💡 Creator News: Smutty Books Go Mainstream, Why You Should Play Racquet Sports, How to Avoid Hiring North Korean Scammers

Plus after a 50 day hiatus from coffee I'm back, baby.

After my break from coffee for 50 days (!!) I’m back at my usual Blue Bottle haunt.

the NOLA cold foam is to. die. for.

I routinely take breaks from coffee + caffeine (my current record is an entire year without coffee and caffeinated tea) but let me tell you — the first cup back is better than any drugs on the planet. ☕️

I’m also almost done with 75 Hard (it’s been a busy last few months) and I’ve been marinating on some projects (including CozyApply + CozyJobs which I recently shared with you!) and another fiction project I’m excited to announce soon.

While I’m getting more things prepared to share with you, here’s my dispatch from my creative lab for you in the meantime:

💬 Links I Sent My Fiancée

My fiancée (!!!) Kyle Cords is my co-founder which means DMing him links counts as productive work 💕

• It’s actually more mentally healthy to be optimistic to a delusional degree. I can attest by this — the more insane my goals (and certainty I’ll reach those goals) are, the better and faster my results are. Call it manifesting or just plain positive thinking, I think we operate better from a place of “everything works out for me.” It keeps the demons at bay, y’know?

• I’ve read in the past about why walking has been a staple in the routine of many writers (such as walking around the block before sitting down to write) because of walking’s benefit on creative thought. But new studies suggest it also might be worth it to pick up your pickleball paddle or tennis racquet to get 10+ years added to your life. Think about all the words you could write with 10 additional years.

• Claude Design is crushing it. If you’re a writer who needs some design work done, people are making some cool stuff with this tool. I haven’t tried it yet, but curious if you try it what you think.

🌁 Dispatches From the Bay

What to do and where to eat in San Francisco.

• A guide to some of your matcha options in SF. I personally have been obsessing over Q Specialty Coffee since it opened!

• Love the concept of a startup taking over a coffeeshop. If I took over a coffeeshop for writers and made it a combo bookstore/yoga studio/event space/coffeeshop/mocktail bar would you come and hang?

☕️ Content Trends

Trends in social media, content creation, and what’s going on here on Substack.

• Vanity Fair and Dazed Digital covered the rise of smutty books (and media) in the mainstream. From romantasy as a trend to the explosion of Heated Rivalry, audiences want more sex on-screen and on-page. I have a lot of feelings about this topic as a romantasy/romance author myself, but this paragraph from the Dazed Digital interview captures another driver behind this trend going more mainstream:

“The word ‘smut’, as she outlines on the society’s website, is derived from the Germanic word “schmutzen” which loosely translates to the act of staining, smudging and defiling. This definition alone highlights the unfortunate cultural view of the genre as a whole and the shame its readers can experience. Often, when female pleasure is prioritised – both within these books themselves, and by the mounting numbers of women finding enjoyment in them – it is not taken seriously. In creating community around ‘smut’, readers are reclaiming its meaning and attempting to melt the stigma around the books they love.” - Dazed Digital

💰 What to Watch & Read If You Want to Make Money Online

Resources to make you smarter and richer in the Creator Economy.

• Do you hire freelancers on the Internet? Some of them might not be who they say they are. I loved this incredible piece of investigative journalism because I ran into the same problem when I was trying to hire technical help last year for some of the projects Kyle and I are working on:

🛍️ Add to Cart

Things that have made my life better or products I have my eye on.

yes!!!

• I got the cutest mini waffle maker for $9 on Amazon!!! I had a craving for cute waffles and I made some great gluten-free vegan buckwheat waffles topped with fresh blueberries from the farmer’s market. Sometimes things just taste better when they’re fun-sized.

Questions? Thoughts? Would love to hear what you’re thinking, reading, or making in the comments.

Happy creating,

-Amy