Guys, I’m exhausted. I’m hanging on by a thread. But the show must go on (at least through October, and then I’ll be ideally caught up on work, enjoying life, and scheming for 2026, when I’ll be launching my new publication… stay tuned). 

Next Saturday, October 11, I’ll be in conversation with Soleil Ho as part of Roux Portland. Get your tickets and join us. It’ll be my first time in Portland, Oregon.

On October 21, we’ll have the “Is Cookbook Criticism Possible?” roundtable featuring Charlotte Druckman, Leslie Brenner, and Tim Mazurek. It’s just about sold out (of 96 spots), so get in there while you still can. As a reminder, all members will receive the recording and a text transcript. But if you want to join live, sign up.

On October 28, I’ll be giving The Self-Edit Workshop for folks who want to learn about independent publishing and the ways in which you can make your work more polished. Members, as always, save $25. I am going to give an updated version of my Newsletter Workshop on Tuesday, December 2, and it’s on sale through October. The sale will end on October 31. It will include my experience moving off of Substack.

The 28th will also be our book club discussion of Vibration Cooking at 2 p.m. EST. I will send the link with my notes on the 17th.

If you’d like to book an editorial consultation for this year, please get in now, as I’m fully closing up shop until the New Year soon. The Self-Edit Workshop, Newsletter Workshop, and/or a consultation would be great ways to get yourself ready to launch a newsletter in 2026—just saying!

In 2026, I’ll be doing my class The Food Essay for the public—it got great feedback from students when I taught it at BU. It’ll be five weeks of classes, and you can do it live, asynchronously, or as a combo. There are limited spots for the feedback add-on (10, to be precise!), so if you’d like to take the class with assignments, sign up early.

Ok, so what was up in the culture this past month? Let’s get into it.