Go try something new!

You will be very glad for it.

Hi!!! WE DID IT! We made it to another weekend!!!!!!

For the last six weeks, I’ve been taking a wheel throwing class at a local pottery studio. I threw a little in high school and my freshman year of college. I was never as good as my artier friends. My bottoms were heavy, and my glazes were never particularly exciting. I’m pretty sure I was throwing left-handed even though the wheel was still going counterclockwise. But I made some fun shapes that still hang out at my parents’ house. 

For many years afterwards, I’d have dreams about being back on the wheel. I thought about looking into classes, but for one life reason or another, I never actually did it.

Right after finding out I was getting laid off, one of the first things I thought about was that I’d have the time to try pottery again.

I’M SO GLAD I DID.

Going into it, I was careful not to put any expectations on myself. This wasn’t about output, or productivity, or being good at something. This was about getting my hands dirty, about trying out some new stuff, about never getting too attached to one thing because I’d probably fuck it up eventually anyway. 

I could feel my brain being resistant to trying something new. I could see myself comparing my stuff to the people around me. But I tried to recognize what my brain was doing without berating myself for it, to put my phone in a cubby and lose myself for a couple of hours at a time. Even if I just stared at a spinning glob of wet clay for two hours, we were gonna call it a win.

And reader, it was a REVELATION. I am so glad to have a space where I can go try stuff out but I don’t have to worry about deadlines or projects or making sure something looks a certain way. I have fucked up many things!!! I have made some fun stuff!!!! Most importantly, I don’t really care either way, which is a REALLY NICE GIFT TO GIVE MYSELF. 

Maybe you, like me, are hesitant to label yourself an artist. There are so many reasons why you might. Many of them are related to capitalism and other power structures. But this artist’s manifesto that Wendy McNaughton recently posted on instagram really spoke to me. 

Which is all to say, if you’ve been curious about trying a new thing, if you’ve been wondering what it’d be like to make a certain something, if you’ve been HAVING LITERAL DREAMS ABOUT DOING IT, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY TRY IT OUT! You have so little to lose, and so much to gain.

We’re Dune it! (I’m sorry.)

I am VERY excited to tell you that I’m co-hosting the official podcast for the new HBO Max show Dune: Prophecy! The series takes place 10,000 years before the stuff in the Timothée Chalamet/Zendaya movies and original book series, which means you can totally watch it whether or not you’re already a Dune nerd. 

It’s about The Sisterhood, which is a group of badass ladies who spy! And sort of read minds! And can fight and are generally awesome!!!! I love the team I’m working with, including my brilliant co-host Ahmed Ali Akbar, who works at the Chicago Tribune. 

The TV show premieres this Sunday on HBO Max, and we’ll have a companion podcast for every episode. We even have a pre-premiere episode to help you dust off your Dune knowledge (or introduce you to the world for the first time!), out now! Here’s the link.

Things to look forward to in December (because it never hurts to have things to look forward to in December)

For book club this month, we’re reading The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich. We’ll discuss it on Sunday, Dec. 1 at noon Central time. The conversations last about an hour and are extremely delightful. Email me for the Zoom link if you’d like to come! I’m gretamjohnsen@gmail.com.

For December, we’re reading Sally Rooney’s newest book Intermezzo. I am not really a Rooney fan, but I’ve heard really good things about this one, so I’m cautiously optimistic! We’ll meet to discuss that one on Sunday, Dec. 29. 

Speaking of books! There are three books coming out in December that I’m really excited about!

• Julia Armfield’s Private Rites is the book I mentioned in last week’s newsletter. It’s difficult to describe, but what you need to know is that it’s weird, it’s wry, and it’s about three queer sisters dealing with the death of their father as world sort of slowly crumbles around them. 

• Signe Pike’s The Shadowed Land is the third book in her Lost Queen series, which is very good news for those of you who haven’t read the others, because that means you have more than a thousand pages to catch up on before even getting to this one! These books are Arthurian, but they’re also deeply rooted in history, a little spicy, and still super literary. Just delicious. 

• I devoured Weike Wang’s Rental House in one day. 

A Discord invite

Some of you may be familiar with the mostly-dormant Nerdette Facebook group. We’re migrating to Discord, and you’re invited! The idea is to create a space to build community around things you love. I want this newsletter to foster conversation, and the chat functions are a lot better there than on substack. If you have no idea what Discord is, that’s ok -- it’s a lot like Slack! (If you don’t know what Slack is, GOOD FOR YOU!) Here’s a link to join. Come hang!!

Ottolenghi Comfort giveaway!!!

Because we could all use a little extra comfort these days, I’m giving away a copy of Helen Goh and Yotam Ottolenghi’s newest book! I bought this copy for my mom and me to cook out of, but my mom bought one too, because she is VERY SMART, so a giveaway seemed extra apt. As always, if you’re a paid subscriber, you’re in the giveaway pool! I’ll do the drawing this Monday so as long as you upgrade before then you’ll have a chance at winning.  

Ok, that’s it for this week! Talk to y’all next week. HANG IN THERE.

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