My friend and I have a phrase that describes a particular phenomenon. We call it felting the planets.

Years ago, this friend (hi Cat) was in the midst of a particularly chaotic season of life. Far too many things to do and not enough time to do them all. When I stopped by her house to offer her some encouragement one day, I found her at her kitchen table amidst the aftermath of a productively messy morning, feverishly felting a miniature model of Mercury. “What…. are you doing??” I asked, approaching with that careful, sideways movement you use around wild animals in national parks. She glanced up and her face broke into a grin. “My oldest is studying the solar system,” she announced. “I thought I should felt her some planets!”

This is a pattern I’ve noticed in productive, busy friends of mine: When things around them seem unmanageable, they like to tack on an utterly unnecessary bit of work. It gives them some sense of control in an otherwise insane time.

I have been guilty of felting many planets over the year. June was the kind of month that just vanished into the vortex of kids’ sports, residency week, weddings, and travel. So naturally, we decided it was time to redo our back deck.

Other than balancing precariously on crumbling joists while sweeping up all that mess, we had our final Camperdown residency of the year. We hosted UK-based filmmaker Francis Annan who gave a fascinating lecture on storytelling and film. The committee met to review and accept our final few students, so our cohort for the upcoming 2026-27 school year is complete.

I met with my agent to discuss my new book idea, and she had some helpful pushback on parts that weren’t working. I planned to spend some time in June brainstorming the driving mechanism of the plot, but that didn’t happen. Hopefully next month!

During residency week (naturally) I received my pass pages, which is when the book is officially formatted and looks LIKE A BOOK. It’s my final chance to make any last-minute changes (small corrections, nothing major). So, I printed the manuscript out, read through it carefully, made my last round of edits, and sent it off FOR THE LAST TIME! February 16 will be here before we know it. As a reminder, you can preorder Thief wherever books are sold!

(also- if you signed up to be on my street team, THANK YOU. I have compiled all the names and will be sending out the first email soon!)

Last week, I flew to St. Louis, Missouri to speak at Realm Makers. I did a three-part continuing session on how to take your literary voice from good to great. It was an absolute blast, the venue was beautiful, and I loved meeting so many writers and readers.

(with affiliate links)

Most of my reading this month was grading theses and reading students’ short stories, but I did finally make it through The Buried Giant by Ishiguro, which has been on my TBR list for a long time. This is my third Ishiguro, so I can now see more clearly the themes he likes to explore (memory, loss, duty, loyalty). He’s a great example of how the authorial voice remains the same, even as the voice required for that genre/main character might change.

I also found Pax at a thrift store and read it on the plane to St. Louis. If you like animal stories with sadness that are well-written while also examining the hardships of war, this is the book for you.

Lastly, I listened to Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. There was a lot of information in this book, but it offered an insider’s perspective on the tough choices people faced after Hurricane Katrina. My favorite thing about this was reading the reviews, where the author was accused of being biased toward both sides (depending on whose side the reviewer was on). Personally, I thought she did an admirable job staying objective.

Here’s a reader question:

There are a couple ways to tackle the problem of wandering from your original story idea. The first is simple:

Don’t Do It.

One of the reasons Camperdown requires its students to complete a manuscript (and do one round of edits) for graduation is because it’s the easiest thing in the world to start a story. Nothing is more promising than those first 10 or 20-thousand words. And then you start to run into difficulties, or perhaps the shiny idea in your head looks hideous on the page, and you can be tempted to search for greener pastures. If, however, you doggedly forge ahead, forcing yourself to show up every day and put in the work (even when you don’t feel like it), then you will cross the finish line. And then you can start making that world cooler, that plot better, etc. But you have to be willing to stick with it, even when it’s hard.

The thing about excellence is that no one can make you do it. You have to decide that you’re going to show up, put in the reps, and stay committed when you feel like quitting. So don’t quit!

A second answer would be: make sure there’s always something you’re excited to write in each scene. If you’re bored writing the scene, readers will be bored reading it. Look for those “cookies” (as Susan Dennard calls them), whether it’s an interesting dialogue exchange, a new location, a fun twist, etc. It can be big or small, but it should be something you’re looking forward to writing each day.

Lastly- find an accountability partner! Commit to writing 500 words a day, and then check in each day with your friend to let them know you’ve hit your goal.

That’s all for June, see you in July!