Wow, I’ve had a flood of subscribers recently, so I thought I would come out of hiatus and say hello!
Most of you found me through Burnt Toast, Virginia Sole-Smith’s brilliant newsletter, so you are probably awesome people!
I figured I would introduce myself to all the new folks! I’m Valerie Wetlaufer, aka V. I’m a poet, adjunct university English professor, neurodivergent chronically ill nerd who likes to share stuff I like online. I’ve currently been on hiatus with this newsletter as I’ve been battling endometrial cancer, because I’m just so tired it’s hard to find the energy to write when all my energy is just going toward surviving each day, but I’m on my summer break from academia, so I’m hoping to resume at least occasional writing, including on Substack.
I’ve read over 100 books so far this year, and I want to write about them, and about lots of other things. Thanks for being here!
I’d also love to know what you’d like to read about! Feel free to post in the comments below, and I’d love to get to know you as well, so introduce yourself below!
It’s that time of year when we’re all reading and writing annual “best of” listicles, and it’s a great time to support authors and artists and small business owners!
But first, some personal news. The main reason I’ve been so irregular in this space, despite my best intentions is that, for the past five months, I’ve been experiencing some worrisome and debilitating symptoms. It turns out, unfortunately, that I have endometrial cancer. My prognosis is good, but it’s going to be a long road of surgery and treatment. Fortunately, I have an excellent team at the University of Iowa Hospital, and feel very optimistic, but also still in a lot of pain and discomfort (to put it mildly). It was all I could do to get out of bed to teach the six classes at three different universities (ah, adjunct life). I’m so grateful to finally be on Winter Break.
And now, some recommendations.
My favorite book of the year remains the first book I read, and that’s Babel by R.F. Kuang. I’m also eager to read Kuang’s most recent novel, Yellowface, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. I hear excellent things, though.
In the past several weeks, I’ve devoured a huge number of holiday-themed romance novels, and it’s been delightful. Some people like Hallmark movies, I like my romance novels for the same worm and cozy fluff feeling. It’s the perfect antidote to that crush of end-of-semester grading. Some of my favorites:
I just finished reading Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling, a near-future post climate change dystopian novel that I really loved. I’ve been working on my own climate change novel, and this one was great.
This autumn, I had the pleasure of working as an editor and “book doula” for writer Isabel Peña Alfaro, as she prepared her novella Taming Jackalfor publication. This book is wonderful, and well worth a read. It’s an unflinching depiction of mental illness and severe depression through a speculative lens. I loved seeing the book come together, and getting to hold the final version in my hands after spending months with the manuscript was a thrill. If you’re interested in working with me in this capacity, I still have some slots available for 2024, so check out my website and contact me soon!
I’ve enjoyed losing myself in fantasy novels and fluffy, diverting romance books, and sprawling epic book series. I’m diving back in to both the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, and Terry Prachett’s Discworld, as well as Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series. When I don’t feel well to do much of anything, books are one thing I still have, fortunately.
I also reread old favorites multiple times. I keep returning to Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and read two of her most recent novels, as well. I’m hoping to read her earlier novels in 2024. She is such a poet’s novelist, by which I mean, her writing is gorgeous on a sentence level. I also love her complex, intertwining plots. Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility are exactly the kind of novel I’d like to be able to write, so I keep rereading in hopes something seeps into my brain that helps me construct such a beautiful book. Fiction still feels awkward for me, and a bit unnatural, but this story has been clunking around in my brain for years now, and I think it wants out.
In 2024, I hope to read even more, write a lot, and get back to at least semi-regular writing of this newsletter.
Dear readers, I apologize for my absence. It has been a rough few months and now I’m already entrenched in a busy school year that started last week, teaching at two different universities, more classes than I’ve taught at once before, and I’m a bit overwhelmed. Plus, the High Holidays are early this year, so that is looming.
Open Channel is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I want to keep up with this newsletter/blog, but I have to be honest that it’s going to be sporadic at least until I get settled into a routine.
Here’s a quick round-up of things I’m loving right now:
Marni Loffman’s album The Long Short Path is stunning. I can’t stop listening to “Awaken” in particular.
Anne Helen Peterson wrote about Bama Rush, which I found fascinating, as I’m not teaching online for Alabama.
Yetzirah had their first annual conference for Jewish poets, and you can watch some of the programming online. I particularly recommend my former professor Jacqueline Osherow’s reading.
A survey shows many adult LGBTQ+ folks feel unsafe right now. No kidding.
West Virginia University gutted their departments and I fear it’s a sign of what will be more widespread in higher ed soon.
I still have more folks lined up to interview for my creativity series, so that is on the way, but other wise, this might remain sporadic. My apologies. And happy new school year.
Open Channel is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I’m so thrilled to share with you this interview with visual artist Natasha Newton. I fell in love with her work through her YouTube videos and gorgeous art supply swatching videos.
What does creativity mean to you?
Creativity means always remaining curious about the world, having an enquiring mind and a desire to try new things. Being creative as part of my daily life means that I perhaps appreciate the beauty that surrounds me more than I would if I wasn't studying it so closely for my art.
What is your creative process like?
I feel like my creative process is actually my daily life! My brain never really switches off, and I quite like that (most of the time!). I find that inspiration comes to me from almost anywhere - it can be a certain colour, shape or texture I see in nature while out walking in the countryside, or something I come across unexpectedly online or in a book I'm reading. I tend to jot down all of these ideas, whether in the form of a quick sketch or - as is more often the case - words. I use the Notes app on my phone or one of the many notebooks I have 'on the go' at once! I'll sometimes work on sketches before a final painting, but often I won't. I like to dive straight in, and will only ever loosely sketch out the basic composition onto the paper or canvas before starting the actual painting. I like to let the pieces evolve as I go along. Although now I'm starting lino printing, and I'm finding that more planning is required before I start carving into the lino. It's not like a painting where I can just add more paint over the top - once I've made a cut and perhaps taken away too much, that's it!
How or where do you find inspiration if you're in a creative slump?
I'm very fortunate in that I don't really find that I have creative slumps; it's more often the opposite problem of not enough time and too many ideas! But if I'm unsure of what to work on from my list, I'll just sit with it for a while and look through my notes until something jumps out and says to me, "paint me now!"
I love your YouTube and Patreon. What made you decide to start a YouTube channel, and what has the YouTube and Patreon experience been like for you?
I'd been thinking about starting a YouTube channel for years before I finally plucked up the courage to do it. Even after I created the channel in March 2018, it took nearly another year for me to upload a video! I needed to find a way of doing it that was comfortable for me. I don't like being in front of the camera much, so I tend to film from my perspective, and I now film a lot of videos where I'm either painting or sharing my various art supplies from a camera positioned above me on the desk, so I'm talking to the viewers while I work and you can only see my hands! The connection is there without feeling self conscious in front of the camera. Both YouTube and Patreon have been hugely beneficial to both my art practice and my general confidence. Having this supportive community of like-minded people just makes life so much more interesting, and I think I actually feel even more creative and motivated than I did before! I love sharing my art process and the 'behind-the-scenes' of being an artist with them. I'm so thankful to my patrons, and I hope they realise how much of a difference they've made to my life. Financially, it's given me a more stable income each month, which allows me to develop my work with less worry of how I'm going to pay the bills. Both Patreon and YouTube take a lot of time and effort to maintain each month, but it's more than worth it!
Where can we find your work?
People can find my work on my website and shop, and on Instagram, YouTube and Patreon.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out Natasha’s work! Now that the spring semester is over, I’m hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule here!
The final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel debuted recently, and I’ve been rewatching the entire series in the background as I do other things, and in Season 1, episode 5, Midge, an aspiring comedian, bombs for the first time, after previously performing a handful of brief (and drunken) impromptu sets, and she asks her manager, Susie:
M: I bombed? But I’m funny.
Open Channel is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
S: You bombed. Everybody bombs.
M: But I’ve seen Rickles five times. He’s never bombed. The guys that go on Jack Paar, they never bomb.
S: Yeah, that’s ‘cause they spent years bombing and honing their act so you don’t see them bomb. They’ve bombed. Believe me.
M: Well, I’m not gonna bomb again.
S: No, you’re gonna bomb again and again and again and again.
M: Why would anyone do this if they’re just gonna bomb again and again and again and again?
S: Because it’s part of the process.
It’s part of the process. It’s so hard to remember that, even when you’ve been doing whatever it is you’re doing for several decades like I have. I think I falsely suspected that I’d reach a certain level of mastery and then the “bombing” days were over, but the truth is no matter how proficient one is, art is, in part, about making messes, and sometimes that means a piece falls flat.
I have complicated feelings about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but one thing I do love about it is how it showcases the creative process. Midge’s initial comedy successes happened when she was drunk or stoned, and she worries to Susie, “What if that’s the only reason I was funny?” The reason it feels easier to create when we’re intoxicated is because our inhibitions aka our inner critic is dampened. That doesn’t mean you have to create on substances, but it does mean that you need to find a way to silence that critic. I’ll let you know when I figure out how to reliably do that.
I’m struggling right now. The seasonal change is always rough on my chronic pain, flip-flopping between winter and spring, and we’re approaching the anniversary of my niece’s death. Grief is inescapable and devastating. It’s nearly impossible to focus on anything else when it gets so sharp like this.
It’s part of the process.
Open Channel is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.