Literary Pixie

Hi Friend,

It’s September, and officially Fall on September 22 – that’s the equinox! This summer has been a rollercoaster with moments where I felt so highhhhh and surreal.

Being interviewed on NPR and interviewed in the LA TIMES (here’s the article with the clip they played! and here’s the article!!) and standing in front of 300 people at Barnsdall after distributing 400 zines featuring 37 writers that I think are fucking awesome was pretty magical, especially when I think about where I was one year ago. And especially when I think about where I was seven years ago when I first moved back to Los Angeles. And even more amazing when I think about where I was 17 years ago (aka 15 years old)!

The festival was not perfect, but it was pretty dang good.

And I’m super excited to share that after the festival I was offered a permanent bookseller job at Skylight Books, and I took it!!

I’m staying in Los Feliz!! Woo!! I am so grateful for all the people who helped make the festival happen and participated! We had almost 800 people attend our 13 events and fundraised over $5,000!!

I am in awe and radiating joy and gratitude.

So many people who love writing like I love writing!

LA is the city of writers!

In this newsletter, I’ll share:

Love youuuuu,

Sammy

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Life Updates

1. I got a permanent job as a bookseller at Skylight Books!
2. I’m not moving to Cambridge!
3. I was interviewed on NPR!
4. The Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 was huge and featured in Secret Los Angeles, Los Angeles Magazine, and the LAist!

Current Chapter

Since I resigned from teaching, I have said that I need a year where my job is not overwhelming (ideally easy and boring!) so I can focus on my health, personal life, and breaking my burn out cycle.

I’m 32 and I have burnt out three times already. Three times! Three times, I have been forced by my body to stop everything and listen. Why does this keep happening to me and what can I do to learn from these experiences to prevent it from happening again?

I’ve realized a few things about myself, some are genetic (I come from a neurodiverse family with a highly sensitive nervous system and a genetic predisposition towards anxiety from generational trauma aka being Jewish!) and some are learned behavior (As the oldest daughter of three, I learned to prioritize my younger siblings over my own needs and the most useful coping strategies during conflicts were to fawn, flee, and disassociate).

While my work has been going well and people have been asking me to do more work because I’ve proven myself to make things happen, I have been saying for years that I need at least a year where I work part-time and can focus on my life in Los Angeles, can focus on being human.

The culture in LA makes this very hard! I want to write about it. Been watching Sex and the City, and thinking to do another column (for those who remember Sammy Says from my St. Andrews days!) and to call it Love and the City of Angels or Love in Los Angeles. Which one do you prefer?

What I’m Reading

I have been reading a lot!! And plan to read a lot more!!

Recently:

• Diary of a Mad Girl by Nicole Levin – if you’re feeling privileged and poor and hopeless and questioning whether you are worthy of love, this book will validate your insecurities and reassure you, you are worthy of love and there is hope!!!
• Are You Mad at Me? by Meg Josephson – for us fawners out there, very helpful in reflecting on certain behaviors and actions to stop fawning and start taking care of ourselves!
• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer – a fun read that documents the social media world and kickstarter/substack commodification of creativity with it’s good intentions that have caused more harm than good (in my opinion) – but we didn’t know that then and Amanda was a leader and pioneer in this space. I wonder how she feels now?
• MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction – this has been inspiring my organizing a lot! MFA vs NYC vs LA!?!?! What are the jobs for writers in the 21st Century and what have we inherited from the 20th Century and how do we update it!?
• Read Some Poetry You Buttheads by Aubrey Mayne – hilarious poetry collection to try to get you to take yourself a lot less seriously. Share your shit and stop trying to be Shakespeare!
• Rom-Com for Dummies by Tom Diggs – cutest rom-com! Had a lot of fun reading this one.

What have you been reading?

Summer Memories

Mutual Support/Care

I read this Instagram post about not just mutual support, but mutual care!

We often talk about self-care! We need to take care of ourselves. Mutual care is when we take care of ourselves together!! While mutual support is when we take care of others, but not ourselves, an act of service that can only be done healthily if you have been taken care of first and also have a demonstrated history of reciprocation.

This hit me, because in order to take care of myself, I have had to stop seeing my friends and family mostly and made me feel very isolated.

Why does self-care mean being alone? I love the idea of mutual care!

For me in this chapter, mutual care is

• learning to cook vegan/plant-based meals and meal prep
• going to yoga at Yoga Vibes!
• budgeting!
• attending local activism events (specifically ICE raids, education, environment, and housing)
• reading and discussing books I’m reading/want to read!
• working on my writing projects
• going on hikes and spending time in nature
• exploring and attending cultural events in LA (specifically poetry, books, plays, history, food, and museums) and writing reviews/having fun!
• keeping my house clean and organized and peaceful

For support, I need:

• I am looking for a committed team to work on Los Feliz Writers with me! I have been overcompensating and cannot maintain this amount of work and responsibility alone.
• I would love for a few people who are committed to my writing projects and helping me get them published and out in the world!
• I need your patience as I change jobs and update my communication norms and expectations and boundaries.

What care do you need and do we overlap? What support do you need?

As always, email me at seeliterarypixie@gmail.com to connect.