April Update

Book progress and a bit of short humor

Hi y’all!

I hope you’re enjoying the spring and that it’s warm where you are (or at least warm-er). It’s been mostly in the 50’s here, with a few warm days peppered in here and there, which is pretty typical for New England. But our daffodils are popping off now, and our tulips are just about to bloom, so I can’t complain too much.

I wanted to share a few quick updates:

In case you missed it, I had a piece published in McSweeney’s recently about the criticisms surrounding LSU basketball star Angel Reese after the final of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. It’s sort of a sequel to a piece I wrote about people criticizing Simone Biles during the last Summer Olympics, and I’ll keep writing these guides until people stop unjustly criticizing Black women athletes.

And while we’re on the topic of college basketball, I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who read and shared my most recent newsletter post about my March Madness-themed McSweeney’s submissions (and growth as a writer) over the last five years. It’s my most-read newsletter post thus far, so thank you for showing the piece so much love!

Also (and I’m just now realizing that perhaps I buried the lede a bit here) I FINISHED THE MANUSCRIPT FOR MY BOOK!!! I still can’t believe I wrote an entire freaking book, and I’m so excited to share it once the proofreading, book design, and printing is complete. If you missed the Kickstarter but would like to support, you can pre-order the book here. Everyone who supported either the Kickstarter or the InDemand campaign will receive their copy before the book is out to the general public. Your support will help me promote the book once it’s out, so any contribution is greatly appreciated!

And I want to give a huge shout out to my editor,

Ginny Hogan

, for helping me put this book together. If you aren’t already following Ginny, her Twitter is hilarious, she’s also written a couple books, does stand-up, and is bringing a show to Edinburgh Fringe this year, so definitely check her out.

Lastly, since we’re talking about books and since this is a humor newsletter, I wanted to leave you with a bit of silly humor that I wrote over a year ago but never published. Comedy is all about finding unexpected parallels, and this one popped into my head one day as I was listening to some 90’s jams:

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Quiz: Thomas Pynchon Novel or R&B Group From the 90’s?

1. Gravity’s Rainbow

2. Destiny’s Child

3. Groove Theory

4. Inherent Vice

5. Mint Condition

6. Boys II Men

7. Bell Biv DeVoe

8. Mason & Dixon

9. Kut Klose

10. Bleeding Edge

Answer key:

Thomas Pynchon novel: 1,4,8,10*

90’s R&B group: 2,3,5,6,7,9

*Not to be confused with 90’s R&B group Jagged Edge

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