Plot Points #67 💌
A prologue, Jane Austen's real face, NetGalley, and the perfect walking "workout"
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Hi friends! Happy Friday and happy (almost) February to you.
Last week was a bit busier than expected, so I missed writing Friday’s email and celebrating the release of my new novel, The Bluestockings. I’m so happy it’s finally out in the world and, ICYMI, I published the prologue here on Tuesday! From now until the end of July, you can join me every week as I release a new chapter free to all The Nook readers. After the book is finished, it will go behind a paywall, so I hope you’ll keep up with Eleanor and Ruby on their magical, mysterious journey these next few months ❤️.
(P.S. Some readers have shared that Barnes & Noble shipped them the entirely wrong book when they ordered mine, so I assume something wonky is happening on their back end. If this happens to you, return the book you received to your local B&N and they’ll order you the correct copy of The Bluestockings.)
Thanks for spending some of your time with me today, friends. I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Grace + peace,
Wendi
Word of the Week ✍🏻
Isolophilia: (n.) strong affection for solitude or being alone.
Point #1: Learning German is (finally) going well.
I’ve tried Babbel. I’ve tried DuoLingo. I’ve even tried reading German for Dummies. But the very best resource for language learning as a native English speaker is Memrise. (No, this is not an ad.) My German friend, Rosalie, recommended it to me and it’s so good! No more learning random sentences like “The cat is nice.” (Die Katze ist nett 😂) With Memrise, I’m learning common German phrases and having conversations I would actually have in Germany, the way a kid would learn their first language. They have a myriad of different languages available, too—Welsh! Yoruba! Galician!—so I highly recommend it if you need a new resource for study.
Point #2: “We are all left to imagine our own version of Jane Austen, the Jane we want her to be.”
I’ve loved following this Substack created by Jane Austen’s multi-great niece (who grew up in Austen’s actual house in Chawton! Swoon!) and her post on the varying attempts to capture Jane’s true likeness over the years is both fascinating and sweet. No matter what she looked like, Jane Austen is worthy of the praise she continues to receive.
Point #3: “The purpose of money in all of these cases is to build a better village — and that’s something we should talk more about.”
When we moved from our larger house last year—which was able to host family overnight—we lost the space, but gained proximity and additional financial freedom. Generational wealth is a hotly-debated topic, particularly when it comes to issues of injustice, but I think this piece does a really beautiful job of talking about how we all want to pass down better things to our children, including economic security and the ability to create community for our families with it.
Point #4: Take a walk.
I like to watch my favorite YouTubers while exercising on our walking pad. The other day, the algorithm suggested this lovely video and I’ve never felt more seen. A rainy walk through a quaint English village? YES, PLEASE. Try it out (or any of the hundreds on his channel) if you want to feel your nervous system go into hibernation 💕.
Reading in The Nook 📚
I’ve been a NetGalley reviewer on and off for about nine years. NetGalley is a website where publishers submit their new titles to be reviewed in advance of the release date, and anyone can sign up to read those titles for free. It’s amazing. As a reviewer, you are required to create a profile, request books—which the publisher can either approve or deny—and submit reviews. If you don’t maintain a certain request-to-review ratio (80%) then your account can be suspended and publishers won’t approve your book requests, but it’s pretty easy to stay on top of it. This week, five of the six books I requested were approved, so I’ll be working my way through some truly delightful stories these next couple of weeks!
First, I’m reading Sarah Penner’s upcoming novel, The Amalfi Curse. Penner’s debut The Lost Apothecary is still one of my all-time favorite novels, so I had to jump on this one. Penner writes multi-POV/multi-timeline stories with magical, mysterious elements, and so far The Amalfi Curse is just as delicious as I’d expected!
I’m also reading Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham, a contemporary rom-com based in Scotland from Christian publisher Thomas Nelson. So far, I’m underwhelmed, which is a shame because—as a Scot—I was really looking forward to this one! The story is cute, but the writing feels like a college student’s first draft and I’m having a hard time getting into it. Hopefully, it will get better when I get deeper into the narrative.
I should also mention the twelve books I have on loan from the library, which haven’t even been cracked open…IYKYK.
What are you reading this week? 👇🏻
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“They muddy the water to make it deep.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche—
