Plot Points #17 💌

Fall (almost), fairy tales, and people faking cancer

Happy September! 🍂 (Gosh, it’s good to say that.)

I apologize for the lack of email last Friday, but I was not in the mental space to do or create much of anything. As I wrote here, an acute bout of insomnia—brought on by anxiety and much exacerbated by it—has been really having a go at me. I never really struggle with depression except when my anxiety is at its worst, and last week I was not doing well.

I’m still not doing great, if I’m honest, but I’m becoming more okay with not doing great…if that makes sense. Sleep is something I’ve always been very intentional about, so I kind of panic when it gets messed up. That’s basically the gist of why I get insomnia in the first place. Like most things, the more I try to control it the worse it gets.

But life is full of interruptions and I’m practicing being at peace with that. As Dr. Alicia Britt Chole says, “The night is normal.” Nights of the soul and sleepless ones, too.

In the meantime, I’m grateful that medicine exists. Grateful that CBT exists. (This book has been so helpful!) And grateful that in my darkest moments, the Lord sees me and speaks truth to me, over and over again.

As Julian of Norwich wrote:

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Speaking of almost-saints and fancy church things (go with me here), this Saturday our church is hosting the bishop consecration ceremony for the new Suffragen Bishop of our diocese! This is a fairly rare event, so I’m excited to get to be a part of it. Our church is a very contemporary Anglican congregation (think remodeled warehouse vibes and a tattooed priest) and this is going to be a chance for us to bear witness to the fancier side of things. As of a few weeks ago, we became official members of Trinity Anglican here in Atlanta (more about that later!) but we are still very much getting to know what it means to be faithful Anglicans.

Now, onto the most important announcement of this week’s email…and that is that today is my husband’s birthday!

Look at this beautiful man 😍.

Pierce is so steady and true, such a devoted father and partner; plus, he’s funny as hell. I have always loved him, but I’ve spent fifteen years of marriage growing still deeper in “like” with him: his humor, his patience, his determination, his faith. Pierce is truly the kindest and best of men.

So happy birthday to my beloved husband and peace to you, friends. Thank you for sharing some of your time with me today.

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Point #1: Writing is work worth our money.

I’ve seen

Lore Wilbert

’s most recent Sayable post making the rounds, and I would be remiss if I didn’t pass it on here for those who haven’t seen it. She tackles the elephant in the room about writers who sometimes have paywalls on our work, and she argues that doing so adds not only to the reader experience but to the writer’s craft, as well. If you’ve ever felt disgruntled over my or another Substacker’s paid posts, I urge you to read her essay and reconsider. It matters.

Point #2: Don’t fake cancer.

I spent two whole days bingeing this batshit crazy story Scamanda about a woman who successfully faked cancer for years and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from family, strangers, and church members to line her own pockets. Give it a listen if you’re in the mood for an absolute WTF of a podcast.

Point #3: We all have ghost ships.

This beautiful piece from

Gina

on honoring the lives we might have lived—our ghost ships—is such an encouragement. Read it and breathe a sigh of relief.

Point #4: May she rest in peace.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and I loved scrolling through this photographic timeline of her life. (Fun fact: my siblings and I sent my dad on a trip to Scotland for his 60th birthday, which we had to reschedule because of Covid, and he was there when she passed. I have a Scottish newspaper from that day. History!)

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Reading In The Nook

I love, love, love a good fairytale remix and Thief, Liar, Lady by D.L. Soria is a delight. In it, Soria offers a new, edgy look at the Cinderella story with all of the original magic and more of the intrigue and thrill. It also wraps up neatly in one single book, unlike lots of fairy tale fantasy retellings, and I really appreciated that.

I’m also reading American Royals by Katharine McGee and OMG what a fun book! Imagine if after the American Revolution we had appointed George Washington our king instead of president. Now imagine we have a modern generation of Washington royals with secrets and love triangles and palace intrigue, oh my! Apparently, I’m super behind on this romance series—with the fourth novel slated to come out this year—so I’m eager to catch up.

What are you reading these days? Tell me in the comments! 👇🏼

“Then I said to myself, ‘Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!’ It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.”

—Psalm 139:11-12, MSG—

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