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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...