Ladies & Gents:
I have a cold, so I'll keep this brief. But loud.
BECAUSE HOLY SH*T RUNNING: A LOVE STORY WAS NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear GOD I was shocked. Sure, I've checked best of book lists with optimism but knowing there was about a 0% chance I' be on them. I nearly dropped my phone when I saw my book on that list.
What a long strange (running heavy) trip this has been, from the running book that never was, to the writing of it that sent me back into therapy, to the publication date nightmares (really), through the book tour that zipped me all over the country to now this. I feel so lucky.
Speaking of! Reminder! If you want a signed copy of Running: A Love Story sent to you or a loved one in time for the holidays, the deadline for that noon (east coast time) on Friday. Just reply to this newsletter, and we'll set it up.
And for you advance planners, I'll be speaking at the Chester County Running Store in Pottstown, Pa. on January 11 (no run) (but fun). I will also be at two events in the Twin Cities this spring: one on April 26 and one on April 27. I'll wait for the venues to announce them first but if you live there and want to meet me in person and compare me to my picture, that's your chance!
I'm headed up to New England for the week before Christmas. Because I'll tromping around in sub-freezing temperatures, no newsletter next week, but if you'd like to follow along as I freeze off my face, Instagram is probably your best bet.
Recent Bylines
"How to conquer a CRM monster" for CIO.com
What I'm Reading
Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. When I bought this at Powell's in Portland, I had no idea it would be so on the nose post-election. This is also one book with a cover that I'll cover when on the train.
What I'm Watching
I'm deep into River, another wonderful Netflix original series. But I want to talk more about Grantchester, which I finished last week. It's another non-American historical series that shows what life was like in a world where abortion is illegal. Others: Call the Midwife, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and Murdoch Mysteries.
And you know what? We could use more of this in our U.S. televisions given that one of the backers of the atrocious Ohio "heartbeat bill" said he never considered why a woman would want an abortion before going ahead and ramming through a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks (most women don't even know they're pregnant then). That a lawmaker would be so forceful about something like this without even thinking of its consequences is beyond appalling, though not shocking because bitches amiright?
When I still went to church, I was a pro-choice Catholic (and am still pro-choice, just not a practicing Catholic), a position I reached after a lot of reading and research and conversations and – oh yeah – THINKING about why abortion and the ability to control if and when we have children is a legally protected right. Because guess what: Banning abortion doesn't end abortion. It just sends it to back alleys and poisons and butchers and self-weilded coat hangers, and as a result, women die.
Call the Midwife probably does this best because it's a show about, well, babies, and they intersperse stories about women who want them very badly with those who don't, and what happens when they don't have a choice. I fear we're headed back in that direction.
And on that cheery note, happy holidays!
Jen A. Miller
jenamiller.com
runningalovestory.com
twitter.com/byjenamiller
instagram.com/jenamillerrunner
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