Cait Flanders

This week, we: talked about the basic idea/structure of ADVENTURES IN OPTING OUTread the introduction to Section 1—The Base (pages 19-64 in hardcover)outlined the three main themes in this section (paying attention, weighing your options, and experimenting/testing out other paths you might go down)and then answered questions posed by the group! I’m happy to post a weekly recap like this and we can chat more here!I will also post this weekly recap to my Instagram profile and we can chat there!If you use Instagram, remember you can follow the #adventuresinoptingout hashtag + also use it on your own posts, to connect with others! (A note that I won’t be in the group myself, but your conversations on Sunday proved you really don’t need me there!)

I’ve thought about writing here many times throughout the pandemic, but one of the stories I was telling myself was that “people don’t read blogs anymore. The messages we’ve shared via Instagram, in particular, have felt like little exchanges of being seen and held. Imagine something similar in feeling when we used to show up to bookshop events, buy a copy + listen to our favourite authors talk for a little while. Aside from buying a copy of the book, one of the easiest ways to support any author you love is to review their book(s) on sites like Goodreads or Amazon.

and I’m sitting at the dining room table in my dad’s house in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It’s raining outside, the sound of which is barely making its way into the background, now that we have two dogs snoring in the room across from me. And yet, when I sat down with my coffee, the first thing I did was open up my website (old habits die hard) and click on the “Add New” button. This hasn’t been true for all of the last 793 days, but it is true right now and it feels good to be able to share those words.

After reading it, this is the second-most important thing we can do for the authors we love: because it shows the world that people are actually reading your work! Reach out for an interview If you are a podcaster or journalist, and want a copy to read/review/run excerpts from/do an interview, let me know! I always feel better after I read Cait Flanders; there’s something about her mix of practicality and truth-telling that both soothes and inspires me. 2020 has been filled with all sorts of intentional and unintentional adventures in opting out, and Flanders offers a sturdy and flexible framework to navigate whatever path you are currently on.” I will leave it there, my friends!