Doing Just Fine February 2026 Dear Reader, To start off this year, I read two big books: The Politics of Heroin by Alfred W. McCoy and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (thanks to JM for the assignment!). I would suggest not reading these two back to back, as they're heavy and you might hurt your neck like I did. (No pun intended! Vampires are not real!) I followed these two with The Crop Cycle by Shane Mitchell. It was published by the wonderful Bitter Southerner who I recommend checking...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine January 2026 Dear Reader, When I wrote you two months ago, I had tall reading goals and read I did! This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherrîe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa Bitch by Lucy Cooke How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi In addition to these pictured, I read The Brothers by Stephen Kinzer, Gliff by Ali Smith, Palestine by Nur Masalha, Illegality, Inc. by Ruben Andersson, Race and Reunion by David W. Blight, and Euphoria by Lily King — to name a few. Outside of...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine November 2025 Dear Reader, I’ve been thinking about the next year as I flip through my 2026 planner to decide on page formats and add quotes to boost me through the weeks. I've been feeling burnt out and while there is plenty of reason for that, I thought I had built up more reserves. Where did my ‘reserves’ go? I wondered if I have been playing at being an extrovert (haha) for the last few years while all along everything about me screams introvert. So I’m planning to see how...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Doing Just Fine October 2025 Dear Reader, It’s the last three months of the year, and I’m ready to tuck away for winter. I’m ready to tuck away for the entire next year. I’ve sent my latest manuscript off to my agent, and by the time she sends notes back it will likely be too late in the year to submit to publishers even if I could turn revisions around fast. Although I had hoped to sign a book contract this year, I’ve accepted the slower timeline. Maybe it will happen next year. Maybe this...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Doing Just Fine September 2025 Dear Reader, I hope you had a good August. That month has always seemed to run me down. It wasn't historically hot, if anything it was cooler than years past. But my body only knows the press of humidity and heat, and it is weary of it. We decided against taking any big trips this year, and that too casts its own pallor over me. Everything becomes same-sy on top of the daily dissonance of living and working in the states. I've noticed the stories I'm pulled...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine July 23, 2025 Dear Reader, I'm writing to you out of my normal schedule to celebrate LINH LY IS DOING JUST FINE's one year anniversary! I'll be enjoying sweets, and I certainly think you deserve a treat too! If not dessert for your tastebuds, how about 70% off the audiobook? My spoonful of warmed pie and melting ice cream toast will be to Linh Ly, my dear readers, and the future. I'm taking August off from the newsletter and will catch you back in September when I've hopefully...
8 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine July 2025 Dear Reader I am sitting with two opposing feelings. On one hand, the joy of the one year anniversary for Linh Ly is Doing Just Fine is July 23. And on the other, the horror of the year being half over. I’d also bet that I’m not alone in feeling like these past six months have felt like six years. Should we have been better prepared for this feeling, having survived the ongoing pandemic? …and what’s next? Horror and joy! That’s the theme to life these days. I really...
8 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine June 2025 💖💖💖 For audiobook lovers ~ Linh Ly is 50% off through June 3! Get your copy! 💖💖💖 Dear Reader, This month's card instructs me to "break free from belief systems that hold back your transformation." I can't help but think that if it were that easy, I would have succeeded a long time ago! I'm about to embark upon edits to my latest manuscript at the advising of my dear agent, who I am indebted to for being the one who has to tell me "not quite yet." For me, it works...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine May 2025 Dear Reader, The card pull for this month is chamomile, representing inner peace. Since the last time I wrote, I’ve crocheted two pairs of socks. To have made socks after only crocheting scarves with wandering edges in the distant past…I’m impressed with myself and sitting with that joy for as long as I can. I noticed the strangest thing recenty — that maybe I have started to feel okay? Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I noticed that I was feeling okay. Maybe...
10 months ago • 2 min read