Sweatahh Weather!

Updates are not just for your fall wardrobe!

Autumn’s rubies. ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

Hey Everybody!

Fall has officially arrived. That means two things: 1. Everyone in New England is about to get a whole lot more insufferable (myself included). We’ll all be sharing photos of farm stands that belong on the set of Gilmore Girls and swooning over the psychedelic colors unleashed by the leaves starving themselves to give us something beautiful to look at. Not a single woman can relate. Nope. 2. It’s a brand new, shiny, hopeful season! As they say in musical theatre after rehearsing a musical number, “We’re going back to ONE!” and also, “Patti Lupone stop bogarting all the good danish!” 

One of the perks of living in the northeast is the seasonal shifts, even though they are as erratic as a one-eyed homing pigeon. And we all have our own ways of marking the hand-off from one time of year to the next. For me, it’s putting on the flannel sheets; packing away sandals and light clothes; switching from iced to hot lattes; making any excuse to pick up a box of cider doughnuts; and usually rewatching a favorite series like The X-files or The Sopranos that just sort of vibes with autumn’s whole brand of introspection and encroaching dark, which can be cozy and fortifying and nourishing! I am referring to the fall months in general, not to Paulie Walnuts putting some guy’s head in a vice because he owes him money.  

Transitions. 

I thought this would be a good time to talk about some changes and updates. 

I am really, really grateful for everyone who has joined me here and those who are new–Hello! Welcome! So pleased to meet! Everyone has a finite amount of time and bandwidth for, like, LYFE, and you choose to spend some of it on my creative work. That means a lot to me; and something I do not take for granted. In order to keep building and strengthening my creative muscles, to put forth material that feels cooked, I am switching to an every other week publishing schedule. I’m not a machine, you guys! My God, if I were I would program myself to exist on cheesecake without gaining weight or contracting type 2 diabetes. I’ll have material up next week (10/2) to kick off this new schedule. I’ve also spramped up my “About” page to try and better reflect what I’m aiming for as we roll forward.

Never Seen It!: I am really, really enjoying working on this series. It’s been fun and challenging to create audio for this, but I’m learning a lot and excited to keep going. I appreciate the overall response and support. At some point I may invite a guest or two to take part, but for now you can expect a new feature each month, likely in a week I don’t have a regular piece. For October I am scaring myself back to 1982 with androgynous pant suits and Poltergeist! 

The Curious George Questionnaire: This is a new, fun collaboration between me and Michael Maupin, who runs the StoryShed substack. It came out of a conversation Michael and I had about maintaining curiosity and making art. I floated the idea of developing a Proust-style questionnaire of prompts designed for reflection and inspiration. Michael thought what better ambassador of curiosity than the lovable monkey, Curious George, from the endearing children’s book series. ShaZAM! The rest is history in the making. We’re pretty confident it’s only a matter of time before Obama, Bono, and Streep will be BEGGING to participate. We all know how needy Bono is. Related: If anyone knows Obama, Bono, or Streep, please message me. We’re publishing these every other week to start; it’s a completely free offering. You can read our first issue featuring the marvelous and probably ambidextrous Kevin Alexander of On Repeat Records. 

That’s it for now. Thanks everyone for being here! See you next time.

X! -She

See?! I don’t even know how this ended up in my camera roll! It’s like being in a New England autumn fugue state!!! And I am not mad about that at all. Nope. ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography