Julia Vanstory

Writers: gen ai is theft

Artists: gen ai is theft

Narrators: gen ai is theft

Environmentalists: gen ai is killing the planet

Scientists: gen ai is killing the planet

Tech bros: BUT MAKE BRAIN WORK MUCH HARD NEED MACHINE FOR BIG THOUGHT

This was posted as a full page paid advertisement in today’s New York Times

I bought A Promised Land in 2020, and then never touched it because of its length. Then I was introduced to Romantasy, which really built up my reading stamina. And I just have to say a quarter of the way in, I’m glad I waited. I needed the reminder that what we’re experiencing now isn’t normal.

I really enjoyed this book, too. She recorded the audiobook herself, and I don’t know how she made it through some parts.

It’s ok to rest. Even the earth requires it. That’s why we have fall and winter. We must pull in, be introspective, and heal so that we can return stronger, more beautiful, and healthier like the spring.

I’m so glad I found a good therapist last summer and found some balance before this chaos started.

When I picked up this book, I thought it was just going to be a basic little romance that I’d enjoy in the moment and then quickly forget about. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved the two main characters in Surrendering to the Duke. Their banter was absolutely top tier.

My bookish hot take is that the best children’s literature is better than the most acclaimed adult literature. Anne of Green Gables, The Giving Tree, The Series of Unfortunate Events all better than any Charles Dickens I’ve ever read.

I listened to this on a long road trip this weekend and was cracking up the whole time until I started crying at the end. It’s a blend of The Hate U Give and The Summer I Turned Pretty. If you enjoy YA reads, I cannot recommend it enough.

Time is really just a circle, looping back over and over again. I wrote this essay in 2018. By the time it was published in 2020, it didn’t feel true anymore. I started referring to it as an elegy. But today, for the first time in a long time, it felt true again.

episcopal.cafe/my-oldest-ho...

I’m not taking my Christmas decorations down until I’m the last one standing. I guess they’ve survived another day.

This is going to be so good 😍

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is pictured knocking a crown off the head of Trump, shown as a petulant toddler, along with the words “Bishop Takes King”

Mostly I read to chase the high of reading Anne of Green Gables for the first time. I’m pretty sure only Mr. Darcy’s proposal has lived up to that.

Tomorrow I have my weekly meeting with my writer’s group. My goal was to write 5,000 words. I’ve written 0 at this point. Is it my mental health? Is it the state of the union? It’s exhausting carrying so much weight every day.

If there’s a takeaway from the story of the Wedding of Cana for me this week, it’s that joy in community is the point.

Yes! I set a goal to read 25 4.5+ star books this year, so that maybe I’ll find it easier to DNF books I don’t love.

My daughter recently got a diagnosis, and I love this idea. It really reminds us stillness is a skill to be learned rather than hyperactivity is a failing to be quashed.

There’s a bush in my front yard that my daughter used to grab a handful of leaves off, throw them in the air, spin, and yell joy. When a tree limb fell on our house and snapped the bush, she lamented her joy bush. I told her it’s not dead. It’ll grow back. Today, it’s my lesson to learn.

Go outside today and stand in the sun. Remember that the earth will keep spinning. Time will keep marching on. Humanity has faced hard times before and we will face them again. This is a dark and temporary speck in an infinite universe.

Idk what I’m doing with this new book, but I am having more fun writing than I have in a long time.

I try not to give 5 stars for a read unless it’s an easy decision. If there’s any hang up at all, I go with 4.5. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is the easiest 5 star rating I’ve given to a book as an adult.

My weakest parenting moment was giving into the Elf on the Shelf after seven years of refusing.

No one would be more frustrated with Grinch merch than the Grinch himself.