Analyzing my best (& worst) podcast episodes

And a cheeky giveaway :)

Writing prompt:

I find that one of the highest and most intimidating barriers to creative output is knowing how to start. The pressure of writing a perfect first sentence often prevents me from getting any words down on paper at all. In the spirit of pushing past this fear of “starting badly,” take 15 minutes to write a list of terrible and/or just plain underwhelming opening sentences to a short story, essay, article, script, blog post, diary entry, or full-blown novel that you haven’t yet begun. Feel free to comment a few below! Remember, there’s no shame—these sentences are supposed to be bad.

The Magical Overthinkers podcast has been downloaded over 525k times! I’m taking topic suggestions…

Now that eight episodes of the new pod are out, I have some useful data about what subjects are resonating with listeners more than others. So far, my three top-performing episode include: Overthinking About Burnout, Overthinking About Imposter Syndrome, and Overthinking About Social Media Comparison. From that information, I think I’ve gleaned that episodes land best when they speak to a kind of broad, misery-inducing emotional and/or psychological experience that a lot of people can relate to. I totally would've thought the more ~taboo~ topics, like narcissism, monogamy, and celebrity worship, would be top-performers, but nope! It’s super interesting to get to know this particular listenership, which is proving to be so different from Sounds Like A Cult’s, and figure out how to deliver more of what’s working for them.

All of that being said, do you have suggestions for other topics that you’d like to hear about on Magical Overthinkers and generally align with the theme of these top 3 episodes? Some ideas I had include: Overthinking About Career Jealousy, Overthinking About People Pleasers, Overthinking About Chronic Stress, Overthinking About Having No Friends. Feel free to leave your ideas (as well as any guest suggestions you have!) in the comments below.

I’m giving away a “Magical Overthinkers” bucket hat and a copy of this new SLUTS anthology!

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To enter, all you gotta do is subscribe to Magical Overthinkers on Apple Podcasts and leave a 5-star rating + review (but only if you rly mean it! Reviews truly help the show so much). Once you do that, you’ll be automatically entered to win a copy of this SL🌀TS Anthology (edited by Michelle Tea and featuring an original feminist linguistics essay of mine), plus a bucket hat for your end-of-summer beach trip. US only <3

Catch me at Skylight Books in LA on September 9th, where I’ll be moderating a book tour event for Coco Mellors’s new novel Blue Sisters.

Any Coco Mellors fans here?? That sparkly sugarplum of a human is one of my dear friends, and I’m honored to get to moderate her Blue Sisters book tour event in LA this September. Info below! It’s free :)

Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister’s death in this unforgettable story of grief, hope, and the complexities of family, from the acclaimed author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein.

The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left the family reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize that the greatest secrets they’ve been keeping might not have been from one another but from themselves.

Imbued with Coco Mellors’s signature combination of humor and heart, Blue Sisters is a story of what it takes to keep living after loss—and, ultimately, to fall in love with life again.

Coco Mellors grew up in London and New York, where she received her MFA in fiction from New York University. Her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, was a Sunday Times bestseller, has been translated into over fifteen languages, and is currently being adapted for television. She lives with her husband and son in New York.

Event date: 

Monday, September 9, 2024 - 7:00pm

Event address: 

1818 N Vermont Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Coco is one friend on whom I can always rely to overdress with me. This was just a casual weekday lunch!!! I can’t wait to see her US book tour lewks.

A weekly roundup of books, podcasts, TV shows, tchotchkes, and anything else I’m currently “cult following.”

Short Read: That Feeling Your Recognize? Obamacore

NYT columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom linked this Vulture piece by Nate Jones on her Instagram Stories the other day, and let me tell you, her recs never miss. It’s a pitch-perfect cultural analysis of the current Kamala moment; I can’t get this line out of my head: “Collectively, we are conjuring the ghost of the Obama era — that earnest, optimistic, energized, celeb-obsessed, self-conscious, cringeworthy time.”

Song: Never Been Better

Casey and I are on a hardcore Ben Abraham kick lately. From his Phil Collins-esque voice to his top-notch production and gorgeous lyrics—big fan. This song about thriving in your career as your mental health plummets is definitely a “lol me” moment.

Dessert: Almond milk affogato (made at home)

A scoop of almond milk ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over it in the middle of an afternoon??? It’s a relatively healthy sweet treat that begs the question, why do we deny ourselves such small pleasures? I’ve started making these at home, and they feel ridiculously luxurious, despite being so simple.

Activity: Shopping your childhood bedroom

Ever since I moved house and did a major de-clutter/reimagining of my decor vibe the other month, I feel like I’ve officially picked over every thrift store in my neighborhood. Oddly, this exercise led me back to the last place I’d ever think to treasure-hunt… my literal childhood bedroom. This strategy might not prove fruitful every time, but I figure, why go straight to spending $500 at some overpriced vintage boutique when you might end up finding a cute ceramic vase, picture frame, or wicker storage rack in the back if your old bedroom closet??? All I know is that I spent weeks hunting for a secondhand entryway cabinet that felt homey and non-basic… turns out, my parents had been hanging onto my childhood craft supplies cabinet, which my great uncle actually made by hand in the early ‘90s. I took it home, updated the styling a bit, and am quite delighted with how it turned out!!