love notes 11: get to know me
let me properly introduce myself, what i read and wrote this week, lots of recommendations and more
This week I’ve been obsessed with: sipping coffee and reading in bed, slow mornings, family adventures, procrasti-baking, thick beige cardigans, sad girl playlists, beautiful writing, full body stretching and binge-watching shows.
I’ve been part of this beautiful community for eleven weeks now — and I thought it would be fun to properly introduce myself to you all.
So, hello friend! I’m Madeline, a 29-year-old writer, reader and daydreamer. I’m a Leo sun and Taurus moon and Leo rising. I’m also a mama of two (my son is 3 and my daughter is almost 2) and I run a little etsy shop called The Everyday Edit. I love stories that burrow their way inside of you. And learning about new things that I can hyper-fixate on. And lists. And chocolate. And moments of alone time. I dislike silence and feeling unproductive.
I will read almost anything I can get my hands on — literary fiction and fantasy are my absolute favourites, but I’ve been expanding my tastes to include poetry, classics, romance, horror/thriller and non-fiction. I want to be a well-rounded reader and consume as much different literature as possible. The stories I write always include magic and characters who are so heartbreakingly human.
What else? Well…
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My favourite time of the day is the morning. I love rising before the sun does and sipping my coffee in bed as I read or write. It feels so luxurious to be snuggled up with a story. I stretch out my back and listen to my favourite sad girl playlist as I move my body. Then it’s all about getting ready and dressed before the kids wake up, and we all have breakfast together. My favourite? A delicious blueberry smoothie.
The book that got me into reading was City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I remember begging my mum to buy it because it looked “so cool” sitting on the shelf at our local bookstore. It was the first book I ever devoured from cover to cover — and I finished it totally obsessed. I not only needed to read more books like this, I also needed to write my own. This is the book that made me a reader and a writer.
As you can imagine, I have so, so many favourite authors. Donna Tartt, V. E. Schwab, Mona Awad, Ottessa Moshfegh, Maggie Stiefvater, Emily Henry, M. L. Rio, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Micah Nemerever, Stephanie Garber, Olivie Blake, Sarah J. Maas and Coco Mellors. But honestly there’s probably so many more that I’m forgetting.
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Before I was a stay at home mother… I majored in History and wrote my thesis on convict migrational patterns. I then found a Marketing and Promotions position where I worked on a pet company’s catalogue and social media, managed their website and organised in-store marketing.
I now run a small printable business on Etsy. When I’m not chasing around after toddlers, writing this newsletter, working on my contemporary fantasy or losing myself in a book, I work on my small business: The Everyday Edit. This started out as my creative outlet when I was a first time mum, but it’s grown into something I’m incredibly proud of.
I’ve written so many books throughout the years. And each of them has helped me become the writer I am today. I wrote my first ever book when I was fourteen and it was a cliche story about a magic school at war with werewolves. I spent the rest of my teenage years jumping between an urban fantasy book and a science fiction book. I then spent the next few years dappling in poetry and short stories before rediscovering my love of novels when I turned 23. I wrote about magic in space. I wrote about two teenage boys obsessed with magic. And now I am writing a contemporary fantasy book about secret societies, body horror magic and a group of co-dependent best friends avenging the death of their de facto leader.
I watched way too much tv shows. I’m actually not the biggest movie person, and instead love binge-watching shows. Like my reading, I don’t actually have a favourite genre to watch. I’ll watch just about anything. But my all time favourite shows are: ER, Superstore, The Boys, Daisy Jones and the Six, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Vampire Diaries, Virgin River, The Shield, Dexter, The Office, House of the Dragon, Umbrella Academy, Outer Banks, Ginny and Georgia, Fallout and so many more!
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I also love… black coffee, family adventures and road trips, love letters, candlelit showers, baking cookies and cakes, creating mood playlists, slow morning walks, full body stretching, solo dance parties, blaring Taylor Swift in the car, thick cardigans and oversized sweatshirts, falling asleep to the sound of rain, a vase of fresh flowers, bubble baths, weekly planning sessions, hot chocolate with white marshmallows, snuggling under warm blankets and cosy afternoons.
And that’s me in a nutshell!
Do we have anything in common? I’d love to know. Tell me in the comments if we do!
part i: what i read this week
I’ve had such a good reading week — my husband is on holidays from work for three weeks, so I’m using this time to have a bit of a break too!
I finished reading Funny Story by Emily Henry, and I loved it so much! The story was simple, but all of the characters were incredible and I was fully invested in the relationship between Daphne and Miles. I cried until I ran out of tears, I laughed until my belly hurt. This is probably my favourite Emily Henry book so far. My current ranking is Funny Story, Book Lovers and then Happy Place. Is this controversial? I know so many readers love Happy Place and would place it as their number one. I’d love to hear your ranking!
I also started The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab and I’m over halfway through it. This book is beyond incredible. The writing is so addictive and the characters, especially Addie, feel so real. I’m predicting this to not only be a five star read, but one of my favourite books of all time. Fingers crossed I’m right!
And finally I have so many article recommendations that I found particularly interesting and inspiring this week:
If You Like That Popular Queer Book, Try These Under-The-Radar Ones
Necessary Yet Invisible: On the Unpaid Labor of Motherhood and Writing
On Body Shaming, Women’s Rage, and the Power of the Thriller
part ii: what i wrote this week
I actually finished re-outlining my contemporary fantasy book and started rewriting it after losing everything on my computer.
To be honest, I found it hard to start writing again. The blank white screen just stared at me and I was surprised by how frustrating that felt. It wasn’t until I realised that I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself to write this draft perfectly that I stepped back and took a deep breath. Once I settled down, the words started pouring out and I finally had the bare bones of a first chapter. I reworked the chapter enough that I was happy to move on and started redrafting chapter two. It’s been such a great writing week — my manuscript is currently sitting at 2,600 words!
I also documented what I wrote this week for a piece about “what I read and write in a week” so I’ll go into more detail there. It’ll be published next Wednesday.
part iii: what i watched this week
I’ve actually watched so much this week, which hasn’t happened in the longest time.
My husband and I started The Boys season four since Amazon Prime released the first three episodes. Things are getting so much more intense. We’ve been very obsessed with this dark and twisted superhero show ever since we binged the first three seasons last year. We’re also halfway through watching Invincible season one. And I’ve continued rewatching The Shield.
I also watched this video on which Rachel Cusk books you should read to start with. I’ve been wanting to explore her work and didn’t know where to start, so this video popped up at the perfect time. And I also enjoyed watching Dakota Warren’s a day in the life of a writer/artist.
And that was this week!
The first week of our three week holiday has been incredible so far — and I’m excited to see what our second week brings. Fingers crossed there’s heaps more time for reading and writing and family adventures.
Until next time,
- Madeline
Pleasure meeting you through this post, Madeline! The more I read from or about you, the more glad I am that I subscribed to your substack🌸
I loved learning a little more about you, Madeline!