Dearest Squad, “Always write when you’re in love.” My mother said this to me once upon a time and, like many such things she’s said to me over the years (“Everything happens for a reason,” “Go write me a new fairy tale”), it stuck with me. Keep in mind—this is my mother we’re talking about. Mom Kontis. OG Mama…
“Become wounded or wise.” —Sadhguru Dearest Squad, I started following Sadhguru on Instagram in 2020. I am always on the lookout for guidance from my gurus. The things he had to say really resonated with me…and not just because I was in the middle of realizing just how Buddhist and Hindu I’ve been my entire life without having the…
Dearest Squad, Yeah. I had to write this chapter. Sorry-not-sorry. I was crying so hard when started writing, and it was at the end of a chapter that was already over 3000 words. ALL these last chapters have clocked in at around 3000 words. [Edit: this essay was written before I broke them all up for…
Dearest Squad, Back when I started this book, I didn’t know any Korean, Portuguese, German, Croatian, or Arabic, and I knew way less Mandarin. I hadn’t yet been to Asia or Africa. My primary language is English. Technically, it’s still the only language I’m fluent in. I studied Spanish in high school until they ran out of classes, and…
Dearest Squad, This chapter is dedicated to my paternal grandfather, Sotos Kontis. I never met him—he died before I was born—but he was an engineer. Specifically, he was an engineer on ships that sailed around the world. After my family fled the Ottoman Empire (Great Fire of Smyrna, Turkey) in 1922, the East Asian ship they escaped on dropped…
Dearest Squad, I have no idea how to introduce this chapter. So instead, I will give you a completely fun fact about me that I bet you never knew: I have always been fascinated by just how many words and phrases in common vernacular (US and UK specifically, though I’m learning that Korean has a few as well) are…
Preorder THIEFTESS here! I think I summed up most of my gratitude for the 2024 editions of the first three Woodcutter Sisters books in the back of Enchanted. But I feel the need to give an extra shout out here to the gracious and wonderful people of Audible. And, of course, my dearest Katy Kellgren. When Brilliance first approached…
Preorder THIEFTESS Today! PS – There are at least 2 reports of folks having Amazon tell them they have already ordered the book, or that the file is saying DEAREST. This is an Amazon glitch. All the metadata on my end is 100% clean. If this happens to you, please restart your computer, clear your browser cache, and/or report…
Dearest Squad, I got home from my travels up north right before my birthday in January, and thanks to some pretty crushing anxiety and depression about my career (and Piper, and the state of the world in general) it took me over a month to get sleep and food and medicine and exercise and everything else back on a…
Dearest Squad, “Always write when you’re in love.” My…
THIEFTESS – now available!
“Become wounded or wise.” —Sadhguru Dearest Squad, I started…
