Readers!
I am back from my two-week vacation/road trip to Western Montana and back. I had a lovely time — so lovely that I wish I could have kept going, oh well!
I got a lot of emails while I was away. I did look because after driving for up to 12 hours a day, I needed to do something else, and I didn’t want to miss anything important (plus a bunch of tickets and reservations were in my email). Here’s what I answered, and what I did not:
- Answered: Emails from editors if they needed something quickly, or had a request that I wouldn’t be able to meet while away. One was asking for a revision due while I was away, and completely understood I couldn’t get to it until I got back. Another wanted a small clarification on a story, and I was happy to oblige.
- Not answered: Pitches from PR people. I don’t usually answer them anyway. But those I found useful I left unread, or put into the appropriate email folder, to deal with later.
- Answered: New client emails. I got three (!!!!!) while away, so I was happy to respond and also start the on boarding process. I got a fourth who was not a new client, but a new division at that entity, and I responded to that person too. All four of them came from my spring marketing sprint, so it’s still paying off!
- Not answered: An email from an editor at a magazine I used to write for, from someone I roasted for doing an Instagram video staring at the camera while driving. I get that she might not have remembered my online ire — so many of us called out that awful behavior that the publication took the video down — but I still chuckled at the reach out. I would never write for this publication anyway unless they went through a complete overhaul and chucked out a few editors, so no reason to respond. They’re not worth my time.
Recent Bylines
“How clinical laboratories confronted the 2026 cyclospora outbreak,” Clinical Laboratory News
“What CIOs should know about quantum computing,” CIO Dive
“Phoenix Hot Spots: What to do, see and eat in the CHEST 2026 host city,” CHEST Advocate
“New primary care docs choosing the Ocean State,” Health Discoveries @ Brown
“How blue-violet LED lights could help longline fisheries reduce bycatch,” Global Seafood Advocate
What I’m Reading
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard, read by Paul Michael. While on vacation, I went to the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidental Library, so I wanted to at least listen to one book about him while on my drive there. This is about his trip on an un-mapped river in Amazon with his son Kim and explorer Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon. While this is about a period of his life after his presidency (and after he ran for a third term and lost), it was eye opening as to the person he was — one who felt better when he was on the move and/or involved in physical challenges (hmmm I wonder who that sounds like, though I wouldn’t do anything like THAT). Anyway, the audi0book is excellent and completely engrossing and perfect for a long drive. (The library is good, perhaps too kind to Teddy, but definitely go if you’re visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Make sure you get your ticket in advance).
- GI Brides: The Wartime Brides who Crossed the Atlantic for Love by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, read by Tania Rodrigues. When more than 1 million American GIs headed to Europe during World War II, of course some of them fell in love. After the war, more than 70,000 women left the UK to go with their new husbands, most of them to the U.S. This book follows four of them in one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to in a long time. I listened to this on the drive, but was so anxious about what was happening to these women that I listed to it while puttering around hotel rooms too. Despite the newer cover of the book that makes this look like it’s romantic, it’s not, because reality is reality, and while getting married during wartime might have mad sense, the reality of marrying someone you don’t really know when you’re barely and adult, and going to a county you’ve never been to doesn’t always end well. I cried at the end. It’s just so good.
- Wyoming Bodyguard by Danielle M. Haas. When I’m on a road trip, I want whatever physical books I’m reading to be small, and not too heavy content wise. I found this in a little free library, and was going to Wyoming, so thought sure. It’s a friends to lovers with a couple of murders and an ending I didn’t think was great, but the book served its purpose of keeping me company whenever I had some time to read on my trip.
- The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, read by Saskia Maarleveld. My last audiobook of my road trip was this historical novel based on the real Alice Network of female British spies working during World War I. It’s told along two timelines: that of Eve, one of the spies during the war; and that of Charlie, a pregnant American college student who goes to France in 1947 to try to find her cousin — a timeline that also includes an older, depressed, alcoholic Eve. I liked it, but I would have cut out about an hour (or whatever number of pages that is).
- Wolf Pack by C.J. Box. And it wouldn’t be a trip that included Wyoming without spending some time with our intrepid Wyoming game warden who once again gets himself into a scrape that seems like a lot on top of a lot of lots for someone in that job. Not my favorite entry in the series, but still pretty good. I hadn’t been to Wyoming in a while, so my brief dip into the state, which included a hike in the Big Horn Mountains, gave me a better idea of what I was reading about in these books.
What I’m Watching
- Chelsea Detective, season 4. A classic British season of television: four episodes, each at and hour and a half. But this is a good one, about a dyslexic detective who of course solves crime. I walked through Chelsea when I was in London in the spring because of it. I don’t pay much for streaming services these days, but I do pay for Acorn for stuff like this.
- Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel. I listened to a multi-episode arc about this case on Court Junkie, about the murder of a Florida professor, so I thought I knew everything. But seeing some of these people in action — ooaf. What monsters, and egotistic ones too! Saying “they’re not onto us” while being recorded by police was quite a thing to see/hear.
- Agatha Christie’s The Witness for the Prosecution. I didn’t know Toby Jones did an Agatha Christie? Well I do now, and watched this miniseries which appears as a movie on Acorn. It’s fine! Dark and bleary as these things tend to be, especially in 1920s London, but fine.
- Oh, Mary! I went into this knowing it was going to be a farce, but not much more than that — which is what I recommend. I loved it — it’s silly, sharp and a only about 75 minutes long (also there’s a 5 p.m. Saturday show, which is perfect for when you’re trying to get a train home and not be up all night, though I will say that the man behind me, who was talking on the phone in the quiet car, said he was doing so because his wife “got left at the station” probably didn’t think about that!) Bowen Yang is great in the Mary part. I have a few friends — and also the woman who gave me in COVID vaccine yesterday — who have seen it many times to see different people in the titular role. I can see why!
Nail Polish of the Week
I started out my trip with u wish by Essie, a gold shimmery orange. Then I did Slip Dressed Up by OPI, a red hued caramel, on the road (yes I travel with my manicure kit, who doesn’t!). And finally, this week, Tomato, Tomahto by Essie, which I bought because of the name but also because it’s a good fall, rusty read.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
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I read The River of Doubt years ago and loved it – I learned so much. The audacity of these white men!!! It was wild to me how woefully unprepared they were for this journey.