A note from Jane
Last weekend, for the first time in 18 months, I went to the cinema.
I was inspired after reading a New Yorker profile of director Brady Corbet, whose film The Brutalist is nominated for multiple Academy Awards. He is described as “a budding American auteur, precise and uncompromising in his artistic vision, fiercely ambitious about the kinds of stories he wants to tell and the way in which he wants to tell them.”
The profile primed me to expect a movie that would be a remarkable experience.
The first half of The Brutalist is indeed remarkable. But after the intermission (the movie famously has a 15-minute intermission, it’s so long), the storytelling takes a left turn. Corbet wants you to walk away with a specific message, even moral lesson. He has a point to prove and the movie ends by stating that point directly to the audience.
Interestingly, recent critiques of contemporary fiction have been similar: rather than allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions, the meaning or message is spelled out by the author. Here’s how I want you to interpret the characters and events.
After the movie, I was hoping to have a discussion about how it complicated my worldview or existing narratives today. Instead, I was left rewriting the ending in my head, imagining all the ways it could have held more nuance and power—which usually means leaving the audience with questions, not answers.
Jane
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A nice little app from Apple: Invites
My default for sending IRL event invites has always been Facebook, but it’s a flawed solution—not everyone is on Facebook. Some people use tools like Evite or Paperless Post, but I’m not a fan of either. So I was happy to see Apple move into this space with an app called Invites. Even if your attendees don’t have an Apple device or account, they can still RSVP. Learn more. However, you have to be an iCloud+ subscriber to create invitations.
Fail at building routines? Read this.
One of my favorite email newsletters is The Whippet, which recently featured a thoughtful piece on how the two purposes of morning (or evening) routines get mixed up when people offer advice on them. If you struggle with building routines, I highly recommend reading this.
A lightweight image-editing app called Acorn
I learned about Acorn from writer Craig Mod. He writes, “For some reason I’ve ignored the Photoshop-esque app Acorn, and now that I have it I use it daily — IT IS SO FAST (SO. FAST.). And just enough. I wish someone had slapped me about ten years ago to grab this software gem.” Take a look at Acorn. It costs $30 when it’s not on sale.
Serious essays change the world
If you want to make a difference in the world, there’s never been a better time to write a serious essay and publish it online yourself. David Kasten writes, “I imagine that if you think back over your past year, you can think of an idiosyncratic essay … that you encountered somewhere unusual on the internet that didn’t exist a decade before, that changed how you saw some issue. And I expect you’ll see more essays [from deeply knowledgeable folks].”
Memoir Backstory with Lisa Cooper Ellison / March 5, 2025, 1–2:30 p.m. EST
One of the toughest challenges memoirists face is determining how much of their past belongs in their book. While every aspect of your history shapes your understanding of your own story, only select moments from your past will drive it forward. The key to choosing wisely is to discern which backstory scenes provide critical context while allowing the rest to influence your character’s behavior in the present.
In this 90-minute class with Lisa Cooper Ellison, we’ll delve into the psychological reasons memoirists are drawn to their past, explore the challenges of deciding what to include, and discuss how to insert the right moments into your book.
Your turn: life-changing nonfiction
In the last issue, reader Kirsten Fogg wanted to know what nonfiction book has changed the way you live or create. Here’s a selection of what you said.
- Celeste Headlee’s Do Nothing came right at a time when I was burned out from a soul-sucking job. I’ve since bought three copies, having given the others to friends. I’ve never done that with another book, fiction or nonfiction! —Melanie
- The nonfiction book that has really changed the way I create is The Dramatist’s Toolkit by Jeffrey Sweet. I write mostly prose, but any time I tackle the creation of a script, I open this book, prop it in front of me, and adhere to its guidelines—many of them counterintuitive—for creating drama. The book’s lessons have also added a layer to the experience of watching plays and films. —Elizabeth Ann Stein
- Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken provided me with a new awareness about food and what I put into my body. The history, research, and knowledge he offers made me transform my diet. —Angela Eckhart
- Artpreneur by Miriam Schulman. I am an artist and writer trying to make my “expensive hobby” into a small business. In this book, Schulman sets out clear and distinct strategies on how to achieve this hobby to business switch. As I said in a review of the book, it’s my new bible. —Alis Sefick
- The one nonfiction book, if there must be only one, that significantly changed my life has to be Harriet Lerner, PhD’s The Dance of Anger. Her other “Dance of” books were also instrumental in my mental health and self-awareness journey. —Wendy Rossi
- My recommendation is Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. I read this after it was recommended by Bill Gates. It expanded my understanding of other peoples and countries of the world and turned some of my “common sense understanding” upside down. —Bill Weinberger
- My suggestion for a nonfiction book that changed the way I live and create is Conflict Is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman. I experienced a real mindset shift when I applied the author’s concepts to how I exist in my own relationships, my community, and the world. Conflict is the best part of a story, yet very few people approach it as an opportunity to ask questions and better understand another person’s motivations. —Corey McAveeney
➡️ I was so overwhelmed with responses that I can’t run them all here, but I have compiled them all online. Browse.
Next question: I’ll soon be in Los Angeles for AWP, plus visiting Yosemite afterward. Tips? Recommendations? Hit reply to this message, or head over to Discord to share.
Do you have a question you would like Jane to ask all readers? Reply with your suggestion, and she might feature it.
Free resources featuring Jane
Upcoming online classes
Meet Jane at an event
- How Writers Can Earn Money in a Creator Economy (Batesville, IN), March 22, 2025
- AWP Conference & Bookfair (Los Angeles), March 26–29, 2025
- My book launch event: Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, April 8, 2025
- Traditional Publishing 101 (Kansas City, MO), April 26, 2025
- ECPA Leadership Summit (Nashville), April 29–30, 2025
- Marketing Before and After the Book Deal (Reisterstown, MD), May 10, 2025
- AI and Publishing: The Technology Is Here to Stay. So Now What? (Reisterstown, MD), May 17, 2025
- NonfictioNOW Conference (Notre Dame, IN), June 11–13, 2025
- Midwest Writers Workshop (Muncie, IN), July 10–12, 2025
- Craft & Publishing Voyage (cruise ship!), Aug. 27–Sept. 3, 2025
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