It's not you, it's May.

Scaling back.

Y’all. It’s time for some real talk.

Look at my face.

Those of you who have been here from the start remember that first episode of the joj show when I was just trying to figure out what this thing was. We all knew it was about me. And France. And me in France. But maybe y’all didn’t know that this show was (is) my way of making sure I write at least once a week. It’s a way to keep my writing wheels greased. A way to say funny, disturbing things about France—things French people take for granted because they’re French and things most Americans don’t know about because I don’t write about the Eiffel Tower or any other French stereotypes you can easily find in every episode of Emily in Paris. So far, it has been fun and exciting.

It has also been a huge mountain of work, believe it or not. I know the final product may read kind of fast but maintaining this newsletter these past three months (it’s only been three months!!!!) easily eats up two days a week and I can’t even tell you why. Maybe it’s because researching stuff sends me down endless Google rabbit holes? Maybe because I want to hyperlink every possible thing I talk about? Maybe I’m just super slow? Until recently, spending all day writing about these things has been a delicious pleasure. It still really is, somewhere deep inside. But, and I hate to say this like it’s bad news because it’s actually really fucking cool, the newsletter has worked! My wheels are GREASED af, y’all. A by-product of this newsletter has been that I’ve made HUGE strides on my main areas of writing which are more autobiographical than reported content. I’m filling pages and pages of memoir and essay material. I’m getting my book, query, proposal and companion essays written and polished. I’m starting to think seriously—SERIOUSLY—about publishing (like, I’m thinking about starting to send materials out to agents next week)!!! You may have noticed that episodes of the joj show have started to read a smidge abbreviated or poorly edited, poorly proofed. That’s because I’m working so hard on my other writing that I’m rushing through this newsletter, feverishly writing at the last minute, stressed and fretting, just seeing it as another deadline I need to make, imagining in my silly egotism that y’all are all waiting by the phone for me to publish so you can get your joj fix. I’ve gone back and read recent episodes and am no longer AS PROUD of the quality of writing I’m pounding out. I have interesting and funny and ACTUALLY relevant things to say (I wanted to start a segment entitled LES NEWS which gives you an idea of what news is reported in France—both world news and French-reported news about the States), but I don’t have the TIME to say them in an intelligent way right now.

What I mean to say is MERCI. For showing up, reading what I say and interacting with me either here or privately. MAIS (“but” in French, pronounced like “meh”), I’m going to have to scale WAY BACK on the joj show. I’m not entirely sure how much, just yet. For now, I envision bringing you one or two posts per month with a few of my running segments—silly, superficial things like escargot pans, toilet brushes, speed bumps, etc—but also with new, deeper segments meant to tell you some serious shit about France. (For example, in light of some abortion things happening in the States (and the idea of adding four new justices to the SCOTUS), I thought about writing out a comparison of US v. France abortion laws (France isn’t as progressive as most Americans think it is) but I just don’t have time to do a topic like that any real justice right now.)

This isn’t goodbye. My mouth (and love of talking about all things French) is too big to keep shut for long. So, I’ll see y’all in June and fulfill last week’s promises to tell you about the cheeses France just can’t get right, my take on Emily in Paris (but I bet you can guess it) and maybe a little about abortion or prisons or France’ carbon footprint.

À bientot, les gars (See y’all soon)!