Writers: have the audacity

Hello my loves 😍 

I come to you sweaty and overheating in my apartment, which has been without AC pretty much since Tuesday evening. It’s a long story involving landlord (mis)communication and rent delays and all that fun stuff, but I’m hopeful that by the time you hear from next week, I’ll live in a cool(ed) home again. SO hopeful 🤞 That said, if I seem extra…unhinged??…in today’s newsletter, just chalk it up to excessive heat and move on!!! Nothing to see here I’m just MELTING!

If you’ve subscribed to this newsletter for any length of time, you have likely seen me talking about being pro-Palestine, specifically in the context of it and its people’s freedom, and as a result being anti-Israel, especially in the context of it being an apartheid state that is oppressing Palestinians. It has been brought to my attention that I haven’t done a good enough job of clarifying something, so I’m going to say it here: I am not anti-Israel because it’s a Jewish state, but because it’s a governmental entity that is working to strip human beings of their rights — and lives — and I simply do not stand for that.

Anti-zionism is not the same as antisemitism, a position that I have arrived at following the guidance of many Jewish voices who have been outspoken about the necessity of Palestine’s liberation. If you disbelieve me and choose to continue to believe I am capable of antisemitic hate, then I’m not sure why you’re subscribed to this newsletter, and I don’t know how to convince you otherwise.

Okay, with that said. here’s a thread I posted yesterday that also encapsulates a lot of my thoughts:

From the heart 💗

One thing about me — I love a good catchphrase or cutesy turn of phrase. That’s why, in 2016-17, I told everyone I was a “pizza slinger;” it was a slightly romanticized way to share about my mundane job warming up pizza slices for customers. These days, I’ve got “bedside hot sauce” for my mental health and my bio says things like that I was “born in South Carolina, raised in Italy, schooled in Germany and Kentucky.”

Lately I’ve been telling anyone who will listen about how “if there’s one thing writers (should) have, it is the audacity.”

I think I said it first on a panel, and the gremlin that lives in the back of my brain and takes notes on everything around me went, “Ooh, good one!” and logged it at the top of the document, so I’ve ended up telling like a million other people to have the audacity.

[The above three paragraphs are my self-deprecating preamble to let you know that, while I do truly believe in what I’m about to write, I’m not taking myself too seriously, because if I were and you disagreed that would be HUMILIATING.]

The thing is — I stand by it. It’s a hard pill for me, personally, to swallow, because I have been convinced since infancy that humility = never thinking you deserve anything good or have anything positive to offer the world. Audacity has always been a bad word to me, and to many around me.

But let’s be real: there is something so delightfully bold, daring, brash, and straight-up audacious about taking the time to come up with a novel-length story, write it, revise it, and send it out to critique partners, agents, editors, and readers at-large. To wake up and put our storyteller panties on, crack our knuckles and spin up worlds and relationships, characters and settings out of nothing — and then to believe that others should have access to them as well.

Let me be very clear, there is not a single negative intent behind my use of the words bold, daring, brash, or audacious above. In this context at least, I view them as strengths. A secret weapon. A superpower, if you will.

It takes a staggering amount of courage to not just devote time and energy to creative practices, but to then offer them up to the world. In the face of caustic comments from critique partners, rejections and ghostings from industry professionals, potentially bad reviews from readers, and the general ordeal of being perceived — we keep going.

It’s strong AF to keep picking ourselves up even after we’ve been knocked down time and time again. It is — audacity. The good kind.

[The bad kind of audacity is that which propels mediocre men, white people, and other bigots to think they’re better than everyone else. We’re not talking about the audacity of hate here.]

So there’s the reasoning behind me saying that writers have audacity.

From there, I encourage all writers to channel that audacity into doing the scary things. Whether said scary thing for you is just sharing your work with your first reader or whether it’s reaching out to an author you love to express what their story meant to you, or if it’s to ask for an interview, a blurb, a conversation partner — you can be audacious and brave because guess what? YOU ARE ALREADY SO! FUCKING! BRAVE!

You wrote a book.

You wrote a book!!

That’s freaking massive, my dudes! It’s not just a huge accomplishment, it’s a hugely badass thing to do. Channel the courage that got you through that process into the next steps in your journey, no matter what they are.

I just — I think writers are so fantastic. Brave, beautiful, bold, brilliant. And I want to see everyone thrive. So go forth and have the audacity. I am cheering for you!

From the camera roll 📸 

From the shelf 📚

Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings [affiliate link]

This book had me in a chokehold. Eva Kitt, love of my life, I adore you. Rylie Cooper, you can have some rights — just a few — even though you’re a man. I loved so much about this book, from how loud I cackled while reading, to how prickly and angry Eva is (and frankly, I get it, and I think she was right to be mad!!!) to how utterly weak Eva Rylie was. Like I said last week, I love a man who’s pathetic for a beautiful woman!

In Well, Actually, Eva is a journalist on a talk show where she eats crappy hot dogs and talks to B-or-C-list celebrities. Rylie is the man who broke her heart in a shitty way in college, and one night when Eva’s drunk and despairing, she duets a video of his podcast — ironically, one in which he tells men how to do relationships right!

What follows is pure shenanigans. Eva and Rylie have a Sausage Talk (Eva’s show) date, where he begs for six dates to make it up to her. The dates start out sooooo poorly, and then somehow, some way, Eva begins to thaw toward Rylie. Even though he has a jomforter.

God, this book was so hot. And so funny. And just so impeccably good. I highly recommend you go pre-order it from Bookshop dot org (and if you use that link, I may get a cute lil commission, at no extra cost to you!)

Alla prossima 👋

Last Sunday, my new YouTube interview series Sundays with Karis premiered, with an interview featuring the ever-incredible Dahlia Adler! If you watched it — thank you! I hope you enjoyed our conversation.

Today’s guest is none other than Ruby Barrett, and I hope you’ll love the conversation we had, which was delightful, hilarious, and really heart-warming at the same time.

As you may recall from last week, I’ve finished my initial round of six ketamine infusions. They went so well, in a way that continues to kind of astound me? And while I’m hoping I can go 2-6 months before I need to go back for more, I’m trying to raise some money to set aside for additional treatments then. Each one is $500. My Gofundme is still open, if you feel inclined to give or to share!

Thank you, my loves <3

— Karis xoxo