Three Books That Kept Me Sober and Sane This Week

I read three books this week. Friday marked five weeks since I’ve been quarantining at home, away from my day job - and I felt it. Like most folks, I’m experiencing news-fatigue, cabin fever, and overall restlessness. Staring at screens all day is taking its toll. I used to take a break from reality by getting tipsy, but that option is off the table. Instead, I took a healthier route and dove into some fiction.

A recent article in the Atlantic talks about how books are the perfect antidote to social distancing. We can binge TV shows passively or watch a movie marathon while cooking or talking or live-tweeting our own personal commentary. We can scroll through social media for hours, mindlessly searching for something to fill the void that we’re all feeling. But a book is different. A book requires our full attention. A book cannot be read passively.

Books require my complete presence in order to consume the printed words and smell the paper pages. I underline the words I don’t know then go back and look them up. I highlight the passages that soothe my soul, taking note of a beautiful metaphor or unique sentence structures (I can’t clock out as a writer!).

Here are three novels that kept me relatively sane this week. If you want to read any of these, please consider purchasing them through a local bookstore. Links also provided below:

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

I read Godshot in one day. The last time I did that was Amy Poehler’s memoir, Yes, Please. Godshot held my interest from the moment I held it in my hands. The gold, glittery cover is more than just a beautiful jacket, it plays a significant part in the story as well. This book is about a teenage girl named Lacey May in Northern California who’s brainwashed in a cult. Vern, the cult-leader, convinces his followers that he can fix the ongoing drought through a series of “assignments”. Lacey May experiences some horrific events, including her mother’s abandonment, leaving her to be raised by an evangelical, abusive grandmother. Lacey May, determined to find her mother, also finds personal growth, feminism, and a spiritual awakening.

Purchase here.

The Herd by Andrea Bartz

This thriller takes place in a coveted women-only coworking space called The Herd (think: The Wing) in New York City. Eleanor, the fabulous CEO goes missing on the night of a big press announcement and everyone in her elite circle is a suspect. The story is told by two sisters who are Eleanor’s BFFs. They are also very involved in The Herd behind the scenes. The book’s voice alternates from sister to sister from chapter to chapter. I struggled with this structure at first, but once I got into it, I loved how the story was told. Each chapter has a cliffhanger that the reader finds out two chapters later due to the author’s unique writing style. Reading this book also reminded me that downtown Manhattan is a thing, despite the fact that I haven’t left uptown since the middle of March. It gave me hope that one day I can walk through SoHo again.

Purchase here.

Verified Strangers by Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham is one of the most polarizing millennials out there - and I absolutely adore her. I’ve watched and read all of her work, so it was a no-brainer when I heard that she was writing a serial novel for Vogue.com. Verified Strangers is a modern love story about a girl named Ally. It takes place in LA. It highlights the strange reality of dating in today’s hyper-technological world. For four weeks, Lena published a new chapter every day, Monday through Friday. Plus, the readers had a say in what Ally did next by voting on Vogue’s Instagram story. Graphic designers also had some skin in the game. They posted visuals on Instagram using #verifiedstrangers to get Lena’s attention. Then Lena would incorporate some of the visuals into the story. To be completely, honest, it’s not the best book out there, but I love Lena and I really liked that it was interactive. Waiting for the next chapter to load each day was pretty fun, too.

Read it here.

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Join me Monday, April 20th at

3EST for a *free* Writing Class.

Hey writers, I’m teaching a *FREE* IG Live workshop about pitching. When I was new to freelancing, the thought of sending that first pitch was incredibly overwhelming. Over the years, I’ve developed a pitching method and have since been published in Playboy, Men’s Health, Huffington Post, The Temper, Audiofemme, and more. My goal in this workshop is to demystify the pitching process for you. I’ll break down all of these questions and any more that you might have.

Join me Monday, April 20th at 3EST - over at @bigvisionnyc’s IG Live. If you can’t make it this week, next week’s class is called How to Create a Writing Routine.

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Tawny is an NYC-based writer, public speaker, and event producer who’s passionate about smashing stigmas associated with both sexuality and sobriety. Ruby Warrington dubbed Tawny “The Sober Sexpert”. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 

Read Tawny’s published words in Playboy, Men’s Health, Huffington Post, The Temper, Audiofemme, SheSaid, Recovery Campus, WorkIt Health, and NY Yoga & Life Magazine. Tawny shared her recovery story on stages all across the world: IOGT World Congress, New York State Recovery Conference, United Federation of Teachers, and more.

In addition to writing and public speaking, she’s the founder of the Readings on Recovery™ reading series and SobrieTea Party™ and co-host of Recovery Rocks podcast with Lisa Smith. She’s also a charity volunteer with Road Recovery and an award-winning filmmaker of the recovery documentary, Fixed Up.