Five Things To Share
News, Bibliotherapy, CampNano, and a call for questions on expat China Life
Hi folks,
A more casual correspondence today—I wanted to share a few things with you, especially since I didn’t write a general March update. If you’re used to receiving my monthly emails from my Charlotte at Charlotte Dune email, you will notice this email addy is different. Due to changes in my old email system, I’m mostly going to correspond with you via Substack from now on. For more on this decision, scroll to the bottom. I still intend to bring you value, entertainment, and education with every bit of writing. I hope you’ll stick with me and keep on splashing in my strange lagoon.
Onto the five things!
I’m mentioned by
this week. If you’re interested in utopian science fiction or anarchy, I recommend reading the post. It’s part of one of the best examples of web-based serial fiction.And speaking of serial fiction, I’m working on a follow-up essay to my “Do We Really Need Email Novels?” piece. If you’ve seen any awesome examples of serial fiction online or in analog form, please share them with me in the comments.
Do you love recommending books and short things for others to read? I do, and this week I discovered there is a career for that called bibliotherapist! Pretty sure it’s my true calling.
Per books: I’m using Camp Nanowrimo as motivation to finalize all the edits on my forthcoming psychedelic dystopian holiday novel, Acid Christmas. If you’re a writer and you’re doing CampNano, don’t forget that I also co-host a free writers’ support group with author Lainey Cameron. We meet every Thursday at 8 pm EST. We are also hosting a “Writing Authentic Characters With Disabilities” panel/presentation with guest speakers for April 27th, coincidentally the one-year anniversary of this Substack! More on that soon. If you would like to apply to join the writers’ support group, please fill out this form.
Finally, tomorrow I’m interviewing an American woman who lived in China for six years, including during the pandemic and lockdowns. I can’t wait to ask her all about what life was actually like there and about her views on American vs Chinese culture. If you have questions related to expat life in China, please share them by email or in the comments of this post.
In the future, I’ll interview a Chinese expert on China, and a scholar focused on the Three Body Problem series and Chinese sci-fi, but we also gain insight from Western eyes. Sometimes foreigners and visitors see our worlds better than we do, or at least in totally different ways. I’m reminded of the Swiss photographer Robert Frank and his incredible photobook The Americans. I reflect on his profound images often as I drive around Florida in my daily life.
Robert Frank, Long Beach Calif, 195 A photo I took on my iPhone last week in St Pete, Florida because it reminded me of Robert Frank.
That’s all for today! Hope you enjoyed my five things!
XXXOOO
Charlotte Dune
Why the Switch to Substack?
*After nearly a year on Substack, I believe this platform offers a better reading experience for you and definitely gives me a better newsletter writing experience. It allows for increased accessibility also with its audio and read-along option. You can always unsubscribe if this doesn’t suit you. Also, make sure you save my substack email: charlottedune@substack.com in your contacts and move me to your primary inbox to ensure you receive my messages. Or you can turn email completely off and view my posts in the Substack app. This is what I do for most of the publications I’m subscribed to so my email inbox doesn’t get too full, and because I prefer the app to my email.
All my writing here will remain free for at least a week after initial publication, but after a week or two, I may place more personal posts and short fiction behind a paywall. The monthly fee to read locked posts is $4.20, less than the price of one Starbucks Venti Latte. Your girl has to prove to the IRS that writing is actual work… All the proceeds from this newsletter will go towards hiring an assistant to help me during book launches.
Thanks again for being here and for reading my work!