This Week's Miscellany (07/28/26)

Summer Survival, Healing, Finding My Creative Spark Again

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.

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Can I be honest? I struggle to write these TWM posts. Because my brain wants to go in a thousand directions. Do I begin with explaining all the things my ADHD brain wants to write about? (My brain has already moved on to writing a tangent post about ADHD hacks I’ve found helpful lately). Do I give an update on life? Kids? Single motherhood? Creative projects? Healing? Recent epiphanies? Milestones and changes? Movies and music? Cultural phenomena?

I have never had writer’s block. I get writer’s flood. Too many ideas, too many directions. An overwhelming flood. All of the journaling by hand that I do now only seems to compound the problem. Because then my brain is trying to sort through what is safe for public consumption and what should kept in a vault for the sake of privacy or prudence. My journaling flits from this thought to that then turns into to do lists, dreams for the future, books I want to read. The struggle is real. But here goes:

Summer

Summer is summering, friends. We’ve been back in Tallahassee for a month. While the transition home and the return to the miserable heat have been brutal, it hasn’t been all bad. I love being back at hot yoga, in my sweet house, and reconnecting with friends. And I really love the slower pace of summer despite the challenge of having kids home during the work day. Sure, there’s appointments at the orthodontist, the dentist, and for therapy. There’s taking the dog to the vet, taking my son for senior photos, and scheduling back-to-school haircuts. There’s prescriptions to pick up and groceries to buy. But somehow it just feels different without having everyone scrambling off to school in the morning and I am loving that space.

Maybe it’s having older kids who can entertain themselves while I hide in my home office during the work day that makes summer easier? Is anybody else enjoying the flexibility of the weekly summer schedule? Parents of very young children, I know summer is a STRUGGLE.

For summer survival (the heat index has been over 110 lately), we are watching cozy murder mysteries in the air conditioning, we are baking and making fancy drinks (my 13yo mastered the London Fog), and we are enjoying thunderstorms. Where are you finding the whimsy this summer?

Healing

I’ve also started back with EMDR therapy (which I highly recommend if you are recovering from trauma). I am noticing significant healing due to this method and have carved out the next couple of months for focusing on it. I’m adding TRE (Tension Release Exercise) to the mix as well. Hey, whatever works? (Related: I’ve noticed that I hold a ton of tension in my jaw. Anybody else? How did you release it?)

The mental medicine of travel this summer, journaling, hot yoga, and hours spent with good friends all are supplementing the official therapy. And I can feel the effects. Always a spiral, not a straight line. But progress and I’m grateful.

If my first year post-separation was shock and my second was grief, this year feels like healthy detachment and new life breaking in. For the first time in two years, I’ve been wanting to write more than Substack posts or fill notebooks just for myself.

I’ve been wanting to write more fiction. I’ve picked up a manuscript that’s been on the back burner for ages and I’m starting to make progress again. It’s a middle grade novel and I’ll tell you more as the project develops. I’ve never tried to publish something like this of my own so finding the right home for it will be a new adventure.

Mid-July I went to the Winona Christian Writers Conference with some of my favorite people. The highlights for me were sharing an AirBnB with my friends and fellow writers Katy Carl and Claire Swinarski. And also meeting one of my children’s lit heroes: Gary D. Schmidt who is just as wonderful and profound as his incredible books.

Katy, Claire, and I with our new best friend, Gary. (Actually, I may have freaked him out by telling him about bone chapels in Eastern Europe that I want to visit. Catholic problems, I guess.)

I had planned to attend the conference a year ago but had to cancel because of a family crisis. So I was extra excited to get to attend this year and keep learning and growing as a writer and as an editor!

Speaking of editing, I have to admit that I am over the moon that 5 of the books I edited for Votive received major Catholic publishing awards. In fact, we swept some of the children’s book and illustration categories! I’m so proud of our authors, illustrators, and design team and I will forever be pinching myself that bringing beautiful books into the world is my job.

Reading Lately

• A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. A re-read of one of my very faves! I also finished Liturgies of the Wild by Martin Shaw on the plane home from Indiana.

What I’ve Been Listening To

• The new Olivia Rodrigo was a bit of a disappointment, tbh. There’s some stand out songs, but overall it left me cold. I’ve been dipping back into folklore lately. What are you listening to?

Upcoming Events

• July 31st-August 2nd: Wichita, KS: Midwest Catholic Family Conference

Currently Watching

• The Young Sherlock and Ludwig. We are in a murder mystery era at Casa Stewart. Suggestions for cozy ones appropriate for young teens welcome!

• HADESTOWN. You guys. If you have the chance to go see the pro shot of the stage musical in theaters, PLEASE go. I’ve seen the show in London (incredible) and seeing the pro shot really does give you a sense of the performance. I do plan to write more about this ASAP.

• The Odyssey. I need to write about this, too!

I was mentioning creative spark and one of my goals is to do even more writing here on Substack. What would you like to hear about?

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Haley

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