five good things

1. Last night’s quick, crazy rainstorm which I had been looking forward to all day, the air getting thicker and the sky getting heavier until all finally it just burst right open, a temper tantrum that lasted for all of four minutes before the sun came out again. I opened all the windows so it smelled like summer in my house.

2. Laura Ruby’s BONE GAP, which I just started but which is already teaching me things about building worlds that shift and change and which is rather lovely reading besides.

3. The BBC1 Live Lounge, which I am obsessed with–my feelings about Sam Smith doing Tracy Chapman and Imagine Dragons doing Taylor Swift are well-documented, but how about George Ezra doing Macy Gray, or OneRepublic doing George Ezra? I JUST REALLY LOVE COVERS YOU GUYS.

4. The #GirlGang tumblr account, which is my new go-to for all things feminist and rad.

5. Everybody’s BEA tweets and photos and how they’ve been reminding me of when I was there two years ago, how it was the first grownup writing thing I did and how afraid I was, how I didn’t know a soul, and the realization that if I went now I would both know people and not be so blindingly scared of my own shadow, and also I would be smart enough to wear more comfortable shoes.

Bonus number six, getting real for a second: right before I went to RT I decided I wasn’t going to be anxious anymore and then by some mind over matter miracle I wasn’t. It’s a trick that has never worked for me before and will probably never work for me again and maybe that wasn’t even what did it; maybe the barometric pressure changed or something, I don’t know. But I just want to say that a month ago I was struggling in a way that felt kind of impossible and trying to hide it from everyone, and now I’m struggling way, way less, and so if you are maybe struggling in that way too (or if you are me, reading this one day in the future, struggling again) I promise that at some point it will get better. I swear on my life that it will.

OKAY REAL TIME OVER, it’s Friday, it’s summer, go drink a margarita. xox