Adorable kitties serving up snacks, faking your literary death, and Luckiest Girl Alive
Welcome to the first Becks and the City edition of 2023! The book giveaway is a copy of Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You.
How were your holidays? I hope they were swell! Nice to see you here in 2023!
When we left off in December, I was about to embark on a four-day pre-Christmas staycation. It ended up being exactly what I was hoping for – swimming in a swish indoor pool under chandeliers, playing card games at high tea, being a tourist in our own town at the museum and in the markets, and inhaling wine and canapes in the evenings. Between all the swimming I did and the smoked salmon I ate, I’m surprised I didn’t grow gills. It was so, so good. I’d definitely return.
In other slightly thrilling news, my tiny story Knowing was published over the holiday break by delightful New Zealand lit journal Flash Frontier. You can read it here. The issue is called WONDER and my story being selected was its own delightful slice of wonder. They were also incredibly lovely to work with, which is always nice.
I have so many good things planned for this newsletter – hopefully it can morph and glitter and expand and pulse in 2023. Let me know if you have thoughts on where you’d like it to go, if you’d like, and stay tuned to come along for the ride. : )
News
1. This. Is. WILD. Romance novelist Susan Meachen faked her own death. Word spread in 2020 that she’d died by suicide due to bullying. Fundraisers and book auctions were held in honour, but it turned out she’d fabricated the whole thing as a marketing ploy. And she wasn’t remotely sorry. This type of fiction that isn’t even close to okay.
2. Keen as punch to get onto the trendiest 2023 workout you can find? Here’s a list of what’s in fashion, for what it’s worth. Personally, sign me up for a twerking workshop and jazzercise.
Reviews
1. Downloaded the Cat Snack Bar game from Google Play on New Year’s Day and I’m a tad ashamed to say I smashed through it in four days. It’s altogether too much fun – warning: don’t start playing this if you’re looking to get anything else done for half a week. You’ll find yourself sneaking back to this game every hour or two. However, if you’re stuck somewhere like sick in bed or waiting for a delayed flight, this game is ideal. Basically, your cat minions set up sushi bars, ice cream vans, taco restaurants, and cotton candy stalls, and you need to keep levelling up how much you charge (yay capitalism!), launch new products, and select upgrades such as faster waitstaff and adding more chef cats. Adorable and addictive in equal measure.
2. Watched Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix over the weekend. The description caught my eye – very Sex and the City. Mila Kunis plays a young woman (Ani) who seemingly has it all worked out – a fancy magazine writing job in New York City, a fiancé with an impeccable pedigree, and at least the perception of a lavish lifestyle. But she constantly feels like she must make up for the past by being bigger and better, proving herself over and over. Totally relatable stuff. Based on the novel of the same name by Jessica Knoll, this one is suspensefully told in flashbacks as we hurtle in the present towards Ani’s wedding. Not a must-see, but very, very watchable.
3. I took the Sex and the City tour in NYC in 2019, and thoroughly enjoyed this Vogue article detailing the surreal feeling of taking the same tour masked up during the pandemic. Carrie’s world might be laughably unrealistic (a writer affording to live on one column a week in the world’s most expensive city? yeah, right), but it’s good to play in that glitzy dream for a hot minute while the world crumbles around our ears.
Raves and Faves
Little changes I swear have legit improved my life
New Year’s resolutions aren’t really my bag. They seem stressful. I’m more of a ‘striving for self-improvement all year round’ kinda gal. Having said that, I do appreciate the feeling of freshness and renewed optimism that ticking over to a different numbered year brings.
In lieu of resolutions, I thought I’d share some of the easy-to-implement alterations I’ve made to my life in recent years that’ve boosted my peace of mind, health, or happiness in some way. Perhaps one will resonate with you?
1. Wetting my whistle before napping
Ever wake up from a nap somehow less refreshed than when you fell asleep? Like death warmed up? I loathe this – it defeats the whole purpose. I’ve learned to prevent it by drinking a glass of water when I start sliding towards nodding off. I then wake feeling good as new instead of like a dehydrated husk. Trust me, this works.
2. Banishing notifications
A couple of years ago, while stressed out of my mind, I decided to turn notifications off on almost all my apps. This doesn’t stop me checking my phone umpteen times a day, but it does drastically reduce how harassed I feel every day. Occasionally after an update, a few notifications creep back on and I turn them off again. Totally worth it.
3. Listing monthly achievements
In 2022, I started keeping a list in a notebook of what I achieved each month. Not only was it a tiny way to pause and ‘celebrate’ each win, but in December, I could look back and see how far I’d come. If your memory is anywhere as bad as mine is, and you’re prone to downplaying your achievements and amplifying your failures, this is a gentle way to counteract those tendencies. I’ll definitely keep this habit in 2023.
4. Recording my exercise
I have a weekly diary in the kitchen where I note down what exercise I do each day. Entries usually look like: ‘Nature walk 1 hour’ or ‘Body blast 1 hour’ or I record my running distance and time taken. It seems silly and pointless, but it’s strangely motivating and helps me keep track of whether I’ve been moving enough this week and my current ‘personal best’ running time (6 mins 31 seconds for 1km right now – yes, I know this is snail territory, but I’m working on it!).
5. Nesting project folders
There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about this method, but it’s worked for me this past year when I’ve started doing it. When I’m a bit overwhelmed by a larger work project (eg applying for a writing residency or extensive website upgrades), I create a folder on my desktop for the project. Then I break the project down into usually 3-7 smaller parts and put empty folders named after these components in the main folder, including what’s needing to be done. So, the ‘Residency’ project folder might be made up of numbered sub-folders named ‘1 Cover letter - 1 page’, ‘2 Background - 500 words’, ‘3 Book outline - 2 pages’, ‘4 Excerpt - 3,000 words’, and ‘CV – 1 page’. Then I’ll drop documents into these folders that might help with creating these components of my application or project. When I’ve finished that component, I’ll rename the folder to show that at a glance, eg ‘DONE cover letter’.
Giveaway
Book giveaways are back, baby!
For this first 2023 edition of Becks and the City, there’s a copy of Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You up for grabs. Pop your name and email address in here to go into the draw.
Playlist of the Week
The year 3023, but make it fashion:
1. Metropolis - Lexie Liu
2. IDORU - Grimes
3. Future Perfect (Pass the Mic) - ENHYPHEN
4. Prada - Arca
5. Fallen Alien - FKA Twigs
6. In a Landscape - William Orbit
7. Slasher - Extra Terra Remix - Cassetter, Extra Terra
8. Whole Again - Steve Aoki, KAAZE, John Martin
9. JIKJIN - TREASURE
10. Top Speed - Nbhd Nick
11. While We’re Young - Wavezswavesz
12. The Sunshine Underground - Chemical Brothers
13. Fallout - Masked Wolf
14. Satellite - HANA
15. Years - Mr.Kitty