Jen Selk - this is everything

Welcome to the cult of bedtime

2019-07-17

PARENTING | So I initially wrote this on my phone. With my thumbs. From 9:30-10:30 PM at night, in that first window of free time I have after my child, The Smeetch, has (dog willing) finally ...

creative musings, Writing

This is where we live, review

2019-03-22

BOOKS | It’s not that I hated this book. It wasn’t badly written. It was compelling enough. (I actually raced through it less than a week, despite the demands of a life that amounts ...

Absolute Fails, Products & Stuff

Target’s decorative gold turkey is the ultimate thneed

2018-11-20

RANT | Confession: I’m done my Christmas shopping already. Not only that, I’ve been done since before Halloween. Sure, if something jumps out at me, I might add in an item here or ...

blogs & news

To all the toys I’ve loved before

2018-07-31

PARENTING | My Smeetch is in the midst of a series of love affairs. She takes up with, then abandons, stuffed animals and other soft toys at a rate that feels staggering and terrifying. It is ...

blogs & news

Holy shit, Dietland is so good

2018-07-22

BOOKS | Dietland is so good. So good. Amazingly good. Riveting. And Sarai Walker is a warrior genius. Damn, y’all. Where has this book been all my life? I’ve been reading a lot ...

blogs & news

Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall

2018-07-17

BLOG | Happy fucking birthday to me! And to this website! Have you noticed it looks a little different these days? Yep. A mere 13 years after launching, I have finally gotten around to getting ...

creative musings

Calypso by David Sedaris, review

2018-05-29

BOOK REVIEW | Calypso by David Sedaris | Little Brown. At this point, blogging a review of anything by David Sedaris feels pretty presumptuous. Like, who the fuck am I to “review” ...

blogs & news

Happy Mama’s Day!

2018-05-13

MAMA LIFE | Happy Mama’s Day! This bullshit holiday has wormed into my black and shrivelled heart. Good lord, I am such a SUCKER. Like, I never thought I’d be the sort of person who ...

creative musings

Look Alive Out There, review

2018-04-10

BOOKS | New collection of essays by Sloane Crosley is good, but Look Alive Out There still irks me | Macmillan. I don’t think I’m a particularly good judge of Sloane Crosley’s ...

creative musings

The hardest part (teeth dreams)

2018-01-03

ESSAY | There is a dream I have sometimes, where all my teeth fall out. In various iterations of this dream, whole molars loosen and drop like a surprise into the space of my mouth, or an ...

blogs & news

Smeetchy at the Movies: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special)

2017-12-14

MOVIE | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer toddler review. Look, the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special is batshit. There’s no other way to put it. It’s whackadoodle. ...

blogs & news

Little ol me, Pushcart Prize nominee

2017-12-07

NEWS | Welp! This is a surprise. The very kind and wonderful folks over at Dead Housekeeping (who published my little flash memoir piece about my grandmother back in May), have nominated that ...