I live in a house. I am someone's wife. And occasionally, when Anthony works overnight, and the children are finally asleep, and the words begin to swim on the page, alerting me I may begin doing more harm than good, I sneak up to the guestroom and turn on Fiona or Tori or Tracy or Joni or Amy or Carly and end up looking something like this. I've never identified as a "housewife," but I'm thinking it's reasonable that these components [ house + wife + occasional throwback beauty habit ] fit me squarely in this demo, this demo that OUR White House's worst-ever tenant assumes supports his racist policy. But here's the thing, the "housewives" I know, you know, married women in houses who may also occasionally wear curlers -- this must be the definition, right? I'll ask Betty Friedan and Matthew Weiner later -- we are ambitious, critical-thinking, open-minded, big-hearted types with soft bellies and sharp talons. We read. We analyze. We feel. We DO. We contribute more value to the people in our care the first hour of any given morning than he has all term, and likely all his life. We don't like messes because we are the ones who do the picking up. What a monstrous deplorable mess this insecure toddler has made. I've always loved witches, in part because of their dope wheels (🧹), but now I'm thinking it's a powerful symbol witches and housewives share. I, generally and specifically, LOVE people and LOATHE politics. Because of this very dilemma, November can't come soon enough. Brooms up, ladies. 🧹🏛🧹
#broomsup #womenwritersofinstagram #whenweallvote #witchesunite #voteearly #abbeyclelandlopez #peacelovevote #writinglife #614artist #votingmatters #votevotevote ...

Cameron thought this "fancy garnish" (and this photo capturing this "fancy garnish") was hilaaaaarious. 🦖🍸 Twas such the stressful/scary/strenuous week. But apparently I've arrived, somehow, in my Friday night fantasy scenario. (In bed, books and Belvedere within reach.) And despite this delightful anomaly, sometimes you STILL find a vicious beast in your vodka. At some point, these last few years, I've learned to sip around them.
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(And seriously, when possible, buy books from @prologuebookshop . They're indie and knowledgeable and lovely. No incentive to say that, except that it's the truth.) #notaninfluencer #justlovebooks #saveindiebookstores #abbeyclelandlopez #prologuebookshop #614columbus #cbusgram ...

Challenge accepted. @chefserenapoon 💓💪🏼👑💡✌🏼 I remember this moment from 2019. I silently recited (my own unique witchy version of) a prayer for a dear friend struggling with infertility, then wished my pending pap results would be normal. Soon after this shot, she became pregnant, and my results were perfectly normal. Even when it's HARD, like really really f'ing HARD, I've always revelled in being a girl/woman. I'm not even sure what exactly that means/implies, but I know, in my bones, my soul, it's a source of joy, empowerment, and creative expression for me. I pray everyone on the planet can derive this kind of happiness and rootedness in their identity. EVERYONE deserves that. #empoweringwomen #womensupportingwomen #womenempowerment #womeninspiringwomen #abbeyclelandlopez #womenwriters #womenwritersofinstagram ...

A high school boy once told me, "Your eyes are so navy, they're almost black, except when you've been crying. Then they're pretty." I've thought of this random, throw-away comment EVERY TIME I've gone out in public post-crying for twenty years. (So not thaaat often; I'm not much of a crier. I'm more apt to grab a pen or a baseball bat than a tissue, but nonetheless, EVERY TIME it applies, I hear it.) We're all walking around with these long-ago-spoken, unsolicited remarks, whether we're aware of them or not -- the compliments, insults, back-handed-something-or-others that burrow in our brain, crafting one brick in the complex building of Moi. In early story development, writers are tasked with creating characters' unique lists. What did someone say about her voice, her hair, her height, the way she ate, the way she laughed, the way she walked, the way she didn't hesitate to speak her mind... until she did? What remarks -- lovely, encouraging, innocuous, seemingly innocuous, confusing, annoying, hurtful, detrimental, dangerous, cruel, trajectory-changing -- does she still hear? Do we still hear? Do we still serve up like a pastry or a poison to the characters in our lives? As writers, we're most interested in the slippery, conflicted, strange ones. The ones that linger, in part, because they're puzzling. (Did he want me to cry?) #amwriting #writinglife #abbeyclelandlopez #writeon ...

So maybe you're a writer and you think you have friends. Here's how to check. Tell them you're on deadline and the electricity is out in your office. If they hand over the keys to their home without hesitation, congratulations! You have the best friend a writer can ever, ever have. Treat them like gold, acknowledge them in print when possible, and resist filling your Yeti with their high-end booze. (At least until you've hit "send.") @slipkin22 💋#abbeyclelandlopez ...

By the time I finished it, sunlight flooded my office, distorting this photo so serendipitously my mane's roots actually appear the color God Herself intended, and my beloved @_rachblack of @citrinehairandskin achieves. 👑 Anyway. Ask any screenwriter. Few highs top that dopey, delicious "FADE TO BLACK" high. I won't know this baby's strengths and weaknesses for weeks, but we won't focus on that today.

Today, Mama will be tired, but happy.

#abbeyclelandlopez #montague ...