Coffee Grinds 14: My week was terrible and I'm driving two hours to get donuts

Plus, an audiobook recommendation, my favorite Fall tea, novel updates, and a good spooky movie to watch

Things I’m obsessed with this week: cool September mornings, Harvest fests, homemade PSL, cutesy names for Fall lattes, and the inch towards another trip

📚 Reading

Margo’s Got Money Troubles—(100%—finished!) Adored this book. I listened on audiobook (narrated by Ellie Fanning, who will play Margo in the upcoming Apple+ adaptation alongside Nicole Kidman.) Highly recommend.

Substacks I read this week:

• Deep Thoughts on Creative Ideas You Just Can’t Quit by

  Kristen Garaffo

• am I being too hard on myself? by

  michela

• longing in the time of trauma by

  lindsey peters berg

• 012 breakfast in bed by

  Madeline Paige
  (honestly Madeline is in here every week it feels like, you should really just subscribe at this point!)

🫶Love

• David’s Tea Pumpkin Chai loose leaf tea —perfect with a little brown sugar and oat milk.

• Roller skating at the Olympic Oval in Lake Placid — 10/10 recommend.

• A hand-made blanket from my oldest friend made with love three years ago as a wedding gift for us and given to us at HER wedding this past weekend. <3

Did not love: Sad to say, this week mostly sucked. Here’s (partially) why:

• I woke up with a sinus infection (I think??) Sunday. It’s mostly gone, but still sort of hanging around at the most inconvenient times

• Super stressful work week. Imagine all the worst parts of being self-employed and that was my week. One right after the other.

• Lots done on book edits but realizing my manuscript is not as close to done as I want it to be. Mostly this is because I keep discovering ways to make it stronger. I know, it’s a good problem to have. But writers, you get my frustration!

• I deliciously meal-prepped a SUPER healthy lunch, but, sadly, it did nothing to fill me up. Note to self: kale, sweet potatoes, and various seeds and veggies are tasty, but you’ve gotta add more protein! This led to major hanger and some crying (not kidding).

  

🍿Watched:

The Perfect Couple —I don’t know about this show. I mean, I did watch all of it so I guess I liked it enough to do that, but it was a slower burn than I’d have liked. I was never SUPER into it but I was always happy to watch it.

The Barbarian—I’ve been searching for a good horror/thriller and this was exactly what I wanted. Heavy emphasis on the characters without being too artsy or boring, and still very spooky without being gory.

✍️Wrote:

I'm a music publicist & artist manager. Here's a day in the life

Finding Myself in Fiction: How imaginary lives became part of my own journey.

🔭 Looking ahead:

Honestly, I’m just hoping next week isn’t as stressful. I’m a little more than halfway through this round of book edits and I’d love to finish this week. I’m also VERY behind on getting pages + feedback to two different sets of beta reading groups (so sorry if you’re reading this) and am expecting the start of next week to be slammed with more stressful work stuff.

What I’m saying is, send me all your good thoughts.

Now, as for today, I’m off to forget about everything and take a two-hour road trip to get apple cider donuts. I hope your day is good, too!

About Coffee and Nostalgia:

Coming of age reflections on love, friendship, and career from a 36-year-old still desperately trying to relive her 20s through her writings. I’m so glad you’ve decided to spend some time in my cozy, nostalgic corner of the internet. <3

What you can expect if you subscribe:

• Exploration of friendship and loves lost through my To All the Friends I’ve Loved Before series

• Weekly round-ups that include book recommendations, Substacks I’m enjoying, cute things from around the internet, and other fun goodies via my Coffee Grinds weekly Sunday series.

• The occasional book review, usually in Women’s Fiction or Contemporary Romance, but sometimes horror, like this one on Bunny by Mona Awad.

• Writing updates as I work towards completing and querying my debut novel for traditional publishing.

• Personal essays on all of the above.

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