Studio Notes: Surviving May
The month that tested me, the books that saved me, and a little time away
Studio Notes is the monthly dispatch from Kelly Anderson Studio: part life update, part creative catch-up, and a sprinkle of what I’m currently obsessed with. Around here, things move a little slower—in the best way. Grab yourself a cold bevvy and settle in. Here’s what’s been happening in the studio (and in life) this month.
Hi friends,
The month of May did me dirty.
One star. Do not recommend.
And that star is being granted begrudgingly because I took some time off at the end of the month. I mean, I had to—for the sake of my remaining sanity.
Let’s get into it.
Knox: The (Not So Secret) Agent of Chaos
Nothing has taught me that I can do hard things quite like this dog. The very end of April, Knox turned up sick again. Not our first rodeo by a long shot so I did what one does…bland diet (chicken and rice), up the probiotic intake, and watch closely. After a few days, I thought he was getting better. Sweet. Then Saturday came. He started getting worse. Lo and behold…he vomited up a hefty chunk of rope toy. Rope. Toy. We don’t have rope toys. This clearly happened at daycare. What the actual fuck?! In the wee dark hours of Sunday morning (Mother’s Day) he hoarked up an equally gargantuan hunk of rope toy. First of all, how? How did he swallow those huge pieces and not choke to death? But also, how was he left unsupervised long enough to get down two big ass hunks of rope toy? Gobsmacked seems a fitting descriptor. A sternly worded text was fashioned in the middle of the night with photographic evidence. His guts still have not fully recovered from this questionable life choice, but I think we’re close.
Calling My Booknerd Friends
This was an absolute banger of a reading month. I completed 19 books. Nineteen! By far the most I’ve managed in a month. Quite a few audiobooks, some on my eReaders, and a handful of physical books. Because Knox and my job were trying to put me in an early grave, I needed to escape. And escape I did. Straight into the pages of my books.
Here’s what I read (with ratings):
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (Kobo) ⭐⭐⭐
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (physical) ⭐⭐
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (reread on audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dawn of Chaos and Fury by Melissa K. Roehrich (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐
The Locked Door by Freida McFadden (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Inmate by Freida McFadden (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (Kindle) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Too Old For This by Samantha Downing (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (Kobo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of Us is Dead by Jeneva Rose (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Triptych by Karin Slaughter (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea (Kindle) ⭐⭐⭐
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (audiobook, physical) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Kobo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Thousand Broken Pieces by Tillie Cole (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Animal Farm by George Orwell (reread on audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐
The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter (Kobo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (reread on audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐
Standout Reads of the Month
🥇 Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
🥈 The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
🥉 The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter
My rating system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ = Damn. That was good.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ = I had a lovely time.
⭐⭐⭐ = It was fine. I enjoyed parts of it.
⭐⭐ = What a slog that was.
⭐ = We shall never speak of it again.
Have you read any of these? Are any sparking your interest? I’d love to know what you thought of them. I’ll also very enthusiastically accept any and all book recs. Also, how do you track what you’ve read? I use Goodreads, StoryGraph and even Notion, but I really love tracking them on the monthly spread in my planner (in this case, my B6 Sterling Ink Common Planner).
Birthday Getaway
I turned 50, y’all. Five. Oh. I don’t have any strong feelings about that, but I have taken pause for reflection and hope to move forward with some changes in focus. I think we’ll save that for another post. What I will share is that I went on a short beach getaway with my partner and Mr. Knox. It was lovely. Not without its hiccups (i.e., dead car battery before we even left the driveway), but we took it in stride and kept it movin’. The rest of my time off was largely spent snuggling the pup, reading, doing some journaling, just the right amount of trashy TV (the 90 day franchise is generally my go to), and simply trying to prevent Level 10 burnout (I don’t actually know how many levels there are, but I feel like I’m maxing out). Stay tuned to find out how successful that was.
So that was May: one chaos gremlin disguised as a dog, nineteen books, a milestone birthday, and a much-needed reminder that sometimes the best thing you can do is step away for a minute and catch your breath.
June is already shaping up to be a busy one, but I’m hoping to carry a little more chill into the weeks ahead.
As always, thanks for being here and letting me share this corner of my life with you. I’d love to hear how your month went, what you’re reading, or whether your pets have recently made any truly baffling life choices.
With gratitude from the studio,
Kelly 🤍
Kelly Anderson Studio
purveyor of slow made goods