Adopting Cloud Spotting

Plus frozen treats, fresh ink, and memoir updates.

Hello lovely readers! How is everyone doing today? In today’s long form newsletter, I’m excited to share links to stories I’ve worked on, including a profile on JBJ Soul Kitchen for the James Beard Foundation (part of Dorothea Bongiovi and Jon Bon Jovi’s non-profit JBJ Soul Foundation), a deep dive into dirty soda for Food Network, and a feature on my favorite brand of simple syrups, made with fruit and herbs in Richmond, Virginia (they’re excellent in cocktails, iced coffee, and to zhuzh up seltzer!). As always, thanks for being here!

CLOUD SPOTTING: Watching clouds for enjoyment, relaxation, or learning about them (Source: Reverso Dictionary)

Laying on our pool chairs, our eyes pointed at the bluest of blue skies, Ava and I called out what we saw in the clouds. A dragon. A tea cup. A heart. A shapeshifting parade revealing new forms in real time as the clouds travelled across the atmosphere. We’ve done cloud spotting before, at the beach, where the sunset skies spin fresh cotton candy and the sunrise dawn slowly reveals itself, a tease before the big reveal only to retreat into the clouds. In the car in line for school drop-off, we look through the sunroof or out our windows, spying creatures and faces.

This past year, in fourth grade, she learned the names of the different types of clouds, so she’ll often call those out too. Puffy cumulus clouds resembling mushrooming cotton balls. Cirrius, the wispy clouds that look like stretched cotton, or teased out feathers. There’s stratus, the kind of clouds that blanket the sky with a flatness, no discernible shape, a calm before a storm perhaps. And cumulonimbus, the huge clouds that look swollen and threatening, ready to unleash a torrent of rain, and hopefully a thunder and lightning storm we can enjoy watching from our porch.

Three years ago, I learned about a different kind of cloud. A word cloud. In a memoir writing workshop with Allison K. Williams (who was also my first developmental editor and is an incredible teacher, editor, and writer), she showed us how you can use a word cloud generator as a writing tool. You copy and paste a passage of text—in my case, a prologue—and then it generates a cloud of words. The words that appear most often are larger, which is useful for spotting themes and also overuse of certain words. You can adjust the word count parameters; for me, 50 words is the sweet spot.

I returned to the exercise recently, copying and pasting the first 10 pages from my memoir, which covers chapter 1 and part of chapter 2. It’s interesting to see which themes persist, like food and restaurants, and which words have given shape to my story three years later, especially weight, fat, and shame. As I continue revising my manuscript, the word cloud will morph to take on new shapes, new meanings. Even when I have a finished book, its meaning will change shape with every reader and their own experience with the story. What they see, feel, and hear will give rise to a different interpretation.

Art is ephemeral like that. As writers and creatives, we have to remain open to possibility. We hope that readers will interpret or understand what we intended to say. That they see what we see, feel what we feel. But also a wish that it will stir something in them that is personal, that makes the story feel like it was written just for them. In the end, the form is less important—what is important is that they feel seen in our words.

Memoir Updates

Reader, it’s tough out there. I am still in the querying trenches and riding the emotional waves of hope and rejection. I have to remind myself that it’s not personal. I can understand pragmatically that an agent or editor saying yes to your book is subjective, a calculated risk, a business decision. But it’s hard to hear that an agent is really excited about your project, loves your writing, your perspective and themes, but that there isn’t enough of a takeaway to make it really compelling for editors. That my platform isn’t big enough (platform refers to how you will reach readers, and can include social media stats, previous publications and credentials, newsletter subscribers, professional contacts, etc.). I allowed myself, as my mom said, “to feel your feelings.” I wallowed for a couple days, took a break from looking at my manuscript and researching agents, and feel refreshed to try again. Keep rooting for me and sending your well wishes and cheerleading my way, please!

Published Articles & Media Appearances

I’ve been busy in my copywriting and editorial role at the James Beard Foundation, which includes penning blog posts, like profiling JBJ Soul Kitchen, the pay-it-forward restaurant that is part of Dorothea Bongiovi and Jon Bon Jovi’s non-profit, JBJ Foundation, for which they won a 2026 James Beard Impact Award. I also got to interview 2025 James Beard Award winner and pastry chef Paola Velez whose career I’ve been following for the last six years, ever since she co-founded Bakers Against Racism, and whose D.C. restaurant Providencia, I hope to dine at soon! From her award-winning cookbook, Bodega Bakes, she shared three fun frozen treat recipes inspired by Dominican desserts and flavors that you can make at home—no fancy equipment required. Over at Food Network, I wrote about dirty soda, a beverage trend I didn’t even know existed, but fans of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and TikTok obsessives likely know their own go-to combo of soda, syrup, and creamer (don’t knock it till you try it, I think!).

Books, Bites & Beverages

Books:

Last newsletter, I covered several of my favorite recent reads, including Go Gentle (by Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette), Famesick (by writer, actress, producer, and director Lena Dunham), and The Correspondant (a breakout hit epistolary novel by Virginia Evans). I recently finished Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, which was an incredibly compelling read about a woman whose husband of 20 years abruptly leaves their marriage during the pandemic—after she learns that he’s been having affair—without any explanation or desire to participate in the children’s lives. It’s also a fascinating look at how the 1 percent live, as the book takes place in New York City and Martha’s Vineyard, and delicious to soak up the sheen of the author’s glamorous pedigree (she is granddaughter to Babe Paley, an iconic fashionista, trendsetter, and socialite).

Bites:

I’ve been making good on my summer mantra of pool, books, ice cream and have been enjoying scoops and swirls around town and at home. I am obsessed with a watermelon lemonade sorbet recipe from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, especially since it’s dairy-free so my mom can enjoy it, and Ava and I have bookmarked the roasted strawberry buttermilk flavor to make next. We also plan to whip up another batch of vanilla ice cream to accompany grilled peaches, which sounds like the ultimate summer treat to me. First, we’re working on cleaning out the freezer, and I discovered an unexpectedly delightful combo (pictured above): Talenti cold brew coffee sorbetto and homemade strawberry gelato (recipe from the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook).

Beverages:

For En Forme I wrote about Crescent Simples’ fruit-herb syrups and it’s one of those products that I fell in love with and will order again on my own dime (food writers often receive samples in exchange for editorial consideration; it’s never a guarantee that I’ll write about it.) I especially love the raspberry rose, tartly sweet and floral, and delicious and unexpected in iced coffee, and the jalapeño lime is perfect for a spicy margarita situation (pictured above, photo credit to Lindsay Sostak). The syrups are also great poured into glass of seltzer, stirred into iced tea, and drizzled over ice cream. In the article, the founders share a recipe for their go-to spiked punch for serving at get-togethers or toting to backyard barbecues, which puts the juicy peach hibiscus flavor to excellent use.