This has been a week of long hours—tough, but a relief to start having work come in again after the holidays. That Thanksgiving to New Year's lull can be brutal for freelancers, especially since it falls at a time when more funds tend to be going out than coming in. Every year I convince myself in December that no one will hire me again—only to end up in February with an uncomfortably long task list. But in this case, being overworked is better than underemployed, and I try to stay grateful to be in that position.

Having said that, I'm only human, and sometimes that reminder doesn't succeed in lifting my lagging spirits (usually around 5 p.m.)...so here's a couple things that have been this week.

1. This great news that more than 50 years after To Kill a Mockingbird was published, Harper Lee is finally releasing a second novel. It's called Go Set a Watchman, and Lee has said that she's "happy as hell" to have it coming out. (Relatedly, I've been sloooowly working my way through this New York Magazine story from last summer called "The Decline of Harper Lee." Haven't dug through to the end yet, but like most NYMag stories, it's chock-full of great details and quotes and moments that seem to capture that elusive sense of how something—even if you aren't sure quite what—feels. A snippet: "[Lee had] once explained to Oprah Winfrey, over lunch in a private suite at the Four Seasons, why she’d never appear on her show: Everyone compares her to Scout, the sweetly pugnacious tomboy who narrates Mockingbird. But as she told Oprah, 'I’m really Boo.'" Undoubtedly more on this later.)

2. "Lorraine," by Jesse Thomas. I was introduced to Jesse Thomas this winter, just before Thanksgiving, at Paul Willson's Singer-Songwriter night at the Camel, and she absolutely blew me away. I also love that she's guzzling Bulleit bourbon in the music video—that stuff ain't cheap.

3. First Fridays is tomorrow night! I'm particularly excited about this series of screenprints depicting animals wearing Regency-period clothes, by Triple Stamp Press, at Ghostprint.

4. Sugar Shack doughnuts. Still not at the level of Country Style (who is?), but doughnuts + a 20-minute drive out towards the airport seems a little overindulgent for a weekday. Only 12 days until Fastnacht Day!