Readers!
Ciao from Milan, where I still am because my Sunday flight was cancelled. I have a ticket for a Monday flight, but I also went on a six hour saga to get from the airport to my hotel only to NOT be given food or room vouches, a saga that involved a customer service rep saying very loudly to me “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” Yes, emails are being written. Don’t mess with a pro.
Which is the point of this newsletter. Story time.
Back in 2018, when I decided to move back to New Jersey and buy a house again, I fell in love with a little 100 year old bungalow with beautiful light that had been sitting on the market for almost a year. Given that it had been empty for so long, I made a fair offer and thought for sure it would be accepted (yes this was before the real estate market went haywire).
Lo and behold, a couple put in an offer of the same amount the same time I did. My Realtor said that the owners (the children of the previous resident, who had died) were leaning towards them because they were a young couple.
Of course the owners were within their rights to sell the house to who they wanted to, but it hardly seemed fair that I was going to lose out on a house because I wasn’t married. So I pulled out my writing toolbox and wrote a letter saying why I wanted the house. Here it is.
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Recent Bylines
“The hypocrites lobbing hate at Haitian Americans are stomping on the American Dream,” New Jersey Monitor
“Alumni profile: Angela Coaston,” USCF Nursing
What I’m Reading
- Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Miles, read by Janina Edwards. I learned so much about Tubman through this audiobook, including that she had narcolepsy (!) Recommended.
- The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Another hit by Liz Moore, about a girl’s summer camp in the 1975 that opens with a camper gone missing. It was gripping stuff, though I liked her last book, Long Bright River, better.
- A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar. This short memoir is brief punch in the gut about family, art and loss. I read it because I was going to Siena, and I’m glad I did because it lead me to go to the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, where Matar would go to look at paintings for hours on end.
- Nowhere to Run (Joe Pickett #10) by C.J. Box. Our intrepid Wyoming game warden is back! This time, Joe checks on the fishing licenses of two brothers living out in the wilderness, and all hell breaks loose. Not my favorite, but kept me occupied on my flight.
- Cults: Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People who Joined Them by Max Cutler, read by a full cast. This is a look at a handful of cults, including the Manson Family and Jonestown, and how people fell under the spell of cult leaders. It was OK. One of the many narrators sounded so off that I checked to see if they’d used AI. I can’t find any evidence of that, but her voice sounded digitally manipulated. Very weird.
- Much Ado About You (Essex Sisters #1) by Eloisa James. I swore I read this romance novel before, and even started it thinking “this sounds familiar” but turns out I hadn’t. It was aggressively fine!
- The Villa by Rachel Hawkins, read by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell and Shiromi Arserio. I do not usually listen to novels as audiobooks, but I hiked a LOT on this trip (63 miles!) and took out a bunch of audiobooks from the library to keep me entertained. This was engrossing my goodness. It’s about two separate stories: best friends Emily and Chess rent an Italian villa for the summer to work on their respective books. It turns out that the villa was the scene of a brutal murder, which is told in parallel with that of our modern day friends and the power imbalance between them. It’s also, oddly, about intellectual property (side note: when I was going to get married, we both wanted a pre-nup, me mostly because I wanted to protect my writing in case I wrote something that popped off. Don’t think it’s a big deal? Look at the mess over who owns the character Jack Ryan).
- Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti #1) by Donna Leon. My mom picked this up at a free give a book/take a book shelf in a hotel in Florence in March. She said it was fine, so I took it with me. And it was…fine! A Venician detective investigates the death of a famous maestro. It was published in 1992, so it does feel dated. I may try another book in the series if I come across one.
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I did not like this at all, but I also don’t generally read horror, so I don’t know if it was me, the book, or both.
What I’m Watching
- The Keepers. This Netflix series starts by asking who killed Sister Catherine Cesnick in 1970. But in trying to answer that question, the documentary delves into a history of horrid abuse at an all girls Catholic school, where Sister Cathy taught. A few years ago, I read someone’s description of the Catholic Church as an organized pedophile ring, which has stuck with me. It rang out clear again when I watched this (and if you want to wag your finger at me: I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through sixth grade and some of my classmates were abused by our priests. Pass me on that).
- Oklahoma! I watched the 1999 TV movie made out of the Hugh Jackman/Trevor Nun West End production. I don’t know the last time I saw it, but I was more than a bit surprised about how sexual it is. Not that I’m a prude, and I know the most recent Broadway adaptation really leaned into that, but it was still surprising.
- Jailbreak: Love on the Run. This is a documentary about a corrections officer who ran off with an inmate. I knew the story, but Netflix is the only service I figured out how to stream in Italy, so pickings were slim.
- Sherlock (Season 1) This is a re-watch (and not the first one). I know Benedict Cumberbatch has gone on to do a lot of great work, but my God he was perfect in this role. Also Andrew Scott absolutely got his teeth fixed, which good for him! It’s also neat to go back and see him in this role compared to what he did in Ripley.
Nail Polish of the Week
Since this is my newsletter and I can do what I want, three colors! The first two are Game Theory and Ace of Shades by Essie, from that same discontinued matte line I’ve talked about before (which I spruce up with a glossy top coat). They’re dark and darker maroon and great for traveling. Once the Phillies [insert redacted] I didn’t want any kind of red anymore, so picked up Soft Mimosa by Sephora which, sadly, is not a line we have in the U.S. I know it’s October, but I spent much of this trip sweating in the sun. I’m still tan, so my nails are a bright yellow to compliment it.
Until Next time (hopefully from the U.S.!)
Jen A. Miller
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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I once knew an accomplished, even eminent, screenwriter who offered to mentor me on my first screenplay. He had a beautiful office on a studio lot in L.A. I would visit after 5 PM, because he kept proper working hours. We would share a drink, talk about the mechanics of making movies, and share jokes. Routinely, he would repeat my jokes back to me, better and funnier. I asked him how he did that, and his response went along the lines of: “I’m a trained actor and writer. I use my skills.” While I never became a screenwriter, that comment has been useful, and a part of my daily life, ever since.
Exactly!