Creative block breakers 💡 & trends for 2025

Hi friends,

How are you?? I am hanging in there and I hope you are, too. My husband Ross, cat Zadie, and I have been back in our home for over a week now after evacuating due to the Eaton fire in Pasadena. I’m sure the trauma of this moment will show up years from now in ways I can’t anticipate, but for now, I’m okay. I have an air purifier and the will to live; what more does a girl in L.A. need?

I have been thinking about how to help those affected by the fires in a sustainable, long-term way. The outpouring of support for the victims has been so incredible to see, but donation centers are getting overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff people have been buying and dropping off. Don’t get me wrong, people who have lost everything surely do need stuff, but I’d like to focus on the less immediate things people need, too. For example, what about the number of schools that burned down or were damaged in the fires? I would really like to do something to support the rebuilding of a public school, because I actually still believe in the potential of public education. Call me nutty!! If you have any ideas on how to donate directly to support these schools, please hit reply and let me know.

I worry about the long-term health effects of these fires, those old houses burning down and putting lead and asbestos and lots of other nasty stuff in the air. Are we all going to get cancer in five to 10 years? I hope not! Trust me, you won’t want to have to guilt-buy a ticket to my terrible one-woman show about fighting cancer that doesn’t say anything new or poignant about the experience! (Which I WILL have to write.) I am using an air purifier indoors and masking outdoors for now, and I hope that’s enough, because I’m not sure what else to do.

On top of all that, my heart hurts for my country. It’s embarrassing to be an American. I guess it always has been (we don’t have a great track record of doing the right thing), but especially right now, with the dumbest fucks alive in power. It’s hard to choose, but I would say the two moments from the inauguration that trickled down to me through social media (because I sure as fuck didn’t watch it live) and upset me the most were 1) Elon doing a Nazi salute and 2) Trump declaring there are only two genders. The former makes me think of that quote from 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Moments after he heiled, conservative media started explaining why it wasn’t a heil. Republicans sure love to gaslight us, don’t they? But if it looks like a Nazi and acts like a Nazi… And then for the latter, well, it’s just idiotic, because denial won’t make trans people go away. Imagine sitting in your house just stewing with hatred because a trans girl gets to go have diarrhea at Barnes & Noble just like everyone else. Literally, why are they so obsessed? (I mean, I know why, but also: why can’t they just chill the fuck out and be normal about literally anything?)

It’s going to be four very long years, and I sure hope it ain’t longer than that.

On top of all the daily horrors, we comedy people have to contend with idiots who say shit like, “Trump is going to be so good for comedy!” Right, because there are no marginalized people in comedy affected by any of his policies. Biggest eye-roll ever. On top of that, I just don’t think the man is funny at all. I don’t think Trump impressions where he self-aggrandizes are funny, I don’t think the gaffes are funny (well, except for Four Seasons Total Landscaping, I got to give it to them for that one). From a storytelling perspective, I don’t get what’s funny about someone being a bigoted jackass and having no redeeming qualities or character growth over time. You know? He’s not smart or clever or interesting. He doesn’t even seem to like his own children, except for Ivanka, who he likes too much. The man doesn’t even have a pet to humanize him! He’s a poorly drawn character at best. A one-dimensional villain. And now he’s the president, so fuck my drag, I guess.

But this is not what I wanted to write about today! Ugh! What I wanted to write about was JOY as an act of resistance. Getting the fuck off of social media and dedicating your time to a hobby that brings you happiness. And more importantly: a hobby that does not have to immediately become a side hustle or content. THAT is what I want to focus on in the new year, instead of doom scrolling. (This is, of course, for after you have given all you can to help your community. I’m not talking about peacing out on people who are suffering.)

So think about that. The ghouls in power want us to be numb and scared and depressed and sick with worry about the future.* They don’t want us to party or laugh or have sex or fall in love or listen to great music or experience great art. They certainly don’t want us to MAKE art.

*On a side note: what is up with all their short-term, money-motivated thinking? They know you can’t take it with you, right? It truly proves that simply having children does not make you a good person or that you give a damn about making the world a better place for those children. How is it that I, an agnostic childfree cat lady, cares more about their kids’ future than they do?

Let’s get into a couple joyful things:

- A few weeks ago, a coworker shared this trend report that Pinterest published about what they’re predicting will be the hot trends on social media in 2025. It’s pretty fun! I found “Surreal Soirees” amusing, since that was the theme of a recent Beverly Hills Housewives party (are those broads actually on the cutting edge for once?), and “Rebel Floats” to me felt like they were misconstruing the growing Mormon bespoke soda addiction as nostalgia for 1950s soda pop culture. I did have a good chuckle at this copy on “Fisherman Aesthetic:” “Meet the effortlessly cool town fisherman.” I have never thought of a fisherman as cool before! Fascinating! Take a look and let me know: which trend is speaking to you? (I’m “Mix and Maximalist,” always.)

- Oblique Strategies. When I was staying at my friends’ place during the fires, they were taking an online course with famous musician and producer Brian Eno (my friends are a musician + an audio engineer who run their own ambient music label). They introduced me to Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards that Eno published with multimedia artist Peter Schmidt, each printed with a phrase, sentence, or directive designed to break through creative blocks.

I LOVE stuff like this, so as soon as I got home, I ordered a set for myself here (the EnoShop storefront looks super jankety, but I DID receive my cards, and quite quickly, too, considering they shipped from the UK). The card set is pretty expensive ($64.90 USD), but it comes in a beautiful, solid box and is built to last. However! If you can’t afford that, you can also just go to this website and “pull a card” virtually.

I’ve already found these ideas super helpful in guiding my writing practice. I recently had to write an artistic statement for a writing workshop application (UGH), and was totally stumped. The last time I applied to this thing, I knew my personal essay sucked. Well, I decided to pull a card, and got, “What went wrong last time?” I made a list and ended up writing one of the best personal essays I’ve ever written, in my opinion. The interesting thing about that card, too, is that it doesn’t say “Fix what went wrong last time.” You could also choose to lean into what “went wrong” as a serendipitous choice. A great tool for any creative!

- Being Frenshe Hair, Linen & Body Mist in “Palo Santo Sage" ($14.99). Being Frenshe is Ashley Tisdale’s line of aromatherapy/wellness products at Target, and I must admit, I was totally influenced to buy this product by a piece of content my company made promoting it (occupational hazard, lol). Anyway, this spray smells sooo good!!! I use it as a room spray when I want to up the vibes in my office. There’s something sexy about it, but in a unisex way. It smells herbaceous and botanical and deeply Californian to me. Like a little boutique you’d wander into in Los Angeles that sells jewelry and crystals and really nice notebooks, and makes you go, “wow, it smells amazing in here!” That’s what this smells like. Highly recommend!

- Cooking. Last week, I made these gochujang sloppy joes, which were just fine. The gochujang didn’t add that much. Honestly, I think a basic sloppy joe seasoning mix that you buy in a little paper envelope would have been just as tasty, and a lot less work. Sometimes, making something from scratch isn’t worth it. I served the sloppy joes on potato buns with this crispy cabbage and cauliflower salad, an old favorite.

I also made this broccoli cheddar pasta bake a few months ago and totally meant to tell you about it, but then something happened that was more pressing to write about at the time, I forget what, and so it’s been sitting on a sticky note on my desktop ever since. It was very good, if a little rich. I don’t know about you, but when I add a vegetable like broccoli to mac ‘n’ cheese, I am usually trying to make it a bit more nutritious, but that recipe has a full cup of heavy cream in it, which didn’t feel necessary to me. I am still looking for my perfect broccoli mac ‘n’ cheese situation.

Another recipe I made a few weeks back and forgot to write about was this butternut squash chicken and orzo dish. If you liked the lemon chicken and orzo dish I mentioned was a staple for me in my Best Recipes of 2024 post, well, this dish is its squashy sister (it was even created by the same cook). Fresh herbs are a MUST! Don’t you love the combination of winter squash and sage?

- The Traitors, season three (Peacock). This show just gets better and better! As do Alan Cumming’s matching tartan outfits with his dog, Lala. If you’ve been living under a rock, Traitors is basically like the party game Werewolf or Mafia, populated by reality TV people. The one thing I don’t like about the show is that the “gamers” (past contestants from Survivor, Big Brother, The Challenge) look down on the Housewives and always try to get them out first. Sure, they aren’t the brightest or most strategic lot, and they hate physically exerting themselves for the challenges, but they’re harmless! And they’re so excited to be on the show! Dorinda read The Art of War, poor thing!

Another thing that’s tough about the show is that people are always suspicious of other people who are “doing too much,” but if you’re, say, a drag queen or a Housewife, doing too much is kind of your M.O. It’s giving misogyny, it’s giving homophobia, it’s giving anti-obnoxious girls and gays behavior! As I write this, I have not yet caught up on this week’s episode, but I really hope the gamers don’t take over control of this season like they’ve done in seasons past!

- Speed movie reviews! I watched three (3) horror movies over the past two weeks and I just wrote a whole newsletter of movie reviews so you probably don’t want to read a bunch more so here are some speedy ones. These movies are all available to rent/buy on Prime Video, which is how I watched them:

1. Heretic – I love Hugh Grant as a villain, but he annoyed the shit out of me in this role. I thought the concept of a skeptic trapping and tormenting two Mormon missionaries was a great idea, but the execution left something to be desired. This is one of those movies where I felt the potential of the trailer was greater than the final product, I’m sorry to say.
   
   

   

   Nosfergettaboudit

2. Nosferatu – I loved The Witch (a/k/a The VVitch), and fondly recall watching the original Nosferatu while studying film in college–for the screening, they brought in a live electric organist to accompany the movie, which was rad. So I was pretty pumped to see this epic re-envisioning of the horror classic, and… I was pretty bored, ngl! The most interesting aspect of the film, for me, was when they started comparing the vampire’s rampage through the town with the Plague also ravaging the town, the amount of death that came from both. I wish they had played with those themes a little earlier in the story. The costumes and period details were gorgeous, but ultimately, this was a bit of a snooze for me. Sorry!
   
   

3. Smile 2 – I love a story about a fictional pop star when it’s well done, and this was really well done! I thought this sequel was better than the original, because it spent less time on the “why” of what was happening, which left more time for spookies! And the spookies were very artfully executed. There’s one scene where the main character is in her apartment with her dancers that had some imagery I’m still thinking about. You do NOT need to watch the first one to enjoy this one, although it will certainly give you more context. Plus, the first one is pretty good, so you should watch it! A CW: if you have any sensitivity to suicide, this might not be for you.

And that’s it for this week!

If you have a second, I’d love it if you’d like or comment on this post–just click this link to go to the post page. This post is public, so feel free to share it on social media, or forward it to a friend.

Until next time—focus on joy.

Love,

Liz

XOXO