Join 2000+ armchair travelers on a journey to strange new worlds—fictional and non—in this weekly dispatch from sci-fi writer Jessie Kwak.
Writing > frites + cheese (but just barely)
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Hey there! I'm home from my trip and back at work—no more frites and cheese for me for a while! Which is sad for my soul, but probably good for my cholesterol levels. ;) But being back at work does mean writing new books—which is very very good for my soul! I told my VIP Crew about this last month, but I wrote a new Danica Burns short story for an anthology, and that's gotten me rolling on the draft of Book 1 once more. Writing's been slow recently for a lot of boring work-related reasons, so I'm excited to be seeing real progress for the first time in ages! (BTW, VIP Crew subscribers, go check your inboxes. I just sent that story to you!) Thank you to everyone who responded to my last newsletter with stories about famous places you live near. Here were a few of my favorites: When I went to college in Seattle, we used to drive out to North Bend to hike on Mount Si. We'd always stop at Twede's Cafe after the hike for pie. It still looks just like it does in Twin Peaks, and I always half-expected Dale Cooper to walk in and order coffee. The pie is super good! – Megan T.
For several years while living in LA we attended Hollywood United Methodist Church. The high school dance scene in Back to the Future was filmed in the gym there. I've walked through the exit door that Michael J Fox walks out at the end hundreds of times. – Jesse S.
I grew up in a little town in the Panhandle called Seaside, which most people have never heard of but have absolutely seen—it's the entire town from The Truman Show. – Tim N.
I'd love to hear a few more international stories if anyone has them! For Your TBRHappy reading, Jessie |
Misadventures in the Multiverse
Join 2000+ armchair travelers on a journey to strange new worlds—fictional and non—in this weekly dispatch from sci-fi writer Jessie Kwak.
Hey there! I love reading thrillers (you will be shocked to find out—so shocked). When I could only listen to audiobooks while I was recovering from my eye injury (more info, for newer readers), I binge-listened to Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles books in series order. Partly because I adore Tess Gerritsen, partly because they've been out long enough that they were all available at the library without any wait time. Those books are dark, but reading them was weirdly comforting. (Except for...
Hey there! I've written before about how much I enjoy researching locations in the Pacific Northwest as I'm writing the Danica Burns books. (Like in this essay about the guy I met in a bar in Cle Elum.) One of my favorite parts of the research is visiting museums. The weirder, the better. For example, I spent a happy few hours wandering around the Cranberry Museum in Long Beach, WA, learning about the process of the cranberry harvest and admiring all the horrifying implements that could...
Hey there! I’ve spent the past week on a cycle tour of northern England and the Lake District, and the thing that struck me—again and again—was how familiar it all felt. Not just because I spent a bit of time in the Lakes during a study abroad program in college, but because of how embedded some of these towns and landscapes are in literary culture. As we walked along Hadrian’s Wall, I couldn’t help but think of Game of Thrones and the Ice Wall protecting known civilization from unknown...