Ten Small Joys

A few things that made me happy in 2023

I’ll keep this one short and sweet, folks. As 2023 draws to an end, I thought I’d share a few sparks of light from my year!

1. The Blair Witch Project. There’s just something about this movie, y’all — the more I write about it, the more I seem to discover. My latest, “Searching for Heather Donahue,” is up at Bright Wall/Dark Room. Some of you found Microfascination through that piece — thanks for being here!

2. The official Bob Ross YouTube livestream. If you’re someone who makes art and ever lose sight of why you’re doing it, spend some time with Bob Ross. You’ll remember.

3. Literary journals. I’ve been so bummed about Gettysburg Review, a beloved thirty-five-year-old literary journal abruptly shuttered this year by its host university. The news of its closure serves as a good reminder to support publications you love! You might try McSweeney’s (check out the audio issue), Paranoid Tree (illustrated zines in your mailbox), or DIAGRAM (whose 20th anniversary anthology is also a usable tarot deck).

4. Fathom Events screenings. Fathom Events runs anniversary and special event screenings in theaters nationwide! A highlight for me this year was Godzilla 2000 (which featured deeply entertaining behind-the-scenes footage). In the past I’ve also enjoyed Sleepless in Seattle, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one-woman stage performance of Fleabag, Satoshi Kon’s inimitable Perfect Blue, and the annual Studio Ghibli offerings. (Is Howl’s Moving Castle my favorite? Maybe.) They’ve announced some initial entries in their 2024 lineup and oh MAN would I love to attend Labyrinth or The NeverEnding Story! But first I have to go lie down because Mean Girls is apparently turning TWENTY.

5. My year with Anna Karenina. I wanted to be intentional about working through more of the classics, so I picked one to read slowly over the course of twelve months — the reading layered over my daily life in a really interesting way.

6. Endless Thread. I mentioned this podcast earlier this year after they solved the Wrinkle in Time mystery that had also piqued my interest. Some other 2023 favorites include their deep-dives into the Gen Z community working to archive the Muzak of the Twin Towers, the Lofi Girl universe, and Furbys.

7. In-person book buying. I love going into a store or sale with a constraint. “I’m only buying books under 200 pages,” “I’m looking for books with blue covers,” “I’m gonna snag some small press titles today.” I always end up coming across a book I’ve never heard of!

8. Cross stitch. Even the terminally online need a hobby that doesn’t involve a screen, and this was what I picked. (Think Martin Scorsese would approve?)

9. The Creative Independent. For a daily dose of creativity, I can’t recommend this interview series enough.

10. The Memory Vending Machine. This neat publishing project at the University of Arizona came across my feed earlier this year; insert a quarter, get a memory! A tiny piece of mine called “The Car Was Also a Time Machine” is now bouncing around in there with the others. Submit one of your own in 2024!

If you need any more end-of-year reading, you might try my 2023 short stories exploring the casualties of fame, adolescent TV crushes, the bond between an actress and a paparazzi photographer, and a fax machine that might communicate with the dead.

This year I also wrote about Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse, The Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” Christopher Nolan’s Memento, and listening to a favorite band’s albums in chronological order.

My 2023 interviews included Claire Dederer (Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma) and Julia Langbein (American Mermaid).

And you can nab my work in print in Best Microfiction 2023 and How to Write a Novel: An Anthology of 20 Craft Essays About Writing, None of Which Ever Mention Writing.

Looking forward to 2024, folks — see y’all again in January!