Welcome to Fully Booked
Oh, look at that. Another Substack!
Hello! If you are one of the roughly five people reading this, welcome to Fully Booked. Three of you are probably related to me, and two of you are probably Russian bots, in which case, привет!
I know, I know—here I am, another person launching a Substack. How deeply original! Up next on my list of pioneering feats: Putting out GRWM TikToks while wearing one of those poofy headbands and creating a podcast sponsored by BetterHelp. (Kidding! Unless someone from BetterHelp sees this and wants to fund my serotonin overhaul.)
But seriously—as someone who makes a living writing for other publications, I’ve long wanted to create a little corner of the internet that’s all my own. Fully Booked was born out of the conversations I have with friends who are equally avid readers—all the books we can’t put down or stop talking about, the authors whose novels we’ve pre-ordered months in advance, the new writer we just discovered who sounds exactly like that other writer we love. It was also born out of the conversations I have with those who want to read more, but have difficulty finding the time or the right book. I figured, well, what if I just chatted with people who read a shit ton about how they do it, where they find their books and recommendations, and then put those conversations on the internet?
And here we are. The way I currently envision it, Fully Booked will feature two monthly Q&As with diehard readers, as well as a monthly round-up where I share a little bit about what I’ve read and liked. Maybe we’ll even get a little freaky and throw an essay in there from time to time. Who knows! We’re winging it here.
I do know, though, that starting Fully Booked is emblematic of a new life motto I’m trying to adhere to, a mantra, if we want to get Goop-y, “I lost a half-day of skiing” about it: Why not me? I’ve long considered starting something like this, but I’ve told myself that it’s cringe or too much work or that no one would want to read it. But think about it—most of the things you love were created by people who decided they don’t give a fuck whether other people find them cringe. Your favorite book, your favorite movie, your favorite album—all these things came from people who looked around and decided to think why not me? And, yes, that same vein of thinking is why we have been cursed with things like the Jennifer Lopez/Ben Affleck movie Gigli, but we’re not going to dwell on that here. Non-Gigli vibes only.
In any case, thank you for being here, and thank you for reading this. To my Russian bots: Спасибо. I hope Fully Booked introduces you to cool readers and authors and books that teach you something new or make you feel things. One of the biggest loves of my life is reading, and I want this space to be a celebration of that. So please, stick around. There is some fun and potentially (definitely?) unhinged stuff coming your way. And, in the meantime, happy reading, my friends.