Plot Points #73 💌

Conversion stories, jewelry allergies, group chats, and princesses

Mar 21, 2025

Plot Points is a weekly newsletter where I share my favorite books, links, words, and more. If you enjoy what you find here, please consider subscribing or buying me a coffee.

Happy Spring, friends, and welcome! 🌸

I turned on the wrong eye cooking dinner Monday night and had to put out a fire with the extinguisher, and then on Tuesday morning we woke up to discover Lucy’s sweet hamster, Milkshake—whom we had just brought home the night before—had become the unfortunate victim of our Boston Terrier, Roxie. We’ve since been settling in with our new hamster, S’more, with lots of checking and re-checking of locks. It was a hard but necessary lesson for the kids about facing grief with courage and grace, but it’s not one I’m keen to repeat anytime soon.

Otherwise, we are enjoying the spring weather here in northwest Georgia and looking forward to a beach vacation in a few weeks with close friends. This time last year, we were neck-deep in Pierce’s job transition and selling our house, so this will be a lovely time to rest and retreat together again. I can’t wait!

Thanks for spending some of your time with me here today, friends. Have a beautiful weekend.

Grace + peace,

Wendi

Word of the Week ✍🏻

Onism: (n.) the awareness of how little of the world you will experience.

Point #1: Jewelry makes me itch.

Thanks to a much-loved necklace wearing down to brass, I now have a third skin condition on top of rosacea and shingles: eczema. Is this my Scottish ancestry? Have I finally found a reason to hate my forefathers??? The necklace caused an allergic reaction on my neck last week, which then triggered a flare of eczema all over my body, so I guess Substack was eavesdropping on my Google searches when it suggested this lovely post for me with all the information one could need about what makes quality jewelry and where to find both affordable and luxury options. My skin needs a break!

Point #2: “Using willpower to tame your phone usage is like running out to battle a panzer tank with a slingshot—you’re going to have a bad time.”

This is a lengthy post, and it’s probably going to make you uncomfortable (it did me!), but I can’t recommend it enough. We are long past pretending that phones are “just tools” for more efficient living; they are idols, and the sooner we take an honest, gracious look at how we’ve elevated them to that kind of status, the better off we’ll be.

Point #3: Who are we to fight the alchemy?

I honestly think the skill required to turn stone into flesh is evidence enough that God exists. These pieces are absolutely supernatural.

Point #4: The parent group chat is where nuance goes to die.

I don’t know a single parent who enjoys the dozens of required group chats for school, sports, or birthday party invites, and I thought this piece offered some generous wisdom for how to navigate those spaces without losing your mind…or your reputation 🙃.

Reading in The Nook 📚

I finished the first classic on my list this week, which was A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. C.S. Lewis really had it right when he told Lucy, “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” Classic children’s literature is truly a gift for every reader and I absolutely loved A Little Princess. The 1995 movie was one of my favorites growing up, but I had never read the book. It’s a treasure trove of tender wisdom and the courage to look for light in dark places. Next up is Burnett’s other classic The Secret Garden, another nineties movie I loved but whose book I’ve never actually read. (Can you really blame me? Those movies were iconic.)

On my Kindle for nonfiction right now is another book from Abigail Favale, this one her personal conversion story from evangelicalism to the Catholic Church. I love reading about people’s faith journeys, especially as I’m exploring Catholic theology, and Into the Deep is pulling on some similar threads in my own life. I’m learning so much!

What are you reading right now? 👇🏻

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“I like people to have a little nonsense about them.”

—L.M. Montgomery—

Follow along as we read my latest novel, The Bluestockings!

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The Nook