The Desk Notes

A paid subscriber scheduling rundown and reminders.

I’m stomping into your inbox on what is usually an Alicia-free Friday to provide Desk Book Club scheduling and more notes on paid subscriptions, so that paid subscribers can have them in one place. I know that it can get unruly to keep up with everything via my Monday emails.

Coffee table

The Desk Book Club

We have comment and Chat discussions every month, and one Zoom per book. For the current book, Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino:

October 25: Eating to Extinction Discussion #2, through page 256, in comments and paid subscriber chat
November 22: Eating to Extinction Discussion #3, through the end, in comments and chat—with Zoom to follow. We will have a poll to figure out the best day.

If you’d like to look forward to the Book Club picks for 2025, find them here. I send my reading notes and we have discussions on the third Friday of each month, with an hour-long Zoom session to close out each book.

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The Weekly Salon

There is a Monday 3 p.m. EST paid subscriber Chat thread in the Substack app where we discuss recent or old essays, as well as whatever we are reading and working on. It’s an invaluable resource for book recommendations and really fun, engaged conversation with folks who care about food, books, and culture.

We also have impromptu conversations, such as one that recently, about pitching magazines and newspapers. I shared three of my own successful pitches, as well as a spreadsheet template for tracking ideas, pitches, invoices, and more.

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From the Desk Recommends…

The monthly roundup of my reading, listening, and watching recommendations, which always comes with a playlist and occasionally book giveaways.

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The Monthly Menu

The monthly roundup of what I’ve been eating and cooking—restaurant recommendations, recipe notes and links, and cookbook shout-outs.

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The Recipe Archive

I don’t regularly develop recipes anymore, but when I do, they go here and I also link them in each Monthly Menu.

Paid subscribers also receive $25 off my Newsletter Workshop. The code is in the header to this email or please reply and I’ll send it over. Sign up for the Tuesday, October 8 sessions or the November 10 sessions.