Talking Shrimp
copywriting. jumbo style.
I was so mad that Friday. At 6:40, I was hustling off to my 7pm House dance class, wearing my dowdy, full-length black down coat and all kinds of other thermal layers. I’d walked a block thinking, “Only for Cebo’s class do I go out in this cold.” Cebo is my teacher’s “dance name.” (All the […]
KEEP READINGIn 6th grade, I was climbing the stairwell at school and heard D’Aisy* a half flight up, talking loudly to her BFF Giselle*. D’Aisy said, “I’m not inviting her.” Giselle said, “Good, she bugs me so much.” Interesting. I started jogging up the steps to catch up. “Who’s this about?” I asked them. “Who bugs you?” […]
KEEP READINGWhat can I tell you? The world turned upside down this week. Someone said, “I can’t wait to see the Talking Shrimp post about all this!” But there’s too much to say about it, and nothing feels adequate. And: when is it appropriate to write something that’s not about “all this”? Maybe now’s OK. Today, […]
KEEP READINGMy parents don’t like to throw things out. Neither do I. Steven keeps saying, “apple, tree” whenever he sees evidence of a hereditary hoarding pattern. And since we’ve been living here for a month, he’s had many opportunities to say it. Here are some of the things my parents hold onto: A ziploc baggie of […]
KEEP READINGI found two plastic bags of moldy muffin scraps in my tote this morning. They taught me an important lesson about creativity. (OK, that’s a major stretch, but why not make old bread products a teachable moment? Plus, let’s face it, everyone’s “lessons” on the internet are pushing it.) Here’s the backstory: I can’t snack these days. […]
KEEP READINGI didn’t shower yesterday. Not for any reason except I kept getting sucked into a work or Facebook vortex every time I looked at the computer. And I kept looking just when I was about to shower. I went to bed feeling filmy. I actually love the shower. I don’t avoid it like my friend Victoria, who’s scared […]
KEEP READINGI’ve helped a lot of coaches with their copy. Life coaches, wellness coaches, joy coaches, high-performance coaches, abundance coaches, gluten-cleanse coaches, empowerment coaches, vibrational alignment coaches. Confidence coaches, bone broth coaches, flow coaches. Not a menstrual thing. (I’m tempted to put quotation marks on some of those but I won’t. There’s a lid for every pot, a client […]
KEEP READINGDo you think a lot about your mouth? If not, lucky you! Not thinking about your mouth is a luxury you need to start appreciating right now. Light a scented candle and write about it in your gratitude journal. I think about my mouth all day. Everywhere I go, there it is — stealing the […]
KEEP READINGOh hi. I’m a shitty example. Last month I was in Italy, teaching 30 people that there’s always something to write about. I even passed around a printed guide I wrote called The Art Of The Start (How To Start Writing Anything). I got everyone writing. I came back all jazzed to write about it. But I return from […]
KEEP READINGIn 9th Grade, I handed in my Pride and Prejudice paper with broccoli stuck to it. As if this made it better, I circled the green smear with ballpoint pen and scribbled, “Mrs. Carpenter — sorry about the broccoli.” When I make presentation slides for a speech, I type plain text rather than find a nice graphic template. Instead […]
KEEP READING“I didn’t know you were back.” My mom is always a little hurt when she finds out I’ve been back a few days from a trip and haven’t told her. But back isn’t really “back.” Sometimes there’s jet lag. Sometimes there’s a post-vacation “I don’t want to deal with the reality that my life can’t […]
KEEP READINGInside our living room credenza, I have a clear plastic tub stuffed with old sh*t. Every few months, I take it out and go through a weekend-long ritual. I shuffle through photographs from the 90s, laugh at the pencil-thin eyebrows, and scan some choice shots of me and my friends from when we still had baby fat on […]
KEEP READINGLast week, I treated myself to some heavy-duty, delightfully effective Tylenol Cold and Flu. Man, do I love Western medicine! Praise Duane Reade. Blessed be CVS. My one complaint is the damn packaging that breaks off your fingernails. “Peel from this corner” is the biggest tease of all time. Why don’t they let us go through all […]
KEEP READINGThat day at the Sunshine Shack, we’d done everything right. Our friends Dan and Jess* had scored us beach chairs early. Dan had put in our order as soon as the owner showed up to start basting his meat. And yet, after watching everyone on the beach but us get their delicious-smelling ribs, Dan went to check on our lunch […]
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