Plot Points #74 💌
Stolen books, reading slow, what kids love, and yokes that fit
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.
Hi everyone 🌸. Happy Friday!
This week I learned that having a pastor who will walk with you through hard questions (and—GASP!—close his office door without asking another adult to chaperone your conversation) is truly a gift. I posted a little about it on Notes the other day, and have found that despite my initial feelings of awkward vulnerability, his pastoral direction was right on the nose. I’d like to think I’m not completely transparent, but he got my number real quick. Calling out parishioners with grace and empathy takes a special sort of skill, and he’s got it, thanks be to God.
Anywho, spring is in full bloom here and the garden is slowly peeking her head through the soil. The azaleas I planted in front of the house last year got their first blooms this week, and I am as giddy as a grandma watching them grow. I can’t wait to see how our wildflower bed comes to life!
May your weekend be warm and sunny and full of good things,
Wendi
Word of the Week ✍🏻
Eremetism: (v.) The act of gradually fading from the lives of others, not out of malice but a desire for solitude or renewal.
Point #1: AI can go back to the hellscape from whence it came.
Thanks to the work of journalists (yeah, those guys!) like
and Alex Reisner, we are learning this week that Meta stole from thousands of authors and creators—including two books written by yours truly—in order to train its generative AI. This is what we mean when we rail against the damages of unholy tech: the livelihoods of real artists who spent years of their life creating something of value, only to have it stolen for the convenience and profit of others. If you’re an author, read Katelyn’s latest piece on how Christians, in particular, should work to protect artists and then get thee here to find out if your book was cribbed, too.Point #2: “…He won’t drag us into the desert just to abandon us. He will stay with us there, until it’s time to emerge in the Resurrection.”
Lent this year has been tender, weird, and full of awkward internal processing. The performative aspect of sacrifice is always lurking beneath the surface, especially for someone like me who struggles with perfectionism, and I’m so grateful to
for articulating this temptation with generosity and candor. I’m learning over and over again just how generous the Father’s heart is towards us, His unruly children stumbling around in the desert.Point #3: One book. Two weeks.
So much THIS. Let’s reclaim our attention spans!
Point #4: “There’s no true liberation in ‘owning’ our sin by trying to redefine it as something other than what it is.”
As I told
in her comments recently, uncomfortable truth written with grace is my favorite genre these days. Go give her a subscribe and then tell me you don’t feel the same!Reading in The Nook 📚
Lucy and I love to talk books together. She gets as excited about her favorite characters as she does about a sleepover with her best friends, so my author/mama heart is delighted by our conversations. I promised her that as soon as I finished the last book I was reading I would start one of her favorite series: Powerless by Lauren Roberts.
It’s exactly the sort of banter-y, action-packed, copy/paste dystopian romance one might expect from an 18-year-old author (at the time of her writing). Even though it’s a NY Times Bestseller (I’m not bitter), the best parts of this story are not in the book; they’re in the expressions on my daughter’s face every time I get to a new chapter.
Love what your kids love, man. You won’t ever regret it.
“It is easy to be heavy, hard to be light.”
—G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy—
Thank you for sharing! And prayers for your journey from this former atheist-turned Anglican-turned Catholic :)