Let me tell ya, I used to walk through Central Park several mornings a week to get to work. I’d walk from 90th all the way down to 59th street many days. That meant that in the summer of 2010, my walk took me past the Delacorte Theatre. People would line up at the box office in the morning to snag free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park.

Hey, I focus my work on helping myself and helping other women claim their right to raise their voices and be heard. When men have ideas – good ones, bad ones, whatever! – they share them publicly. I’ve seen it in the workplace and I’ve seen it online and I’ve seen it as an entrepreneur.

People love Star Wars and people love Yoda and I’m not exactly here to rain on anyone’s parade but you know what? “Do or do not. There is no try” is wrong. Yeah, I said it.

We’re all looking around going, “The world’s a fucking mess.” Right? I know I am. Geez Louise. Thoughts: A. You can look around and go, “The world’s a fucking mess… so what’s the point of me writing and publishing anything, let alone that thing that really matters deeply to me?”

In Be About Something, I talk about how going public with your writing allows you to collect vital feedback that helps you refine your Big Idea quickly. Way more quickly than batting the idea around the racquetball court known as your brain.

It took me a long time to arrive at this place where I root for the Death of Nice. When I was a little girl, my mom was a lot of wonderful, admirable things. But she was not nice. Which embarrassed me. Why couldn’t she just be nice to my friends’ moms?

I struggle with the Tape, which is my name for the voice in my head that basically screams WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE every time I write something that I intend to publish. I still deal with that voice every week when I’m writing this letter. It’s part of the process.

I was listening to the radio in my car a year and a half ago. (I could have sworn it was December 2019, but the internet says 2018 which is… huh.) Anyway, I was listening to the radio in my car a year and a half ago when I came across an interview with N.K. Jemisin.

My voice when I write for you is a combination of 3 things: My personality My expertise My experience Like this! Venn Diagram: (If you know me, you know that I actually believe the concept of voice is more complicated than this. Because I make EVERYTHING MORE COMPLICATED. See: personality.)

A few weeks ago, I shared about a 16-minute documentary, Ten Meter Tower. I know you didn’t watch it, OK? You should watch it. I mean, read this email first but then click on the link at the bottom to watch.