July 2025

Hello Friends,

The late, great, Floridian poet said, “The waiting is the hardest part.” For real, Mr. Petty. I feel you, sir. Waiting is brutal. I’m not a patient person. I can’t stand waiting. Well, let me couch that. I can sit and watch a six-part documentary series. I’ve read War and Peace and Les Misérables. I’ve read Ayn Rand’s books several times. I can be patient with them. I can just keep turning pages, and just continue to watch the people sit in chairs and look slightly to the left or right, because no one looks right into the camera in a documentary for…reasons. I don’t know why. Regardless of that stuff, I can be totally patient with art because I am not waiting. I am doing something. My brain is active. I am engaged with the art. I can do that for hours and hours. No worries.

When I have to wait for something that doesn’t have a runtime, I get antsy. Waiting on results of tests and for papers to be graded was torture for me, so when I teach, I grade things within two days. I know it is overkill. A week is standard and totally fine, but I am doing it for myself as much as I am for my students. The thought that they are waiting, waiting on me, fills me with such anxiety that I can’t help it. I have to just hammer down and get things graded.

When we buy a lottery ticket, it could be the jackpot, until it isn’t. They are bottled promises until they don’t pan out. There is something joyous in that kind of waiting. Sure, it could be misguided, but having hope should never be problematic. We don’t quit our jobs while we are waiting for our numbers to come in, but we dream a bit about what is to come. When I sent out manuscripts and query letters, the waiting was brutal, but I kept writing, I kept trying, and I landed on my feet.

Green Day (more on them below) has a pretty positive song called “Waiting” that is all about reaching for the stars. Bille Joe croons, “I’m so much closer than I have ever known.” Then he shouts, “WAKE UP!” Which is really good advice. In fact, it reminds me of the grandpapa of the Beat Generation, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s masterpiece entitled “I am Waiting.” If you want to hear it, you can listen here. It wouldn’t shock me at all if the lads from Green Day were fans. They are from Oakland, just across the bay from City Lights Bookstore, ground zero for Beat publishing.

In the song and the poem, there is a patience that I don’t possess, but a reminder to me, to us all really, that it is fine to be anxious about waiting, but that, as long as we are doing something, not just sitting, staring out the window wishing and dreaming, that the waiting will ultimately pay off with a “new rebirth of wonder.”

Notes From My Headphones

This month, I’ve been listening to a lot of Green Day because Cat Morland loves them. I didn’t know until I knew, but it makes sense. Punchy songs that are less than 3 minutes are perfect for those of us who have attention deficits, and Cat most certainly does. What I’ve found most enjoyable about listening to them is that, because they are all new songs to her, literally, in the book, she has grown up with a real lack of art and culture, and she doesn’t care if it was a radio hit or not. The song “Nightlife”, a duet with rapper and tattoo artist Lady Cobra, is universally considered to be the “worst” Green Day song on the “worst” Green Day album. While I personally don’t agree with that assessment, I was pleased to discover that Cat loves it. This isn’t always the case for me and my characters. Sometimes I love things they don’t like at all. When it comes on, my brain lights up and my fingers start flying. It is crass and may not be suitable for all listeners, but if you want a brain worm, give it a listen.

Notes From My Bookshelf

Yes, this is called Notes From My Bookshelf, but I just read Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney, and boy howdy is it a winner. Romney, a rare book dealer, does a deep dive into the books Austen mentions in her books or in her surviving letters. It is glorious. I’d already planned on giving Ann Radcliffe some love in Haunting Northanger, and after reading this book, I am so pleased I’ve gone in that direction. My reading list is much, much longer now. Watch this space for updates on those books.

Actor and activist George Takei released a new graphic memoir of his coming out story called It Rhymes with Takei. It is a play on the joke he makes that everyone says his name wrong. Once he came out, he started to tell people, “It rhymes with gay.” It is honest, beautiful, sad, and full of hope. I am so glad it exists in this format. He gathered the same team that did his graphic memoir about his time being locked in a concentration camp as a child. They Called us Enemy, like this new book, is practically perfect in every way.

Notes From My Keyboard

During the three-day weekend for the 4th of July, I took all three days off and I listened to Green Day and I wrote. On Sunday, I managed to crank out 2700 words, 2000 of them in one sitting. I was sweating. It felt like I ran a marathon, but I felt great. Cat’s story is coming together. She is on her way to Mansfield and is about to meet the main characters from the other books. It is very exciting. I can’t wait for her to meet the Tilneys and fall in love. Should be amazing.

I started a new web series called Fireside Chats with A.R. Farina, where I spend a few minutes, twice a month, talking about books in general and Jane Austen in particular. You can watch and subscribe here.