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Make a plan

Make A Plan with woman reading against a sunrise

To ease eye strain, experts recommend that every 20 minutes we focus our eyes on something further away than our screens–ideally at least 20ft away– for at least 20 seconds.

As a trained historian, I feel the same way about the news: current events are thisclose. It wouldn’t hurt us to make a concerted effort to look away, periodically. 

Fortunately fiction offers the perfect respite.

Today, why not step away from this place and time and read some Tolstoy or JM Coetzee, Nnedi Okorafor or Haruki Murakami, Kiran Desai or Ian Rankin. 

Whether you’re voting in the US elections, or watching from abroad, or couldn’t care less about politics in a country you’re not in, this is a great time to remind yourself of the importance of writing.

Here are my suggestions for you:

Short Fiction

Best American Short Stories 2024, Lauren Groff (ed)

CRAFT Literary Magazine

Poetry

Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama

Essays

Book of Delights by Ross Gay

General Non-Fiction

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Funny Stuff

The Hidden Tools of Comedy by Steve Kaplan

Comedy Book – How Comedy Conquered Culture–and The Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox

KafClown on Instagram

The Diplomat on Netflix (serious, but characters are allowed to be funny in places)

Steve Martin: A Documentary In 2 Pieces

My Man Jeeves: A Jeeves & Wooster Collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Jeeves & Wooster (Hugh Laurie and Steven Fry version)

Books About Writing

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland

The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger

Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin

Author in Progress, Therese Walsh (Ed)

Watch 

Shrinking (Apple TV), from the people who brought you Ted Lasso, and with a similar sensibility (Content warning: a dead wife/mother killed by a drunk driver.)

The Dish – a quiet movie from 2000,  starring Sam Neil, about  a vital Apollo-era  satellite dish in an Australian sheep paddock!

What would you recommend, for people looking to appreciate art and take a break from the here and now? Leave a comment.

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. If you want to focus on your writing, stay tuned for a super-special offer coming this week, that will help you improve your writing and stick with it over the long term (what?! I know!!) Want to be among the first to know?

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