Soft Days
Nine small private moments. No occasion.
The everyday Jan, alone — in her apartment, in her car, in the shower, on the floor for unclear reasons.
Read all 9 moments →Things I Can't Tell My Mom
Nine moments between you and her. She doesn't know about most of them.
The hardest pack.
Read all 9 moments →Apartment Tour
Nine small wins from making a home alone.
The lighter pack.
Read all 9 moments →Small Religions
Nine quiet devotions. The rituals she'd never call rituals.
The joy pack.
Read all 9 moments →Friendship Drift
Nine moments of being known — almost, mostly, sometimes.
The relational pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Body
Nine moments her body knew before she did.
The somatic pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Days Before
Nine small moments before everything quietly changed.
The buildup pack.
Read all 9 moments →What I Was Given
Nine moments of a life that suddenly had time in it.
The aftermath.
Read all 9 moments →Hangzhou Days
Nine moments in a city I haven't seen since I was eight.
The trip.
Read all 9 moments →After
Nine moments after she came back.
Jan returns to Brooklyn changed.
Read all 9 moments →What Now
Nine moments after the question stopped being scary.
The season opener.
Read all 9 moments →Yes Days
Nine different shapes of yes.
The accumulating-yes pack.
Read all 9 moments →Things I Tell My Mom Now
Nine moments between you and her. She knows about most of them.
The inverse of Pack 02.
Read all 9 moments →The Class
Nine Saturdays at the wheel.
The pottery pack.
Read all 9 moments →California, Different
Nine days back where she grew up, with new eyes.
The California pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Friends, Closer
Nine moments of becoming the friend you wanted to be.
The inverse of Pack 05 (Friendship Drift).
Read all 9 moments →The Project
Nine moments of making a small thing on purpose.
The bravery pack.
Read all 9 moments →Someone, Maybe
Nine moments of trying again, gently.
The texture-of-trying-again pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Anniversary
Nine moments across the week she turns thirty.
The literary anchor of Season 2.
Read all 9 moments →This, For Now
Nine moments of being where you are.
The closer.
Read all 9 moments →Year Two
Nine moments of the practice having become a life.
The Season 3 opener.
Read all 9 moments →The First Email
Nine moments of being read by a stranger.
The Substack has, after fourteen months of mostly-quiet posting, sixty-three subscribers.
Read all 9 moments →Mom in Brooklyn (I)
Nine moments across the first four days her mother was ever in New York.
The structural anchor of Season 3, part one.
Read all 9 moments →Mom in Brooklyn (II)
Nine moments across the second half of the visit, and the after.
The structural anchor of Season 3, part two.
Read all 9 moments →Asked
Nine moments of being asked for the work.
In early June, a small literary newsletter — No.
Read all 9 moments →The Reading
Nine moments of the night her words were in a room with strangers.
A small Greenpoint bookstore.
Read all 9 moments →Tuesdays
Nine moments across the first six Tuesdays.
The four days after the reading.
Read all 9 moments →Someone, Differently
Nine moments of a thing that has shape.
The inverse of Pack 18 (Someone, Maybe).
Read all 9 moments →Things I Could Not Have Imagined
Nine small accurate things 28-year-old Jan would have laughed at.
The audit pack.
Read all 9 moments →More, Slowly
Nine moments of a room being used.
The closer.
Read all 9 moments →Year Three, in Winter
Nine moments of the year settling, with three small forward events.
The Season 4 opener.
Read all 9 moments →Come in May
Nine moments of preparing to fly.
The pre-trip pack.
Read all 9 moments →Hangzhou with Mom
Nine moments across eleven days her grandfather was still alive.
The structural anchor of Season 4, opener.
Read all 9 moments →The Funeral
Nine moments across the week of the week that did not, exactly, happen.
The grief pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Proof
Nine moments of grief held while the work proceeds.
The carrying-and-working pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Book Lands
Nine moments of a small specific public moment.
The chapbook-publication pack.
Read all 9 moments →Mom Comes Again
Nine moments across five days of the post-loss visit.
Mom's second NYC visit.
Read all 9 moments →The Offer
Nine moments across the seven days the email sat.
The narrative-motion pack.
Read all 9 moments →And Still
Nine moments of being where you are after everything.
The closer.
Read all 9 moments →The First Hundred
Nine moments of the work being the work.
The Season 5 opener.
Read all 9 moments →The Upstairs
Nine moments of a decision made on a Friday evening stoop.
The decision pack.
Read all 9 moments →California, the Baby
Nine moments across four days in Oakland.
The California pack.
Read all 9 moments →Mira Comes
Nine moments across three days the off-screen friend was, finally, in the room.
The structural anchor of Season 5.
Read all 9 moments →The Middle of the Book
Nine moments of the doubt.
The doubt pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Move
Nine moments across the week the chair moved up one floor.
The brand's only major life-event pack of its history.
Read all 9 moments →The Manuscript
Nine moments of finishing.
The manuscript-submission pack.
Read all 9 moments →The Edits
Nine moments of being edited.
The editing pack.
Read all 9 moments →Pub Day
Nine moments across the week the book became a real-thing-in-the-world.
The public-moment pack.
Read all 9 moments →Still Small
Nine moments of being where you are five years in.
The closer.
Read all 9 moments →
