How do we feel about Michael Pollen? I had never read a Michael Pollen book, but I certainly can see how they’ve shaped culture and many of his ideas are both fascinating and intriguing. Recently, I tried doing “A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness” on audiobook because as a memoirist I think a lot about memory and the (fictitious…?) divide between our internal and external worlds. I only got a few hours into the book before I swapped it out for something else because I don’t think I like this man’s author persona (we all know lots of scientists got funny-shaped heads, we don’t need you disparaging the looks of Big Brains who took time to be interviewed for your project, my guy!).

But what I took away from the book, among the all the very interesting facts I learned, was in the intro when Pollen was sharing his doubts about writing this book, questioning himself, “Who am I to write this book?” If bestselling author Michael Pollen, whose books have changed culture more than once, is questioning his authority to write a book TEN BOOKS DEEP when do we ever as writers get to stop doubting ourselves?

If the voice inside Michael Pollen’s head sounds a lot like the voice inside my head, then I can I only surmise those doubts are gonna come regardless of my skill, my accomplishments and my readiness, which means doubt isn’t actually telling me anything of value. So maybe the task at hand isn’t relinquishing doubt, it’s figuring out a way to tune it out.

Still spots left in the bibliomancy class.

This week I can’t stop talking about:

Minda

Melissa Febos was on Brad Listi’s “Otherppl” podcast a year ago, but the podcast’s Instagram account shared a clip from the episode last week where Febos sharing how a friend told her, “People pleasing is people using.” Trying to manage other people’s emotions was a manipulation that made her feel secure in the relationship. I bookmarked it with the quickness to add to the talk I give about “People Pleasing on the Page.” (At the end of the clip, she also begins to get into reckless acts of seduction and I really think people do have a responsibility to manage their charisma… but that’s a topic for another time.)

In the full episode, Febos describes the conflict memoirists feel exposing so much of ourselves in our writing, despite being compelled to write about our lives. If it’s a struggle you’ve faced, give the podcast ep a listen.

So a few weeks ago, when I shared about the Good Food awards, I’d come across the site while closing out tabs on my phone. Another tab I rediscovered was for this Bungkus Bagus sambal. I’ve been out of crispy garlic to sprinkle on my rice dishes (I CRAVE TEXTURE!) for WEEKS. So this spicy-fried-shallots-garlic-chilies felt like exactly what I needed in my life.

I can’t stop putting it on everything. It takes every meal to the next level. It’s one of those things that tastes exactly, if not better, than what I was hoping it would taste like. Now, y’all, this is not a “hint” of heat, the garlic is not subtle, so if those are not things you’re heavily interested in, don’t play yourself by buying this sambal.

The sambal is a Bali-family recipe made in LA. It’s literally the only item they sell on their website. When I was on my way to order 4 oz of this goodness for $18 damn dollars, I saw they also have a 32 oz bulk jar for $138 and snorted because who is dropping that kind of cash on crunchy topping? Well friends, probably me (or a generous soul who’s been wondering what to get ya girl for xmas…? 👀) because I am blowing through this little jar at an extraordinary pace but I dunno if my budget can absorb such extraordinary costs, but do know it’s an ongoing debate between my tastebuds and my credit card.

Every now then I decide I gotta make a dent in the 20K+ unread emails in my inbox. I try to make real progress by bulk deleting emails like doing a search for Lyft receipts and deleting them all at once because I don’t need to open those emails to know I should been done deleted them. If a search nets me around 200 deletes, if feels like a success.

But the search I did to delete all the calendar event confirmation emails in my inbox was like hitting the JACKPOT!!

Here’s the thing, when you try to delete these calendar invites en mass, there are just entirely too many obvious words you would search that also regularly appear in OTHER emails, emails you might feel comfortable including in the bulk delete. To make sure (and this worked for me, but your mileage may vary so proceed with caution…) you only pull calendar invites you can do an inbox search for “Invitation from Google Calendar,” as it appears near the bottom of every single one of those calendar invite emails. I was able to delete years and years worth of those emails.