So I just start typing, right?

In which I try to write my first newsletter.

Dearest Reader,

Happy 2024! In the spirit of new beginnings, I’m excited to be sharing the first edition of Shelf Care. To be radically candid, I’ve never written a newsletter before. It kind of scares me. But there are a lot of things I want to do, topics I want to talk about, and connections I’m hoping to make. And so I’ve come to the internet, knocked on its door, and claimed a little corner to call my own. (The internet is very welcoming like that. I probably didn’t even have to knock, but I figured it was the nice thing to do.)

What will my corner look like? I’m not sure yet. I want to approach this with sincerity, not seriousness. That’s a phrase I heard recently that really resonated. Where should I start? Presumably, if you’re reading this very first newsletter, you’re someone I know (hi, friend). But just in case you’re a new friend, let me introduce myself.

Hi, I’m Courtney

This is the part where I tell you, preferably with a moderate amount of brevity, who I am and what this newsletter is about. Honestly, I kind of hate this part. I’m not very good at being concise (coincidentally, that was almost the name of this newsletter).

For the majority of my day, I’m a Junior Literary Agent. If you’re unfamiliar, that means I read a lot of emails. You thought I was going to say books or maybe manuscripts, didn’t you? Ok, I read a fair number of those, too. I get to work with authors and illustrators whom I greatly admire. It’s pretty cool. (Or as my German lessons have taught me to say, meine Arbeit ist interessant, aber sehr stressig.) Whenever I’m not being a Junior Literary Agent, I’m also a(n):

As you can see, I have a random assortment of interests—also a previous contender for the title of this newsletter—and those are just what I could fit into the above graphic. There’s always something new capturing my attention. Maybe you’re similar? If so, you can probably imagine that, given all these interests (combined with the finite nature of time), I’ve had some trouble prioritizing self-care. I’m hoping this newsletter will help me change that.

The newsletter

As of right now, I’m treating this newsletter as a kind of accountability partner. At least once a month—maybe more—I will sit down and ’fess up about how things are going, what I’ve been up to, and maybe even some insights (if I’m lucky enough to stumble across any of those elusive anomalies—hey, there was another almost-title).

I think this newsletter will likely change and evolve over time, but here are some things you might find in your inbox:

Thank you for coming along on this journey. I hope you’ll stick around!