poetry party, had lunch with a mentor, and ate like Nicolas Cage.

No podcast episode this week, but there are 118 epsiodes you can catch up on haha.

We have 197 users on our new platform and 7 people who have become Hot Literati Members on Hot Literati!

Would love to have 100 Members before we start reading Swann’s Way together next week. Would be actually insane and so fun. Join now!

I’m also going to start reaching out directly to members to see if they want to be podcast guests as well because I love meeting u all and everyone is always so smart and interesting and my favorite thing about having a platform is lending it out to Members. 🥰

Hot Literati Book Club

Joe is excited. I am thrilled. Because starting next week, we are reading Swann’s Way by Proust together. Get the reading schedule, call link, on Hot Literati when you become a member!

I just launched the app as a web app and you can now become a member online and/or log in with your credentials for the app on the web app.

Hot Literati

Upcoming events

LOTS of new places!

• NEW YORK, TOMORROW - Steinbeck Night

• ST. LOUIS, TOMORROW - Maya Angelou Night

• CHICAGO, TOMORROW - Toni Morrison Night

• LOS ANGELES, TOMORROW - Eve Babitz Night

• SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY - Alice Walker Night

Get Tickets

A Brand I’m really into Right Now

I was in the grocery store about to checkout with coconut water and a few sweet potatoes when I made eye contact with the man standing at a sample station.

If I’m being completely honest, I avoided eye contact until he said “I’m the owner,” because I too am an entrepreneur. It takes initiative to make something and it takes bravery to stand behind it. This is true for a business, for art, for anything.

That is how I met the wonder of Goody’s Granola, which is actually very good. I took my granola sample “like a shot” as he suggested, the vanilla blueberry flavor. If you order a bag tell him hailo sent you :)

Ok that’s all!

Have a great week!

On Friday, I’ll be sending out “Hotter Literati” a newsletter for Paid subscribers. This is a column I’ve been writing on tips to make you feel hotter, smarter, and more in love with your own life. This week I’m thinking of writing about why I stopped dating the brooding type. You all love writing about dating, but hey, I get it.

Subscribe now

ok bye!

Thank you for reading the Hot Literati Substack.

Join Hot Literati

hailo

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

Subscribe now

ALSO , the old website still exists so people have time to transfer over etc. It is available at classic.hotliterati.com. If you have any questions please reach out!

xo

hailo

I’m very excited to be sharing this post today, because I think it’s something that took me SO long to learn but really changed my life and my relationship with myself.

I’m a very loving person. I do this thing, where I want to give everything I have to everybody I meet, but then this creates self-resentment and self-betrayal when you have none of yourself left for the things you want to do or the person you want to become.

In addition to being loving, I have also been the sort of person who needs a lot of time alone. I think maybe the two are related. Who knows? I also tend to think about identity as extremely malleable.

Let’s get into three lessons on setting boundaries and how to do it!

Read more

From a Hot Literati Paid Subscriber:

“Just found you guys, and love this. Will try to join the book club!”

Thank you!!!

♡

hello!

Good morning my beautiful readers,

I hope you have all had a really nice weekend. I went to some tech-y events, got groceries, and recently finished the Idiot.

Hot Literati Book Club

I am so excited. For three months straight, I have been nominating Swann’s Way by Proust and we are now going to read Swann’s Way.

I’ve been working really hard on our app so we can have a chat room for book club and so people can hop into a weekly call there to say hello and talk about the book.

Below is a screenshot of what will be publicly available for members on the app soon.

Become a member in the app to get ready for this book!

Download the App (ios)

Download the App (Android)

Upcoming events

LOTS of new places!

• NEW YORK, AUGUST 18TH - Steinbeck Night - get tickets here

• ST. LOUIS, AUGUST 18TH - Maya Angelou Night - get tickets here

• CHICAGO, AUGUST 18TH - Toni Morrison Night - get tickets here

• LOS ANGELES, AUGUST 18TH - Eve Babitz Night - get tickets here

• SAN FRANCISCO, AUGUST 19TH - Alice Walker Night - get tickets here

A Brand I’m really into Right Now

I talked about this brand a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to show you all how pretty it is! This is a scent called Les Cahiers Secrets by fragrance brand Jouissance, who we partnered with for Anaïs Nin Night. I am the type of person who never really buys perfume, but wears it every day whenever someone gifts me a new bottle. This is one I really like and have been wearing every day. It’s very clean and just a teeny bit floral. Big fan.

Ok that’s all!

Have a great week!

On Friday, I’ll be sending out “Hotter Literati” a newsletter for Paid subscribers. This week’s Hotter Literati will be “How to Set Boundaries,” a BIG really important one, I think.

Subscribe now

ok bye!

Thank you for reading the Hot Literati Substack.

Download the Hot Literati App

hailo

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

Subscribe now

This post is for paid subscribers to the Hot Literati Substack! Paid members on our website also get access to it here. Hotliterati.com members can always email hello@hotliterati.com to get their substack membership comped! <3

Read more

From a Hot Literati Paid Subscriber:

"love your musings by way of synthesis + the Hot Literati community is such a welcoming digital space <3"

Thank you!!!

♡

hello!

Good morning my beautiful readers,

I hope you have all had a really nice weekend. I brushed my hair, ate lots of good food, and went on one very good run (4 ish miles!).

From HotLiterati.com

It cracks me up that some people don’t know we have a podcast. I started it when I was 21, fresh out of college, and have kept up with it since. It spans personal development, literature, and sort of whatever I’m into in the moment. I’ve had members as guests and the occasional cool artist. I crosspost to Youtube as well so you can pick your platform.

For a few months, I’ve been putting episodes out on Fridays, but now I think I’m going to do Sundays/Mondays so you can all commute and listen or listen at your gym or whatever you do :)

Here is the latest episode (or wherever you get your podcasts)

Pick our next book club book

These are the three books in the running. If I have my way, we’re reading Proust.

Become a Member on the Site

From the Hot Literati App

Just shipped a big update!

The app is more of a tool, while the the site (hotliterati.com) is where we host our community, events, blog, etc.

For example, I just read The Idiot, using a reading guide in the app and now I have a record of all of my annotations connected to the book! If I had this in college, my citations would have been so much faster (and pinker).

Download the App

From the Hot Literati Universe

New stuff on the blog!

• Solo Travel through Poland by member Julia

• How to Make Adulthood Fun, by me (for paid newsletter members or members on the site!)

Become a member to start pitching me submissions!

Some Upcoming events

• Toni Morrison Night in Chicago, hosted by Janet! - August 18th - get tickets here

• Alice Walker Night in San Francisco - August 19th - get tickets here

• Eve Babitz Night in LA (with support of the Eve Babitz Estate!) - August 18th - get tickets here

Want to host an event? Become a member so I can get to know you <3

A Brand I’m really into Right Now

I tried this fizzy iced coffee. I saw it one week and came back to buy it a week later. It was like cherry soda, but it was coffee, sweetened with agave and cherry concentrate. I was a fan.

Ok that’s all!

Have a great week!

On Friday, I’ll be sending out “Hotter Literati” a newsletter for Paid subscribers. This week’s issue will be “hailo’s Rules for Dating in New York.”

They are rules formatted as a timeline of the different dating phases I’ve sought out, thrived in survived, and lived to tell the tales and make this list.

ok bye!

Thank you for reading the Hot Literati Substack.

Come chat with me on hotliterati.com

xo

hailo

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

Welcome to “Hotter Literati,” a newsletter every Friday with a tip on becoming hotter, smarter, and more in love with your own life. This newsletter is for Paid Subscribers of Hot Literati and Hot Literati Members.

Let’s get into it!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about college students I’ve met and recent grads adjusting to adult life.

I myself am not super far past twenty-two, so I remember all of the feelings of being 22/23.

What I have to say today, I think is not only important, but life-changing.

You can’t just go through the motions in your life.

I think, personally, that one of the biggest skills in life you can and should develop is knowing when to leave.

I think this applies to:

Read more

From a Hot Literati Paid Subscriber:

"In my perpetual search for knowledge, discourse, culture, and stimulation, I join the community with great anticipation and expectation."

♡

hello!

Good morning my beautiful readers,

I hope you have all had a really nice weekend. I ran a 5k, went to the sauna, and ate a lot of vegetables. My type of good time.

From HotLiterati.com

Yesterday I realized that the Build Your Five Year Plan Course wasn’t properly connected to the membership on the website. I fixed it!

I recommend doing this one a thousand times over to EVERYONE, I think it’s so powerful, effective, and literally life changing. I think it can give you a very clear sense of direction, conviction, and giddiness about your own life.

Pick our next book club book

We are currently looking for nominations for our next book club read. Nominate a book in the book club section of our community.

I have, for the fourth month in a row, nominated Swann’s Way by Proust. But Hot Literati is a democracy, so it must be voted in to win.

Become a Member on the Site

From the Hot Literati App

So the Hot Literati App is like goodreads, but better. It’s an app that helps you focus, read, and write more.

One of my favorite features of the app is daily journal prompts in the morning and evening that help rewire your brain for gratitude and optimism. When I made the app, I thought really carefully about what habits I wanted it to encourage and how I wanted it to make people feel.

Download the App

From the Hot Literati Universe

We have been having a great time, together! From book club with long-time members like Joe and Shanice, to our Anais Nin Party in New York hosted by .

Get involved online and/or in person to celebrate being hot and smart.

Some Upcoming events

• Toni Morrison Night in Chicago, hosted by Janet! - August 18th - get tickets here

• Alice Walker Night in San Francisco - August 19th - tickets dropping soon

Want to host an event? Become a member so I can get to know you <3

A Brand I’m really into Right Now

As I enter my mid-20s :o , I have fully embraced my personal identity as a wellness girl. I had a strong clubbing era, a strong dating arc, and now I love sauna, cold plunge, run, Japanese sweet potato. So naturally, I’m a sucker for a wellness brand.

Over the weekend, I tried IM8, a powdered drink that promises better sleep and higher energy. Does it work? I’m not sure, I only tried it once. But, it is a new (to me) brand and I am into it.

Ok that’s all!

Don’t forget to smile and laugh a lot and maybe eat some carrots.

On Friday, I’ll be sending out “Hotter Literati” a newsletter for Paid subscribers. This week’s issue will be “How to Make Adulthood Fun,” as I’ve had some really interesting convos with young young adults and I think I have some decent advice. Upgrade to a Paid Substack to get it in your inbox or become a member on our website to see it and other paywalled posts on the blog.

Subscribe now

ok bye!

Thank you for reading the Hot Literati Substack.

Come chat with me on hotliterati.com

xo

hailo

Subscribe now

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

“I found your page on Instagram and find it incredibly valuable to look more deeply into the philosophy of the things around us. I think being involved in a community like this will challenge me to dive deeper into culture, thought patterns, anthropologie, etc. Thank you! “

♡

Good morning my beautiful readers,

It is Friday! Nice! I’m reworking the cadence of this newsletter a teeny bit. You’ll receive updates and such (this bad boy right here) on Mondays, and then paid subscribers will get a special newsletter called “Hotter Literati” on Fridays.

Hotter Literati will focus on providing tips to help you feel hotter, smarter and more in love with your own life. Our Monday newsletter will include Hot Literati updates and such.

Today’s newsletter will have updates because there’s a lot to catch you all up on!!!

From HotLiterati.com

I’ve been reworking our website to focus more on the community. From member submissions on the blog, and community spaces for people to have interesting discussions on message boards, this is a website where you can just hang out.

It’s also where we conduct our book club. We are halfway through Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff and we have strong opinions.

Read about Hot Literati Shanice!

Become a Member on the Site

From the Hot Literati App

I spent three months alone in a room making this app, so obviously I’m biased, but I love it. You can track what your reading and you can keep it open while you’re reading or writing to set a focus timer, play music, look up words, save words, and more. I also just pushed an update that lets you add photos of your book and page numbers to annotations.

If you thought stalking your crush on Instagram or Goodreads was fun, wait until you get them on the Hot Literati App.

Download the App

From the Hot Literati Universe

We just had an amazing Anais Nin Party, hosted by ! It was so good and so fun. Will share more soon.

We have a Toni Morrison Party in Chicago next month, hosted by .

Get tickets here

A Brand I’m really into Right Now

I thought this would be a fun little edition to the weekly newsletter. I love new brands. I love cute packaging on new snacks and ballet flats. I love cute things.

Jouissance is a UK-based fragrance house inspired by erotic literature written by women. Their fragrance, LES CAHIERS SECRETS, was inspired by Anaïs Nin - specifically Henry and June.

Jouissance sent us a bunch of little bottles of LES CAHIERS SECRETS, which we handed out to attendees at our party! I love perfume and when I’m gifted one, I’ll wear it every single day.

Ok that’s all!

I hope you all are having a nice, beautiful day today, and a nice time in your life.

Thank you for reading the Hot Literati Substack.

Come chat with me on hotliterati.com

xo

hailo

Subscribe now

have a question you want advice on, a brand you think I’d like, or more?

email hello@hotliterati.com

Happy Friday!

I have been writing so much. Last night, I hosted a really nice writing workshop with four lovely Literatis, who are now working on some fascinating essays that I’m so excited to edit, read, and eventually share with you all on the blog.

I personally am tackling a rewrite of the first novel manuscript I ever wrote, especially now that I’m talking to a few agents! One of my big goals is to finish my rewrite and get this version sent around.

Hot Literati has personally helped me become a more disciplined writer as opposed to just blogging and journaling. It’s good to have a project.

Other thoughts

I love small dogs. I had a dream about a black pug last night. I would love to get a small dog. Not soon, but soon.

• Hot Literati Book Swap is happening in New York! I’m reaching out personally to invite some super engaged members and some of my favorite living writers and internet personalities.

• We’re reading Lovecraft Country for book club right now!

• I’m halfway through The Idiot! Join to chat Dostoevsky with me. I’m having lots of thoughts and reactions.

Join Hot Literati

• More events coming in Chicago, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. Join to get first dibs on these!

Fun Fact

• Dopamine fires in your brain not when you get a reward, but when you anticipate getting it. Which is why it’s a very good idea to think about your future, set goals, and gamify the pursuit of them.

Life is my favorite game. Build yours!

In Sum

I hope you all have a very nice weekend with a little karaoke and a lot of flirting.

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

xo

hailo

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I spruced up the “Build Your Own Five Year Plan” course

and have spent much of this week writing through mine.

Post Princeton, I felt a little lost in the real world and have since been experimenting a lot to discover new interests, passions, and myself.

Now, I finally feel ready to set some big, concrete goals and to get after them.

I think that you can have a really extraordinary life, but I also think you have to position yourself accordingly in order to have one.

I would like to do really great things, one of these things being finding ways to advocate for better urban planning, walkability, and healthier local economies.

How am I going to do that? That’s a great question. Now, I have a full journal and a 12 page document that I wrote myself. And you can write one too, with the help of the five year plan course.

Life changing, I promise!

:p

Take the Five Year Plan Course Here

Events

• Lovecraft Country Book Club! - four weeks over this book! (online)

  • the link for the call is in the confirmation email and on the community board for book club

• Dumbo Book Swap - NYC! This one has a pretty small list, so I’m inviting really active members personally in New York along with some of my favorite writers and artists

Upcoming Events in…

• Los Angeles

• Chicago

• St. Louis

I’ve been a busy woman. Links soon

Join Hot Literati to get first dibs on these

From the Blog

• Kim Kalesti’s Rules for Art

• Julia Literati

• Kismet Launch Party

In Sum,

never forget that you can have a really great, fruitful life. But, as Napoleon Hill writes, organized planning is very important (and a lot of people don’t do it!!)

Build Your Five Year Plan

ok bye!

xo hailo

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I hope you are all well. I went on a run with Zac Efron’s brother yesterday. Life is good.

Writing Workshop

One of my favorite thing in the world is to read other people’s writing and to witness other people’s stories. I think we all have a lot of great stories in us and sometimes it just takes some coaxing to get them out.

Last year, while galavanting around London and Paris, I taught a writing workshop that yielded some really beautiful pieces including these two:

• Make A Friend Everywhere You Go by Bri

• The Allure of Decadence by Tiwa

Join the Writing Workshop

Just to remind you all of my background, I hold a bachelors degree from Princeton with a certificate in Creative Writing. I knew from a young age that I didn’t want to be a journalist because there were so many rules in how you could and couldn’t write.

Through blogging about clubbing, dating, then America, I carved out a particular flavor of writing here on Hot Literati, one that I am happy to share and propagate because the world needs more flirty reflection.

I’ll be teaching one writing workshop to help you all get that Hot Literati je ne sais quoi im your own words. I don’t do these very often, but I love doing them.

Join the Writing Workshop

You will get:

• A 90 minute session to brainstorm, structure, word vomit, throw ideas out, and more

• Two rounds of edits from yours truly

• Publication on the Hot Literati Blog

8 spots. No exceptions. I like small groups.

Join the Writing Workshop

This is especially great if you’re trying to kick off a newsletter, your own blog, or just get some practice getting your name and your takes out there.

More updates!

New courses

• How to Regulate Your Emotions - take it here

• How to Build a Media Diet - take it here

• Intro to Artificial Intelligence - I think this one is especially important in today’s world. Learn the history of the field and the mechanics behind the technology - take it here

Events

• NYC! Dumbo Book Swap, July 30th - register here

Never Forget

It’s actually quite easy to change your life

It starts with your mind and the information you’re exposed to, which is why it’s so important to try new things and to be a lifelong learner.

And then of course there’s always faith.

Subscribe now

I have spent some time in Kansas. I love Kansas. I would love it even more if it were walkable. I would also love to be an actor on a History Channel Show just once.

Onto what’s happening in the Hot Literati Universe…

New courses

• How to Make Your City Walkable - why walkability is important and then actual tools to bring into your community!

• Fyodor Dostoevsky - an intro to Dostoevsky with no spoilers. Very meaty. Very good.

Events

• Hot Literati Office Hours! - come chat on Friday (online)

• Lovecraft Country Book Club! - four weeks over this book! (online)

• Anais Nin Night! - NYC!

• Dumbo Book Swap - NYC!

Thanks to some lovely Hot Literati Members, we have some events cooking for the summer in some Midwestern & West Coast Cities! :o yay!!!!

Apply to host a Chapter

From the Blog

• Joe!!!!

• Kismet Launch Party

• Walk Literati

• The Hottest Literati for July is…

ok! Live laugh love!

The Sun Rises and Sets.

all my love

hailo

join Hot Literati

Subscribe now

Left Brain Confession

Last year I told you all that I was working on my relationship with math. I read a lot of left-brain books and dug into both spreadsheets and a bit of code for the past few months and it’s helped me a lot with Hot Literati, but it also showed me a big gap.

There are tens of thousands of you consuming from the brand, whether it’s reels or the podcast, or reading this newsletter. That is incredible and it still surprises me every time I check our numbers.

And many of you have joined Hot Literati as paid members, which is the reason why any of this is possible. I deeply appreciate that and truly get giddy when I talk to one of you on Book Club, meet one of you at an event, or see one of your posts on the website.

Sustainable Growth

Hot Literati is my baby, I love it so much, and if she’s going to grow up into a proper movement with chapters everywhere, irl gatherings, and a community that shows up in your day to day life, then I need more people to join.

Our free content will continue and I try to make it edifying, but community participation is the thing that makes anything truly worth it.

The Vision

The long-term vision for Hot Literati in my brain is like if Justice and the Rotary Club had a baby. Right now I think there’s an interpretation of it as New York-focused community with a newsletter tacked on.

What we’re building toward is members everywhere writing about the scene in their city. Whether that’s cool stores you like with real quotes from the owners, the writers group you meet with once a month, or the parties happening in cute little places like Wichita, where I was born and raised.

I want Hot Literati to be everywhere, not just what city I happen to be in that month.

I also want to bring hot and smart people together in a room to make friends, lovers, and a proper “scene.”

How it happens

This can literally only happen if more people around the world become Hot Literatis.

1. first as paid members

2. then as community members and contributors

3. Eventually, as chapter leads

For the past few months, with my left brain a little more muscle-y, I’ve been digging into data and trying to understand why more people aren’t joining yet. It’s easy for me to assume that it’s price or timing or an unclear offer, but guessing isn’t useful for me or really fair for you all.

So instead, I figured I’d just ask directly.

If you’ve haven’t joined as a paid member

What’s stopping you?

Maybe it’s one of these:

• The price didn’t feel worth it

• You weren’t sure what a membership actually includes

• You meant to, and just never got around to it

• It doesn’t fit within what you’re looking for from Hot Literati

• Something else entirely (I would love to hear it!!!)

There’s literally no wrong answer and I’m not trying to pitch you all haha.

I just want to make it better to build toward that long-term vision and understand the community that is here so far.

Feel free to leave a comment, I’ll read them all, or reach out to me directly at hello@hotliterati.com

Also cities

One of the biggest things I’m trying to understand is where everyone is so that as we build chapters, I know where to plant the first seeds. We are planning some things in New York, St. Louis, Chicago, and Los Angeles :) <3333

Email me directly at hello@hotliterati.com

And thank you for being here, paid or not. This whole thing exists because you all believe in it!!!

stay hot! go to the library!

xo hailo

Join Hot Literati

Subscribe now

I am editing this at the airport. There are a lot of cute families and I forgot to renew TSA pre-check, but the general line took five minutes. I went the the wrong terminal at first on the Q70 bus. After security, a girl stopped me and went —

“How are you liking it?” pointing to my copy of The Idiot. I tried to tell her that I loved it and explain what Hot Literati was in the span of like two minutes, but I was probably happy but rambly, and she told me that I should in fact enter a Steinbeck phase.

One: What is Hot Literati?

Hot Literati is a collective of hot, cool, well-read people.

It is a community and literary movement of people all around the world, connecting members in beautiful, fun, and unlikely ways.

And I’m happy that you’re a part ot it!!!

Today, we’re getting into a few quick things:

How to Get More Involved

If you’d like to get more involved with Hot Literati, the first step is to join, poke around the website, and introduce yourself to everybody. I’ve said this once, I’ll say it again, if cost is prohibitive, reach out to me directly and I will offer you a code for two months free.

Once you’re a member, you can take courses, join book club, submit pieces to the blog, and potentially host your own chapter.

Two: Hot Literati Book Club!

Today is the last day to vote for our next book and we are at a tie :o

Please vote in the next few hours if you feel strongly and join to read with us async and/or once a week live. We are also at a tie for meeting times (Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 6:30 pm) so feel free to tip that vote too.

Join Hot Literati

Three: Your Life can be Really Good

The day of my 23rd birthday, I started dating this painter. He was the first person to ever draw me and I was terrified. Anyone who knows me now would probably find it surprising that I actually used to struggle with pessimism and pretty debilitating anxiety. One time I was at his apartment—I loved being there, he would cook for me and he used to work in a restaurant, I used to take art books from his shelves like he was my personal library— and I was complaining about my life, stress at work, and the fear of being seen as a traitor if I looked for a new job.

He looked at me and said,

“But what if it works out? What if they really value you and offer you a raise? Or what if you find something you love?”

That year of my life, I became really into neuroplasticity and the idea of changing who you are by changing the story you tell yourself about your life. That is why I am such a believer in journaling and why writing by hand can literally change your life.

Hot Literati Courses help with this a lot

ok!

At the end of the jetbridge, a man working with the carry on bags serenaded everybody. How deep is your love by the Bee Gees. I’ll see you at hotliterati.com

xo

hailo

Join Hot Literati

Subscribe now

From the Hot Literati Universe

• Events

  • Hot Literati Office Hours - Bringing back office hours! Come chat Friday morning for a quick hello. I’ll be thinking about July goal setting and setting new goals for July - join here

  • Anaïs Nin Night! (NYC) - hosted by writer and Hot Literati Host . Come chat about Nin for an evening with other Hot Literatis :) - tix here

I’m not a journalist, and the type of writing that I like to do about people is sort of like that Carver story. I like to hang out with them for a very long time, to get in their head and sometimes in their home. I think sometimes, that this is a product of my time as Miss Teen USA, where I’d travel alone a lot, being delivered to a host family or a chaperone in a new state every so often.

Today I interviewed a woman in her apartment in Little Italy. We ran into each other on the sidewalk a few weeks ago and I asked if she’d ever been written about. I met her son’s manager at a speakeasy I used to hang out at, last summer. I love these sort of deep cut, irl people and profiles, the type you can’t get from a corporation trying to get their product out or an influencer looking for more channels to “amplify their message.”

But hey, I’m not above a brand deal, because a girls gotta eat!

I’ve been doing a lot of coding alone in a room and business development lately and it’s rewarding in its own, left-brain sort of way, but it’s also isolating and exhausting. I am a tried and true workaholic. It is the Kansan in me, on both sides, but I love it. And I love writing, but not just any type of writing.

I, hypocritically, really don’t enjoy reading about Internet culture. I love reading about the physical Internet, like the fiber optic cables and search rank algorithms, but in terms of Internet content that is posted online, I prefer my stories about people who are honest, interested in other people who are not themselves, and people who go outside.

I reopened submissions because I need more writers. Not journalists or people looking for a quick byline or a step up in the world, but people who believe in the power of writing something down as an act of witnessing it and creating it in the world.

I want people who already get Hot Literati.

Hot Literati Academy and Intro to Hot Literati are not just a business development play. It’s a way of seeing the world and a way of me synthesizing information that made me more interested and risk tolerant, and disseminating it to other people.

As far as submissions go, I want pieces from writers who have taken Intro to Hot Literati.

And this is not a gatekeep-y thing or quick stab at a pretty buck. This is a way to make sure you’re understanding the lens here before you contribute. It’s a way of seeing the world that has helped me fall deeper in love with it.

I especially want pieces from people with long attention spans. People who have read classics and don’t enjoy scrolling short form content. There is a reason I only post from my computer.

If you’ve taken Intro to Hot Literati submit your pitch!!!

Then go outside, talk to someone, and find your own deep cut sort of person to write about. Hang out with them (within reason hahaha be safe).

I think I write as a way of falling in love with other people. And when you write about somebody else, which you should a lot, I think, you want to do it justice.

Take Intro to Hot Literati

Already taken it? Submit your pitch

Subscribe now

From the Hot Literati Universe

• Talk Literati: Laurel Touby
  Monday, June 30 · 3pm ET · Live, virtual, free
  Mediabistro founder, exited tech CEO, now backing startups at Supernode Ventures — three decades of community-building, live Q&A at the end.
  RSVP HERE this one is going to be so special, register now put it on ur calendar and come with great questions

• Vote on the next book club pick
  I’ve nominated Cat’s Cradle by Vonnegut
  JOIN TO NOM/VOTE

• Not a member yet? This makes you hotter, smarter, and a better artist.
  JOIN HOT LITERATI

bye!!!

hailo