Hello from adventure land! Or the lead up to adventure land where I am trying to see everyone important to me AND pack for my trip AND get the things I still need for my trip AND finish the four assignments I have due by Friday. It's a bit of bedlam.
To you new subscribers – hello! Welcome to my little project here. In the newsletter, I usually do four things: chat for a little bit, then share stories I've recently had published, what I'm reading and what I'm watching.
Obviously, this summer is going to be a little bit different. I'm still not sure how the format of this will go. I would like to keep the newsletter and blog posts separate, though of course they're going to cover some of the same things. For now, though, I'm going to do my usual thing here and then throw in a link to the blog post I wrote about prep: here it is.
If trip updates are all you want: I'll keep blog post links to the top so you can go right to them, then skip the blather below.
I might get to the point where I'm traveling so much and Wifi time will become so precious that the blog and newsletter will be the same. Who knows. Like I said last week, it's hard to imagine what it will look like because I've never been to these places or been on the road for so long. It'll be something.
So check out that post, where I answer the most common questions I've gotten so far, and then the rest of the show continues below. I haven't decided if I'm leaving on Sunday or Monday. I am going to try to keep sending these early in the week but: see Wifi statement above. I'll do the best I can.
Also: I got a new computer and phone. I keep trying to touch the screen of my laptop, which is silly since it's still a laptop. I guess my circa-2008 machine wasn't so crisp.
Recent Bylines
"Race Spectators Behaving Badly" for The New York Times
"What to Buy at REI's Huge Anniversary Sale" for Racked
What I'm Reading
How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art by Katherine Meyer. This thing is a best seller and in its THIRD edition. What the heck did I write a book about running for?! But I can see why it's been so popular for so long: where to go to the bathroom will not always be…in a bathroom on this trip, and I want to make sure I'm impacting as little as possible. The book also introduced me to disposal systems that I may come across but hadn't heard about before, so at least I'll know. Meyer also goes into detail about how to pee without getting your boots or pants…peed on. This is not as easy a thing for women to do as just squat. I imagine this will be quite helpful over the next three months (I read about this book in Under the Stars, so thanks book I felt so-so about). And now we're really good friends, internet stranger, aren't we? After reading up on where to go, I slipped into Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do from the Spindle Cove series. It's light and fun and just what I needed.
What I'm Watching
I put aside dear Doctor Blake to watch the second season of Master of None. It's as good as everyone else says – seek out the conversation about it on the podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour if you're looking for a good discussion on it. I'm tempted to go back and watch it again to see if I missed anything, but Kimmy Schmidt awaits.
I also watched a silly movie called Finishing School while writing about amusement parks while my dad's dog snoozed next to me. Because why not put on an old TCM movie to accompany your typing about a lazy river?
Until Next Time,
Jen A. Miller
jenamiller.com
runningalovestory.com
twitter.com/byjenamiller
instagram.com/jenamillerrunner
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