Jaclyn Paul's Blog

I’ve read a lot of essay collections this fall. Could it be because I’ve redoubled my own essay-writing efforts?

Well, of course.

I like to read broadly in the category of my current projects. This gives me a chance to pick up on trends and get a feel for the reading experience people will expect. As a very young writer I wanted to be the author who defied convention and turned reader expectations on their head. I think that’s common at the age(s) when most of us think we’re much smarter t...

You know the trope-y-feeling plotline with the ex from your hometown? Who you never call and hardly ever think about yet you end up together every time you’re both back in town? And then you wonder about alternate timelines and what if you two were actually meant to be together and what does it mean that this person feels like home every time?

That’s me, except in my story the ex is my hometown in the fall.

While I’m not flaky — if I tell you I’ll be somewhere, I’ll be there at any cost — anyone who knows me probably reads my “maybe” as a no. If there’s a justifiable reason not to leave my house for an off-schedule peopling, I will find it.

This is not my favorite trait. My “maybe” or “I’m going to try to make it” is not a people-pleaser’s no. It’s more like, “I deeply want to be the person who goes to this event, but I don’t know exactly what to expect from the experience and that jacks up my h...

Funny story: I went to the beach for a little Thursday-Sunday writing retreat and I got stuck there. I thought I could leave at the time I’d originally planned despite a nor’easter rolling in. Turns out if I wanted to leave at all, I needed to have done it at least a  half-day earlier. Around midday Sunday, New Jersey Transit announced they were suspending train service out of Atlantic City for the duration of the storm.

Whoops. I’d overplayed my hand.

Once I accepted my fate, I was fine. ...

I have mixed feelings about driving in the city in general, and driving my kid to school in particular. As a kid myself I scoffed at peers whose parents chauffeured them to and from school every day. It was uppity.

But we had yellow school buses. City kids don’t. While I would love for him to commute on public transit someday, I want to wait until my child is a little bigger — and hopefully more easily visible — before I ask him to cross a major road between school and the train station. I al...

In keeping with past promises and current values, I’m collecting (usually) little life updates under the “journal” tag here. I’ve made a soft return to social media but never want to be the reason someone who steps away from those platforms misses out. As such, I’m going to do my best to replicate my Instagram feed in a format that hearkens back to my early-2000s LiveJournal days.

Anyway, the unofficial end of summer has been a whirlwind. Most notably, my childhood best friend and I attended ...

I’ve been quiet this first half of 2025.

That’s on purpose.

I’ve taken a step back from social media and focused more on “real world” conversations. My definition of “online” versus “real world” is a little squishy. You might get exactly what I’m talking about, or you might raise an eyebrow and disagree. It’s one of those distinctions I know when I see it.

For me, “real world” means direct communication. Actual conversation for its own sake, not optimized for likes and shares. I have a ...

When I posted a close-cropped photo of my notebook on social media a few weeks ago, someone asked for a look at the full spread. I share this curiosity about other people’s notebooks and other thought containers. However, it’s taken me a minute to gather some photos. I tend to fuss over choosing a representative sample. Then there’s the issue of privacy — both mine and others’.

In the spirit of keeping this blog casual, I’ve tossed out most of my perfectionism. If I’ve left a stone unturned, ...

I posted a(nother) photo of my customary lunch granola yesterday and someone commented, “Care to share?”

Well, sure.

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A post shared by Lena George / Jaclyn Paul (@lenageorgeauthor)

A while back I decided to toss out most of the modern hOw tO MaKE yOuR auThoR WebSiTe advice and return to my roots. My roots being print zines back in my punk youth days and LiveJournal during my angsty college days.

In other words, blog whate...

On my ADHD-focused Instagram account (@jaclynpaulwriter) I post a lot of text slides with observations or bits of wisdom. I try to stay quick and light with the writing. It’s easy to overthink these things and give them an inappropriate share of time.

Last week, while making a batch of ADHD Instagram posts, I noticed Canva had added a “Magic Write” AI feature. I could now right-click and tell the AI to make my prose more “fun” or “casual.” Cool. I could see that being useful. Naturally I bypa...