This Week's Miscellany (03/29/25)

Answering Your Questions and Paris

I’m Haley. Book midwife (editor), author, and single mom of four.

Hello to new subscribers and welcome all to another edition of This Week’s Miscellany. TWM is full of my favorite things from around the web, typically trending literary.

This email is free for you to read, but took time and energy to create. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support my family and gain access to exclusive content:

If you’re a longtime subscriber, you know that I formerly did a round up of wonderful things on the internet: mostly literary, lots of Austen, with some little life updates.

I’d like to resurrect this endeavor, although I don’t think I’ll be able to get it out WEEKLY again for awhile. Bear with me. I am still settling in to the post-divorce new normal. (Realizing you’re a bit behind on, ahem, dramatic happenings in the Stewart household? Catch up here.)

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A Few Updates:

Paris

This deserves it’s own extensive post (and from Instagram I know folks have lots of questions about travel with kids as a single mom, getting good flight deals, international travel tips, etc) but my ex’s sister Vanessa and I took our kids to Paris for spring break.

A few months ago, I was reeling from the sudden, unexpected end of my marriage and my SIL was also navigating the end of a relationship. I spotted tickets to Paris from ATL for just $380 round trip during our kids’ spring break. That would be crazy, right? To take everyone to Paris? But the more I thought about it, the more appealing it became. We could all use something to look forward to and when else would I find a deal this good during a week when our kids could travel and my oldest still lives at home? I called Vanessa and said, “What if we took the kids to Paris? Is that crazy?”

“A little,” she said, “but let’s do it anyway!”

So I did something a little reckless and just booked the flights. The kids were shocked and delighted. And in early March, we did it. We rode the Metro and saw the sights and drank chocolate chaud and ate croissants and admired beautiful art and just reveled in the joy of being together.

(Photos by Mary Quincy of Flytographer)

I’ll share more soon but if you have any travel questions you’d like me to tackle, just leave them in the comments!

(And yes, travel has definitely been a coping mechanism for dealing with my divorce. And I am so grateful I’ve had so many opportunities to travel over the past few months!)

Texas

I had a blast at the WOF publishing team meetup this past week and I came in an evening early to do a book signing at my friend Katy’s store: Talking Animals Books in Grapevine.

Speaking of signing books, Ave Maria Press, who published my first two books, The Grace of Enough and Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life are having their yearly author sale when I can order copies and get free shipping to my house. So, it’s the time of year when I stock up on books so I can mail out signed copies. If you’d like to order some signed copies of any of my books, please let me know by filling out this Google form (in full disclosure, I will not be shipping until May! But this will be the last time I open sales of signed copies until the fall for the Christmas season).

Theatre Kids

All my kids are theatre kids so spring is busy with spring musical performances at their schools. My son was in Hadestown (absolutely incredible show! We’ve been listening to the music non-stop!) and my girls were in The Wizard of Oz.

The Question Box:

How’s co-parenting going?

At the moment it’s low drama and the girls are in a groove now going back and forth from my house to my ex’s girlfriend’s house. (My son lives with me all the time.) As the girls get more comfortable over there, I get more comfortable. Communication between myself and my co-parent is kept very minimal.

What are small things bringing you joy?

• My set of You’ve Got Mail quote pencils

• Photos from parents of my young cookbook readers smiling proudly next to their recipes!

• Snuggling with my 6yo who is now my roommate

• Long phone catchups with friends

• Used bookstores

• My new pair of suede boots

• Coffee mugs from my travels

• Snack of fresh berries, Greek yogurt, and grain-free granola

How to approach Kristin Lavransdatter? It’s long and intimidating!

I get it. It is quite a tome. But it’s SO good. I would buy it as three individual books rather than the enormous collection just to make it more portable and less overwhelming. And if you find yourself slogging through, try listening to it as an audiobook. The first book is a little bit slow but it really gets going so don’t stop after the first book!

New Votive books!

I am thrilled by the releases of two new Votive books: The Riddle of the Tongue-Stones and Past Watchful Dragons.

And in honor of Flannery O’Connor’s 100th birthday:

Flannery O’Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next Gone with the Wind. by Ellen Wexler

“People are always complaining that the modern novelist has no hope and that the picture he paints of the world is unbearable,” she wrote in an essay titled “The Nature and Aim of Fiction.” “The only answer to this is that people without hope do not write novels. … I’m always highly irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.”

Coming soon:

I’ve gotten lots of requests for my break-up playlist and tips for traveling in London and Paris with kids. I’m working on those for paid subscribers but if you have other burning questions, please let me know and I’ll work on answering them as time allows.

Thanks for reading!

Haley

(Editor of Word on Fire Votive, Author, Podcaster)

Haley’s books

Haley’s Catholic Kids’ Cookbook

Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns

Haley’s Book on Jane Austen’s Novels

Haley’s Book about Radical Simplicity