Window Seat

Seatmates: Kayla Douglas

This interview is part of Seatmates, a Window Seat series where tastemakers, travelers, and creatives share how they move through the world—what they pack, where they stay, and the travel rituals that shape their lives…

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2 years ago · 20 likes · 10 comments · Tori Simokov

Reflecting back on all the life that’s happened since, it’s remarkable just how much of my Substack has been written from this very vantage point—from Scandinavia to St. Lucia to South Australia and now Seoul, I continue to churn out this newsletter week after week, no matter where I am in the world. And with another trip to Australia (this time, Western Australia!!!) on the docket next month, I suppose it comes as no surprise that, as overwhelming as it can be to produce content on the road, I’m equally fueled by the opportunity to keep my “desk” view forever in motion.

Today, we traveled from Osaka to Seoul on Korean Air’s gorgeous A321neo—a delightfully spacious aircraft that made for a smooth ride on our ninety-minute hop to the K-beauty capital. If you’re interested in getting the scoop on what we’ve been up to while here, be sure you’re subscribed to where we’ll also recap how we traveled from New York on Japan Airlines’s stunningly outfitted A350.

Here on The Sunday Series, perhaps I’ll do a rundown of everything I bought in Japan and South Korea next Sunday…let’s just say, the fashion is FASHUN-ing here. Sick vintage bags (I’m still NOT over the gorgeous early 2000s embroidered Fendi baguette I scored in Tokyo). Plenty of tops from cool Japanese brands where notably, it’s all about layering. Sneakers made for long days of exploration—including the iconic yellow Onitsuka Tigers that felt very TSS-approved. Ceramics made with extra care in Kyoto. And naturally, snacks on snacks on snacks from 7-11. When I say we are acquiring some additional suitcases in South Korea for our K-beauty haul, I do not exaggerate.

But for now, back to the matter at hand. Today, I’m honored to be featuring , founder of , as our “Between the Lines” guest. Yes, that Sunday Scaries! The one with a million followers on Instagram that crafts the cheeky slams laptop till Monday* carousels you’re always sharing to your IG story.

While it would be easy to assume that @sunday.scaries is a faceless entity, one of my favorite things to do when dissecting the internet is to get to know the actual people behind widely followed accounts. After all, they’re the tastemakers driving so much of the cultural conversation. So, I couldn’t think of a more aligned guest to do just that with in my own newsletter, which is also aptly named after the all-powerful Sunday.

For context, in the six (!!) years of writing this weekly letter, I think Will is only the second man I’ve ever done an interview with—and our first straight male guest on TSS at that. But after chatting with my friend Xan, who kindly introduced me to Will, I was eager to share more about the behind-the-scenes building of Sunday Scaries with readers. I hope our chat helps keep your own Sunday Scaries at bay!

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Kayla Douglas: Will, you started back in 2013. What did the early days look like before you were sharing content with a million followers?

Will deFries: In 2013, I was living with my parents and operating it out of my bedroom. At that time, my life was living and breathing the concept of ‘Sunday Scaries’ — desperately single, struggling professionally to find my niche, going out two (or three) nights a weekend, and dreading my existence every Sunday night. Not that today’s content isn’t completely authentic, but that time of my life was the most representative of the ethos behind the brand.

And honestly, I do kind of miss it sometimes in a twisted way.

Kayla: A decade ago, did you know you were building a brand, or were you simply documenting a feeling?

Will: Somewhat, yes. I was also trying to create something that made people feel seen in their anxieties. Early on, it was somewhat established that the motto of the brand was something like, “We’re all less scared together than we are apart.” Driving that community through shared feelings and experiences is what really made me realize I could do it full-time. Even today, I try to operate with the same mindset.

Kayla: Can you point to a specific moment (a post, a reaction, or a piece of feedback) that made you realize Sunday Scaries had evolved from a clever phrase into something deeply embedded in our cultural lexicon?

Will: Though I didn’t come up with the term itself, I will take *some* credit for the rise of it. I think it would have been popularized regardless, but I was the first person to really do anything with it with an end goal.

Early on, I had several people I looked up to compliment my writing to the point where it was completely motivating me. Once I had that approval, it kind of became a “Why can’t I do this?” moment for me.

Once COVID hit, however, people really started paying more attention. My guess is because every day felt like Sunday for an extended period, but I was simply glad to be there for everyone.

Kayla: Tell us about your background in podcasting and how you approach this medium of storytelling.

Will: I saw a few other companies launching podcasts in 2016, and it just made so much sense to me as someone who values independent media. With no actual experience with the medium, I walked into an office on Monday morning and simply said, “We need to start a podcast.” From there, things just kind of fell into place.

When I started The Sunday Scaries Podcast in 2019, I really wanted it to be a more digestible way to take in my writing — that’s probably where the storytelling took off for me.

Kayla: For Instagram, so much of what you do comes down to sourcing imagery that hits on the zeitgeist. What does your curation process look like?

Will: I honestly just save photos I like and hope that they resonate with others, too. If I’m watching a show, I’ll end up defaulting to that world. If a celebrity is being hilarious or bougie lately, they’ll probably get included in a *slams laptop* post. There’s really not much thought behind it other than, “Yeah, this feels Scaries.”

Kayla: The internet moves fast (and anxiety faster). How do you keep Sunday Scaries feeling current without chasing every trend?

Will: I’ve always just had my own idea of what the brand is and can be, and I’ve let that guide me more than trends. Of course, I clearly pay attention to trends but I think I’ve become somewhat savvy in understanding what is timeless and what is temporary.

I’ve been interested in graphic design since 2002, when I illegally downloaded Photoshop, so it’s always been easy for me to see through my ideas. Or change them for the future, too.

Kayla: You were an early adopter of Substack, getting on the platform back in 2022. In what ways has your long-form content evolved on Substack since launch?

Will: When I first launched on Substack, I simply wanted to have that old-school blogging feeling that sparked Sunday Scaries in the first place. I had always envisioned the brand having a regular Sunday “guide” for people feeling lackluster, and Substack felt like the perfect way to deliver this.

Obviously, Sunday Confessions has totally changed the trajectory of the Substack. People really seem to enjoy them despite it being user-submitted content versus my writing. The older I get, the less I want to force my writing, so it’s been a nice way to keep things fresh.

Sunday Scaries

Your cure for the Sunday blues.

By Will deFries

These days, I’ve actually been posting simultaneously on my old website, sunday-scaries.com, which I’ve been enjoying. I’m such a visual person that being able to manipulate everything from a design perspective is almost essential for me. I see myself diving far more into that this year than I did last year.

Kayla: Escapism is inherently woven into your brand as you create content that celebrates the art of running from our Sunday Scaries. How does travel play a part in the future of what you’re building?

Will: The first case of Sunday Scaries I ever had was leaving a Mexico spring break trip in 7th grade. I remember sitting on the airplane and thinking, “Why do I have to leave?” Ever since, it’s been ingrained in me that the worst Sundays are the ones where you say farewell to your vacation.

Additionally, however, travel just feels so in line with everything I want the brand to represent — exploration, leisure, relaxation, and that escapism you mentioned. If there’s one thing that can cure a case of the Sundays, it’s a plush embroidered robe and a freshly made hotel bed.

Kayla: If you wanted to outrun your Sunday Scaries tomorrow, where in the world would you go and what would you get up to?

Will: My number one bucket list place to visit right now is Forestis in the Dolomites. We considered pairing it with our Lake Como trip in 2023 but simply didn’t have the time.

From what I can tell, it’s a true Sunday sanctuary that I’d love to capture on film.

EDITOR’S NOTE: FORESTIS IS INDEED WORTH BEING AT THE TOP OF YOUR HOTEL WISHLIST! I’VE STAYED TWICE AND IT REMAINS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PROPERTIES IN THE WORLD.

Kayla: If we were with you in Austin on a Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?

Will: A light drink at June’s has never treated me wrong on a Sunday afternoon. And hopefully, I’m splitting their shaved jambon sandwich with my wife before we go home and sink into some Love Island.

Thanks for reading, friends. Looking forward to being back stateside and in your inbox next Sunday. xxKD

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So it feels fitting that this morning unfolded as my ideal start to a Sunday: I woke up gently to my Hatch alarm, made an iced cortado in my Sunday Funday cup my friend got me, and burrowed back in Boll & Branch sheets to finish into the last 18% of Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild. This book had me hooked from the beginning, but what I didn’t see coming was the full-body sobs evoked by the ending. Talk about catharsis.

Upon getting myself together, I immediately texted the group chat about how sensational the book was. And in that moment, I was srtuck with a reminder: this is why I read. To feel deeply. To metabolize the emotions I’m feeling in my own life through fictional characters who often look quite different to me, yet connect me to my own humanity. This realization feels like the right emotional footing from which to open today’s letter.

But before we get into that fun, last week’s edition of The Sunday Series was all about diving into February with a clear eye towards all the magic ahead. If you’re looking for a gift for someone you love, don’t miss my Valentine’s/Galentine’s Gift Guide.

Valentine's/Galentine's Gift Guide

Now, into today’s edition! They say not to meet your heroes. But lucky for me, I seem to have quite a few—and the handful I’ve crossed paths with have almost always met, if not exceeded, expectations. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to interview one of my author heroes, Jessica Knoll, as the kick-off to our series we’re calling “Conversations on Creativity” in partnership with Murray’s Cheese. It felt fitting that the first installment of this in-person event series (be sure to subscribe to if you want to be the first to hear about our next one!) began with Jessica, whose work explores the inner lives of women with her signature sharpness.

What followed was less of a formal interview and more of an open conversation about burnout, boundaries, social media, motherhood, writing badly on purpose, and the small daily rituals that keep the creative spark alive. Plus, as a bonus, paid subscribers have access to our full forty-four-minute chat as an audio file right here within Substack, so you can listen, podcast-style!

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Kayla Douglas: What does your relationship to creativity look like? How has that evolved over the course of your career?

Jessica Knoll: I don’t know if I can, you know, if I can speak to it throughout my life, but I can speak to what my relationship is to creativity at this moment, which is surprisingly very good. I feel like I went through many years where I had many blocks, and I felt very frustrated. I felt very burdened. I don’t currently feel that way, and I owe that in big part, I think, to lightening my load.

I said “yes” to a lot of things for a couple of years that sounded really exciting, sounded like a sure thing, and I guess I had to learn the hard way that nothing’s a sure thing. No matter what A-list actress is attached to it, it’s not a go. But I still had to make my way through obligations that I had to people, and I finally delivered on some of those things over the last year, and I feel free in a way that has allowed my mind to really relax and come up with ideas that I’m really excited to kind of pursue and think through.

KD: And you mentioned actors being attached to scripts. I think everyone in the room knows that in addition to writing novels, you’re also a screenwriter. Can you give us a little bit of context—for those of us who don’t quite understand the difference—and what that means?

JK: When my first novel, Luckiest Girl Alive published in 2015, it was optioned by Lionsgate for film, and it was the time of Gone Girl, and Gillian Flynn was working with David Fincher, and she was going to write the script herself. And I just remember thinking, “If she can do it, I can do it,” you know? Like, I want to raise my hand. And so I pushed really hard to be the one to adapt it or at least take a go at it.

And it ended up becoming something that I loved. It really was a craft that I had to develop. So I did write the screenplay to that movie. Then from that, other opportunities appeared, which were not just adaptations of my own work, but adaptations of other books, adaptations of, like, viral Reddit stories.

I did one of those. It was, like, set up at Sony for a minute. [laughing] I’m just laughing, thinking about the actress who was initially attached to it because she’s currently a...I won’t say who, but she’s currently a very incendiary figure at the moment.

KD: Canceled, if you will?

JK: Yeah, canceled, if I will... but yeah, and then that, they were all like flops in the end. [laughing] Like, nothing went anywhere.

And so to have multiple projects on my docket that felt consuming to me, but I wasn’t able to give my all to them, that was a really crappy feeling, and it made me very depressed for a couple of years.

KD: That makes perfect sense. You sort of already answered this…I’m starting to realize a bit of your creative themes at this point. But I’m curious, as you become more traditionally successful, if you will, have you felt more pressure around your creativity, or how have you navigated that?

JK: I’ve recently had this revelation that what excites me the most is things that I don’t have to do. So, for instance, Luckiest Girl Alive, I started writing that novel in 2012 or 2013. In fiction, especially for a debut novelist, you have to have the whole manuscript written for an agent to take it out and hopefully get you a book deal.

So I sat down, and I started writing it, you know, and it was—they say in the entertainment industry, it’s called on spec, which is if you write a screenplay for no money, and then try and sell it. So basically, novel writing is like writing on spec for a debut novelist. So I wrote that book, and it poured out of me, and it was because I had, um, there were no expectations. There was no one breathing down my neck. There was no deadline. It was just something I did for myself.

And after that, I started to discover different kinds of avenues of writing that engaged that same state of flow, and I noticed that they were all centered around things that were not already set up somewhere. So I think in 2019, I had an idea for a horror film, and I sat down, and I wrote my first script on spec, and I ended up selling it to Amazon. It’s still set up at Amazon. Like, it’s still in development.

Who knows? We have a director attached, a great director, but we’ve had one attached for many years, so I don’t, I don’t know what will happen there. The new thing right now is people are selling short stories basically as treatments for film and television. If you have an idea, and you feel like doing it, you do it, but no one is expecting it from me, and I have, like, three ideas that I want to write.

But sadly, there are still some things that I have to do to keep a roof over my head,[chuckles] so I’ll never be able to escape that part of it completely. But I do like searching for those little, kind of creative nooks and loopholes in there.

KD: So when you’re thinking about the difference between how you set up a workday these days versus when you wrote Luckiest Girl Alive before your job, when you were at Cosmo at that time. It’s a very different scope to be finding a couple of hours of writing before your full-time job versus the pressure of waking up every day now and having to produce. So what does a good creative day feel like now?

JK: It’s actually not that dissimilar to what I did with Luckiest Girl Alive, where I still do my, my best writing in the morning. I used to be really precious about it, and it had to be that I woke up, and right away, I got to it. If I had to do anything else before that, it was like the day was ruined.

Like, I couldn’t produce. It was very tortured. Now, [laughs] I’ve loosened the reins on myself a little bit, and it still is, you know, the first work thing that I can get to. Like, obviously, you know, I’m a mom now. I have to take my daughter to school. I have to feed her breakfast. I have to convince her to let me brush her hair.

So I have, you know, like, an hour in the morning where I’m doing lots of things that are very time and energy-consuming, but I’m using a different part of my brain to kind of complete these tasks. So I still try to reserve my mornings for my creative endeavors. I think something I also learned over the years is that I’m very hard on myself, and so, when I wrote Luckiest Girl Alive, I only had a certain amount of time that I could work on it in the morning before my real full-time job.

After I sold that novel and, um, and I was able to just do this full time, I thought that: “Oh, okay, I’ll, I’ll write all day.” I mean, show me a writer who writes all day. Like, it just doesn’t happen. You just, you burn out after...I mean, some people have a better motor than others.

I felt like I was just procrastinating, and I had to learn that it’s okay to step away. It’s okay if you can only do this for a little bit. And more time doesn’t make me more productive—that’s the thing I eventually had to accept about my writing process.

KD: Besides writing for you, where else does creativity show up in your life?

JK: It shows up in really small ways. I think the walk home from my daughter’s school is when I just feel so excited about something I want to sit down and write or something I’m working on. It’s when I’m able to kind of unlock certain plot problems that I’m having. And it’s not a long walk. It’s like a twelve-minute walk, but I really cherish it. And showering.

Weirdly, it’s warm, and it’s relaxing, and I think I relax, and I just…I don’t know. My mind is at ease, and also at night, if I’m woken in the middle of the night, you know, my daughter wakes up or whatever, and I’m having trouble falling back asleep, I’ll try and, like, work through a plot hole, and it really soothes me, soothes me to sleep. So I find it in little moments throughout the day.

KD: Okay, so you’ve sort of touched on this, but I’m very curious, moving back to New York from LA, how that’s influenced your daily life, your approach to writing. I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Helpless, which we are also going to get to! But there is a line, and you reference the protagonist basically memorizing something somebody said to put it in their notes app. And I think as a writer, that’s such a real thing, where you’re like, “Wait, I’m watching this scene unfold in front of me in a restaurant. There’s so much happening in New York, you know, than where you go.” So how has that changed your approach?

JK: Yeah, I felt very isolated in LA. I felt like I got stuck in my house a lot. It was very hard for me to leave. I run kind of depressed anyway, and then you add, like, Lexapro to it. You’re, like, a little flat. [laughing] Yeah, it’s great, but, like, it doesn’t help me to get the motivation sometimes to get dressed. I had to deal with LA traffic, and I would have many days where I would not leave the house. And even when I became a mom, because she was still a baby, so it wasn’t like she had to go to school, I didn’t really have any reason to take her out of the house. And I always had bulldogs, and they’re super lazy, and they don’t walk. So that didn’t help me either.

The thing that I loved so much about moving back to the city this summer was how easy it was to leave the house. For someone who’s organized like me, it is the only way for me to get out into the world is the fact that I can just step right outside my door and everything is right there.

And you’re totally right. It’s the conversation. It’s like, I had a parents’ meeting this morning after I dropped my daughter off to school, and there was this—I’m working on this character right now, and there was just this dad who was sitting in front of me, and I’m like, “This is the character I was envisioning,”... exactly how he’s dressed. Like, he was so dapper, and he had a shaved head, and he kept running his hand over his bald head, and I was like, “What a great gesture,” you know? [laughing]

Dialogue, like, someone’s got to be doing something, you know? And I was writing it in my notes app. The parents behind me are like: “Why is she, like, texting right now?”

So yeah, New York just made me a part of the world again in a way that I think is good for my mental health as well as for my creativity.

KD: That makes so much sense. As we started to explore “Conversations on Ceativity” as an event series, you seemed like the most natural fit for someone we want to speak to in this space. I’m a huge fan of your IG stories on cooking. Tell us a little bit more about how being in the kitchen unlocks anything creatively.

JK: Well, I don’t want you to oversell me because I’ve all but stopped cooking since moving to New York. People, people will message me and say, like: “I miss your cooking videos.” And it’s kind of weird, I’ve never talked about this, but, I think I started really filming my cooking videos around the pandemic because, again, stuck in the house, there was nothing to do but to, but cook and drink and doomscroll, and that was the only thing giving me the will to live: coming up with new recipes and fun new cocktails to make.

But then it became this thing where I felt pressure to do it. Like, I knew people liked it, and people would always ask me about it. And I think when I got to New York, nothing compares to the takeout scene. I think it was also just so exciting to have new restaurants to order from. Like, you burn out on everything after a while, you know? So I think the novelty—I moved to LA in 2016, so all my New York restaurant preferences were also squarely stuck in 2016. So I was ordering Meatball Shop and Bareburger.

And I couldn’t get enough of these places that were those were the places that I was obsessed with when I left. So then I burned through those pretty quickly, and they kinda lost their luster, as everything does. But I’m still...I don’t know. I’m still really in my takeout moment. The kitchen that I’m in right now is not that great, and we’re looking to find a more permanent spot. So hopefully, if I have a kitchen that feels more inspiring to me, then I’ll do better work then.

KD: Well, you touched on something that I’m actually kind of curious about delving into, and that’s the performance of social media. As an author, knowing that it’s a vehicle for you to promote your work, but also, be a person in the world. How do you think about—let’s use Instagram specifically—that channel, and how do you navigate the boundaries that you’ve decided feel good for you there?

JK: Instagram has always felt very easy and natural to me in a way that Twitter never did. Now, X. But, I got rid of it when it was still Twitter because I was like: I’m just, like, I’m embarrassing myself on this. I was trying to be, like, quippy, and it just wasn’t hitting.

Whereas Twitter felt very numbers-driven, so does, obviously, the main grid on Instagram. I attempted TikTok, and I’m like, I love it as a lurker, but, I’m too old. I don’t have the natural touch, you know? I’m firmly an elder millennial who just gets Instagram stories.

And it works for me, and so, like, I’m gonna stick with what’s working for me. I think because of that, I have natural boundaries around it. Sometimes I get self-conscious that I don’t have much going on beyond being a mom. And I’m like: Oh, is that boring? Before I was a mom, I thought kids were so boring. But now I think they’re all precious and cute. [laughing]

I got a dog. I didn’t think all dogs were cute until I got a dog, and I was like, “Every dog is beautiful.” [laughing] I feel about children now. Like, I can’t believe I was such a Grinch before. And I love seeing people’s kid posts, so I’m like, I don’t know. Hopefully, most people out there are, like, aren’t as bitchy as me, and they think my kids are cute. But then it also becomes a weird thing because I’m like, she’s growing up, and then, like, am I violating her privacy? I’m gonna model myself after Andy Cohen’s approach, which is once they get to be, like, three or four, he keeps them off camera. I mean, but don’t, don’t pin me down on that.

KD: Well, this is a great transition to talk about your upcoming novel, Helpless, out in July. We’d love to know more about why this story felt relevant for this moment in your career, and what called you to this story?

JK: Yeah. So this book is a departure for me in that it is, um, very sexually graphic. Which is an awkward conversation to have, keep having with my mother-in-law, which is like, “Don’t you have an advanced copy?” And I’m like: “Barbara, I can’t send you a copy of this book. Please, I hope to have a long career, and maybe the next one will be for you.” [laughing]

I don’t think I’m far enough out of it yet to really understand why I felt I had to write this book. But I will say, I went through looking all around, and it’s like, okay, Colleen Hoover is off the charts, like all the Romantasy series. Like, I got in deep with A Court of Thorns and Roses. There was, like, six months of my life that I disassociated with those novels. Like, I only thought about Nesta and Cassian, and I was like, what has come over me? And I became obsessed with finding erotic things to read that also felt dangerous. And I just felt like there was limited inventory with writing that also felt good to my eyes. You know what I mean? So I read Susanna Moore’s In the Cut, which, oh my God, talk about a great New York City erotic thriller. Like, oh, my gosh, it’s super, super nasty.

It’s so good. And, I mean, Susanna Moore's writing is unbelievable. Ali Hazelwood is also a very intelligent writer, and I liked her paranormal series because I like darkness. So I find that normally her stuff is so well written, it’s still not, still not bloody enough for me. [laughing]

And I was like, I’m literally going to create a f*cked up fantasy that’s, like, in my head. And I don’t know, I just always assume everyone is as f*cked up and demented as I am,[laughing], and some people are reading this, and they’re like, “Whoa, Jess,” like I don’t know. So I’m giving everyone a fair warning. But, I did have something to say, right? About what pop culture trends and the way that they kind of uphold certain standards around women’s subjugation, and why it is that we ourselves even seek it out and sometimes even fantasize about it.

And I think that we’re seeing that everywhere. We’re seeing that with trad wives on TikTok. We’re seeing that with a BDSM version of Wuthering Heights, you know, and it’s like: Why do women fantasize about this, right? And that’s what the novel strives to answer. So you said you’ve only just started it, so I hope by the end you’ll feel that I’ve delivered my own kind of commentary on that, because that is what I set out to do. But yes, this one kind of explores that boundary between what is consent? What is abuse? What is power? And what is powerlessness? And I had a really good time writing this one. And I’ll move on, and I’ll do something else next time, but I really had to get this one out of my system.

KD: One of the things that immediately jumped off the page to me is just, you’re so good at voice, and I feel like your novels, for lack of a better word, are just so voicey. And that was something that really stood out to me as coming back into one of your stories, like, ‘oh, this feels familiar.’ And does that just come naturally to you? I don’t like to use the vernacular, ‘unlikable narrator,’ but it feels like you write these women who are complicated and complex, and in ways you don’t want to villainize them. So how do you think about that?

I’m like, there’s someone out there who, you know, is as kind of brutal as I am towards myself, towards others. I just think women probably have—most women just have such a harsh inner dialogue with themselves. At least, I do. And so I think that it comes easily for me to write like that, to write that voice in, in your head that you don’t feel safe enough using with other people. I find it to be very comforting to write these characters and to put them out there into the world, and to hear from people that they can relate to them. It makes me feel more connected.

KD: And I feel like anyone in the room who’s read Stephen King’s On Writing, his advice that you’re supposed to write at least the first draft, like, no one’s ever going to read it. Intimating certain people that you’re pulling reference points from. How do you think about that when you write a first draft versus when you’re editing?

JK: Writing with the door closed in terms of maybe the values of the character or the ethics of the story, that always feels easy to me. I can do that, and then I’m always surprised if there’s backlash, I’m like, “That is not, uh, not what I thought people would have issue with.” Where I struggle with writing with the door closed—which is an important part of the writing process—is writing badly.

It’s very hard for me to write a couple of pages that are just, like, shit writing just to kind of figure out the character and figure out the plot. I spend so much time trying to craft the sentence, and so my takeaway from that advice—writing with the door closed—is it’s okay. I mean, there’s this terminology people use, “the shitty first draft.” It’s okay for it to be a shitty first draft; no one’s going to read it. That’s my kind of hump that I’m always trying to get over. But the darker thoughts or characterizations, those all feel pretty easy. I don’t know what that says about me.

KD: No, I love it. Well, you mentioned shitty first drafts. Are you a plotter or a pantser?

JK: I’m definitely more flying by the seat of my pants. Although, I used to say that, but the more I do this and the more experience I get, I’m better at plotting, but not in a way that’s like I’m ever gonna make an outline, right? It’s like I can hold certain kinds of coordinates in my head and write from A to B, B to C, C to D. Whereas I think when I was first starting out, I only knew, like, I know what A is, and I know what Z is, but I don’t know what anything else is in the middle.

KD: So you knew the ending for your original, like your previous novels, you were writing to a particular ending?

JK: Yeah. Mmhmm. But now, Ican see a midpoint. I can see the arc a lot more clearly now. And I think that that’s just like a matter of experience, and it’s taken ten years, so, and I didn’t think it would ever happen, so I’m like, “I’ll take it.” But yeah, it comes a little easier now.

KD: I love that. So, in terms of people that are picking up Helpless, we talked about the voiciness of your novel always kind of being at the forefront, but what, for your readers of previous novels, do you think they’ll be like, “Ah, yes, this is a Jessica Knoll novel?” We talked about what’s different, but what’s the same?

JK: I think this one is a spiritual successor to Luckiest Girl Alive. My agent keeps saying that, and I think she’s right. There is something familiar, I think, between Faye, who’s my main character, and Ani, who’s my, my first main character. I think if anything, my last book, Bright Young Women, was probably the one that feels the most like, which one doesn’t belong, you know?

KD: Yeah.

JK: But in a way that I loved, and I want to return to again. But that one’s a little bit of a crowd pleaser. It’s one that my mom is so proud of. She had her book club read it, and I signed all their books, and I’m like, “You’re not gonna wanna do a book club with this one. But the next one, I promise, I promise I will write a book that you and Renee can feel good about…”

KD: For people in the room who aren’t as familiar with that novel, why did that approach...a Ted Bundy-inspired-story. Tell us about that.

JK: It’s my only novel that’s not set in contemporary times. So it’s a fictional imagining of the lives of the women who were affected by the serial killer Ted Bundy. And in the novel, I don’t name him. I only refer to him as the defendant. And there was a lot of research involved in this one. It’s the one that’s kind of closest to historical fiction. I spoke to some of the survivors. I read all the court transcripts, and I was a little nervous, like, can I realistically set a book in the nineteen seventies told from the perspective of young women in college? Am I going to get the lingo right? Is it gonna sound stilted?

And I’m really glad I pushed myself, and I’m really proud of that novel, and I’m actually working on an adaptation of that for a TV series right now. And the executive said, “You know, as much as you can to bring in the language of the seventies,” and I felt that same kind of nervousness again because I’m like, “I don’t want this to be hokey,” you know? Like, this isn’t my natural habitat. But it’s been really—I mean, I don’t want to say ‘fun’ because it’s obviously a very serious crime, and the survivors are very traumatized by it still to this day. But there is something about returning to the archives, I think, that feels like you get to create this world, and you get to live in it, and you get to really be enveloped by it. And that was my favorite part about writing that novel.

I loved going back into that world. I loved imagining the house that the girls lived in. I loved imagining their friendships and their strength. Not just imagining it. It was all there in the research. They were really extraordinary—what they went through and how they held their heads high throughout all of it. So I’ve been enjoying returning to, to those girls and to those characters.

KD: Our last question before we turn to audience Q&A, knowing how different your previous novel was from this one, how did Helpless challenge you differently from a creative perspective than your previous work?

JK: Well, it’s ultimately, I mean, it’s a f*cked up one, but it’s a romance in the end [chuckles] That has its own rules…I mean, it’s a dark romance, and there’s thriller components, and there’s murders, and there’s a mystery that’s unfolding. But I didn’t realize I was writing a romance until I got to the end of it, and that kind of has its own set of rules. I like to play in genre, so I don’t necessarily feel bound to, like, rules of a certain genre. But I did find that kind of coloring within the lines on this one, in my own way, to be very challenging.

But I think that I’m so proud and happy with how I figured it out and how I feel like I did it in my own way, in a way that also honors the genre. So I don’t know. I mean, people will have to read it and tell me if they feel the same, but I feel good about it.

Thank you for reading/listening! I loved this conversation so much. Jessica’s forthcoming novel, Helpless, hits shelves on July 7th. WVBC set up a special signed pre-order link (!!) if you want to secure your copy now.

Pre-Order a Signed Copy

Catch you next Sunday from Milano, where I’ll be spectating the Olympics!!!!! And don’t worry, upon return, as ever, I’ll share where we stayed, dined, drank, and shopped. In the meantime, as Euro fever sets in, don’t forget we have: The Paris Guide, The Mallorca Guide, The Balearics Guide, and so much more in the archives.

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After over four hours on the runway at Newark and another forty-five minutes trying to connect to in-flight wifi, I’m writing to you upon the devastating realization that my in-seat power outlet doesn’t work. This, of course, comes after bringing my devices to their ~last legs~ following hours of scrolling and streaming (TG for Landman season two!!!!) whilst in the de-icing queue. Combine my immediate panic with the guilt that I didn’t just crack open a book the entire time?? Yeah, needless to say, we’re getting off to a ROCKY start on this ten-day trip to LA and Cabo.

The thing is, travel isn’t always glamorous. A lot of the time, it’s weather delays. Your upgrade not clearing. The gate agent making you check your carry-on. Old aircraft with broken seats. Sometimes—especially if all of the aforementioned have coalesced in one single journey—realizing you (foolishly) didn’t replenish the snack bag on the day you really need them most can be enough to drive you to the brink of tears. And even then? I still love it.

If you’ve been a reader of The Sunday Series for a while, you likely know that I’ve been working in the travel industry for over a decade. In that time, I’ve gravitated towards the kind of writing that captures the more nuanced parts of both the getting there and the destination itself. So, today’s letter is especially meaningful to me as we’re returning to my “Between the Lines” series with a Q&A featuring writer whose work lives squarely in that liminal space bridging aspirational and authentic.

And to keep the travel theme going, I’m delving into an adjacent topic, too. Paid subscribers will be privy to a recap of how I’m maximizing my credit card strategy this year to optimize travel perks. Hint, hint for those who are also on Bilt 2.0 TikTok: it involves shifting to Ms. Sapphire Reserve. But, more on that later!

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Monica Mendal is a writer, editor and brand consultant focusing on fashion, travel and lifestyle. She contributes regularly to Vogue, T New York Times Style, Architectural Digest, and more. Previously, Monica was a fashion editor at Condé Nast Publications, such as Vogue, GQ and Glamour.

Kayla Douglas: You launched your Substack, So there’s this place... a little over a year ago. What’s the ethos behind it, and what do you hope readers feel when they discover your work there?

: I’ve been an editor for nearly 15 years, including almost a decade as a travel editor. To be a good editor, I believe having a point of view is essential. It’s not about endlessly rounding up the “best” hotels or spotlighting the same hot spots in familiar destinations. For me, it’s about tapping into the soul of a place, bringing a distinct perspective, and offering something thoughtful or nuanced in an increasingly saturated content landscape.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’m drawn to less-traveled places and thoughtful alternatives to the obvious choices. The world is huge! There’s so much to explore and so many fun ways to explore it. Much of my work appears in magazines (both online and in print) but with my Substack I wanted to give my readers a more intimate look at my travels. For the wholeeeee story, I defer you to my first Substack post :)

So there's this place...

So there's this place...

Hi! Welcome to my little corner of the internet! It’s not lost on me that you’re likely here for one of two reasons: 1. You follow my travels on Instagram (have also maybe/hopefully read some of my published work!?) and are constantly wondering WTF I do and how I got here, or 2. You’re a friend or family member who I’ve guilted into becoming a paid subs…

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a year ago · 127 likes · Monica Mendal

You made the decision to relocate to Paris—what drew you there, and how has it shaped the stories you’re now drawn to telling?

I spent much of my adult life living and working in NYC across different publications at Condé Nast. When I went freelance and decided to transition into travel writing, I asked myself the tough question: why was I spending a premium on rent in NYC when I was traveling 3/4 of the year!? After a summer living in Milan, I knew I wanted to move to Europe for good.

So as soon as I got home, I gave up my apartment and started the process. While I did try to move to Milan initially, the Italian visa is much harder to obtain than the French visa, so I pivoted and landed in Paris. I studied here for a semester in university and Paris has always felt like home, so it was a relatively smooth transition! Really, what’s not to love about Paris? The move has allowed me to travel more easily around Europe, so I get to visit more places throughout the year. It still blows my mind that in 3 hours and 15 minutes I can be in Athens! I’ll never take that for granted.

What does a “good writing day” look like for you right now?

Oh, my answer is so boring. I’m sorry! But I am not one of those travel writers that can write on a train, plane or hotel lobby. My life would be so much easier if I could! Unfortunately, I rely on my routine to get writing done. I like to enjoy my trips and be fully present while traveling, then when I get back to Paris, I’ll hit my co-working space like it’s a corporate office and work straight from 9-5!

What feels creatively generative for you in this season of life?

Travel! That’s why I’ve made a living out of it :)

How do you approach sharing your work and travels on Instagram versus in long-form content?

I don’t really think about it too much. I’m not an expert on social media by any means. I’m a millennial! Social media was only just beginning when I started working. I sort of just share what I want to! I do think Instagram has been an incredible resource for me professionally though as it’s allowed me to connect with so many interesting people around the world!

What book on your TBR pile are you most excited to pick up next?

Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje.

The Sunday Series was conceptualized as a love letter to my favorite day of the week. If we were with you in Paris on a Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?

In hopes that it’s an unusually sunny Sunday in Paris, I love walking along the Seine where the bouquinistes set up shop. It offers one of the best vantage points for exploring the city. You can see it all while getting a solid 30k steps in ;)

It’s been just over a year since I last weighed in on my credit card strategy, so between the launch of Bilt 2.0 card this week and my desire to do a proper audit heading into 2026, it felt like we were overdue. Selfishly, this check-in is as much for me as it is for you! In this breakdown, I'm reviewing which cards are truly worth their annual fee for how I travel, where I’m shifting spend, and how I think about maximizing benefits without overcomplicating things.

It alllllll started when, after flying over 20,000 miles with United in December, I found myself poking around their newly redesigned app a bit more than usual. It was then—during the final week of this year—that I realized I was about $1,500 short of hitting the $10k spend threshold on my United card to get a $100 credit towards a future UA flight.

Granted, $100 doesn’t even cover half a flight to Buffalo (where I’m from—and NO I don’t want to talk about the game last night!!!!), but if you’re immersed in the world of points and miles, you know these benefits add up, especially when an annual fee to have the card is at play. Missing out on a perk when I was that close to qualifying would’ve been silly!! And so, that’s the story of how I found myself in Soho on December 31st, within an hour of the store closing, purchasing the checked suitcase I’d been meaning to buy anyway.

The thing is, I was always going to get it—but had I not been paying attention, I likely would have made the purchase in January on my (then) primary card, my Delta Amex. Instead, the last-minute kerfuffle felt like a call to action: 2026 is going to be about paying attention and maximizing more mindfully. Because the goal is to be channeling a whole lot more of what is pictured below—and that spirit becomes easier to embody when we’re optimizing our travel spend…

Before we get into the card mix…some important context!!

A few things worth noting before anyone runs off to open five new lines of credit…

• I’m OBVIOUSLY not a financial advisor. Though I have worked with one for over seven years (if you want a referral to someone incredible, let me know!). This breakdown is simply a result of years and years of playing the points game.

• I’ve built this arsenal of CCs over more than a decade, never opening more than one new card per year, maintaining a rock-solid credit score throughout.

• I’ve redeemed points for countless flights, including frequent transcontinental business class flights, which is a treat that always feels like mastering the art of the sign-up bonus is worthwhile.

• I’m currently primarily loyal to Delta, with United as my second choice carrier.

• My CC spending skews heavily toward travel, dining, and occasional big-ticket purchases.

Your “right” lineup may look very different depending on where you live, who you fly, and how often you travel. But, let’s see, shall we?

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Your girl slept in later than I can recall in recent memory for the quintessential lazy Sunday morning because we had a big night last night! Dua Lipa at The Garden!!!! I woke up still riding the high of being amidst her Pop Star Princess™️ aura. Dua exudes confidence at the highest level—but it’s not as if she amassed the style and cultural cachet (uhm, hello, face of the CHANEL 25 handbag) she now holds overnight.

Despite being a freshly minted thirty, Dua told the crowd last night that October marks the ten-year anniversary of Be The One, the second single from her debut album. As someone who’s only more recently become obsessed with her, I bring this decade-long timeline up for a few reasons.

Following our optimism-infused evening (please note, dear reader, few things will give you hope in humanity quite like dancing to Electricity with your girlfriends and 20,000 strangers), we went back to our friend Jenna’s to partake in our favorite version of a nightcap: watching music videos and being silly. That session evolved into the musical lead of our crew, Laura, providing a HERstory lesson on Dua, beginning with her performance at the Brit Awards in 2018.

@tualyz80from ‘giving us nothing’ to ‘giving us everything’ #DuaLipa #originalcontent

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My jaw was ON THE FLOOR as I took in the difference between the confidence of the performer we’d just seen effortlessly dominate a sold-out MSG and her on-stage presence eight years ago. Dua’s glow up feels like evidence that even when you’re seemingly destined to be famous, it takes grit, vulnerability, and an ungodly amount of time honing your craft to make anything look effortless.

That said, it feels particularly fitting to make Dua’s evolution the opener of today’s letter, considering one of my July issues was dedicated to “How To Have A Dua Lipa Summer.” Between ending up in Mallorca at the same time as her to sharing her outlook on making everything feel like a vacation, she was famously quoted in a Vogue interview saying, “People do really love to joke about the fact that I’m always on holiday. I’m not always on holiday; I just make everything I do feel like a holiday.”—it felt like mission accomplished.

And today, we soak up the last official day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I know, you’re like, haven’t you been talking about summer for like, five months? ENOUGH ALREADY. I fear I have. But trust me, I got alllllll my last licks in…that is, until I’m Southern Hemisphere-bound in a few months, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

Summer droning on aside, funny enough, much like Richard Gilmore himself, I really am an autumn.

I couldn’t be happier to be diving into Kathleen Kelly season, as it’s time for my annual rewatch of You’ve Got Mail, with the urge to break out my sweaters persisting despite it being over 80 degrees multiple times this week. But trust, I will be ready when the weather finally flips! And if you, too, are craving a seasonal wardrobe change, I’ve got you covered because today we’re rounding up some fall fashion nods I don’t want you to miss.

• Paid Subscriber Exclusive: I’ve recorded myself reading the intro in audio form! As someone who writes like I speak, I thought it might be fun to start working on this added bonus for paid subscribers so you can more easily consume on the go.

• A fall-inspired shopping edit, including my new signature scent for the season and a roundup of gems from the Madewell 30% off sale

• Meet , author of Exit Lane, writer behind Long Live and founder of EV Salon

• The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): A curation of things I’ve consumed and loved this week. Stories and podcasts that have caught my eye and ear!

If you’d like to access the complete version of today’s and future posts, please consider upgrading your subscription! Paid subscribers of The Sunday Series unlock an exclusive section of paywalled content in each send, access to the full archives (including Your Local’s Guide to West Village, A No-Gatekeeping Guide to Mallorca, A Mini Formentera Guide, Your Ultimate Paris Guide, Your Guide to Bozeman, Your Guide to Nantucket, 100 Hotels I’m Dying to Check Into, My Holy Grail Rules for an Overnight Flight, 31 Ideas for Your Next Birthday Trip, A Playbook for How to Make Friends As An Adult, and 16 Prompts for a Personal Quarterly Review), the commenting feature on each post, exclusive giveaways, and more. Plus, your support directly helps ensure this newsletter can continue to grow! Subscriptions are $8/month or less than $7/month if paid annually—also known as less than one fancy Starb*cks order. But don’t let me be the one to tell you why you should upgrade! I’ll leave that to a fellow reader…

“I've been following your newsletter for the past few months and it's such a delight! It always makes me smile and I feel like your content is thoughtful and unique every week. I'm glad to finally be able to support you with a subscription.”
– Gina C., paid subscriber of The Sunday Series

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Shop My Fall Edit

1. BARBOUR | X Farm Rio Thais Waxed Jacket

2. FAVORITE DAUGHTER | The Small Town Girl Jacket in Toffee

3. SAVETTE | Symmetry Pochette Bag in Sepia Suede

4. DEHANCHE | Hollyhock Leather Belt in Mixed Metal

5. MAISON D'ETTO | Rotano Fragrance

6. STUART WEITZMAN | 5050 Boot

7. ALIGNE | Harris Satin Maxi Skirt

8. SÉZANE | Leather Skirt (black or burgundy)

9. FRAME | Pleated Mini Skirt

10. REBECCA TAYLOR | Rhea Sweater Dress in Navy

11. LE SET | Margo set of 2 cotton jersey t-shirts

12. COS | Cashmere V-Neck Cardigan in Olive

13. CITIZENS OF HUMANITY | Petra Pleated Trousers

14. NILI LOTAN | Shon Pants in Coffee

15. LA LIGNE | Colby Satin Wide-Leg Pants in Olive

16. WITH NOTHING UNDERNEATH | The Classic Tencil Button Down

17. FRĒDA SALVADOR | Elba Penny Loafers in Hickory Embossed Croc

18. AUREUM | No. 2 Belt

19. RAG & BONE | Nonnie 2-in-1 Cotton Twill Jacket

20. SANDRO | Long Trench

I’m a sucker for Madewell, specifically their denim…even more so after listening to one of the podcasts I’m sharing in today’s “The Vault” section for paid subscribers. So, I couldn’t resist sharing their 30% off sale, which comes just in time to transition your wardrobe from spring to fall. Find me stocking up on favorite denim styles, plus adding a few other fun pieces into the mix.

1. Paneled Midi Skirt In Cotton Blend Twill in Dark Carob: originally $276, now $194

2. Suiting Mini Skirt in Plaid: originally $128, now $90

3. Denim Mini Skirt in Rinse Wash: originally $118, now $83

4. The Balloon Jean: originally $148, now $74

5. Cashmere Buttonfront Cardigan in Lemon Chiffon: originally $198, now $139

6. The Suede Shopper Tote: originally $198, now $139

7. The Sculptural Buckle Bag: originally $168, now $118

8. Double-Brested Blazer in Suede: originally $548, now $384

Shop My Madewell Edit

💸 Aaaaaand as a disclaimer, this shopping section—as always—includes affiliate links. These little babes help me continually reinvest in making The Sunday Series better. I make a small commission when readers click and shop through my links at no additional cost to you—so if you found something through a link I sourced, please do consider purchasing through that link so I’m credited! Speaking of, I’ve been using the ShopMy platform for several months and love it. Want to start making commission on the links YOU share? Sign up with my referral link for a 10% bonus on your fist six months of linking.

ShopMy closet

Kayla Douglas: Erika, your debut novel Exit Lane hit shelves on September 16th. What inspired this story, and how did it find a home at 831 Stories?

Erika Veurink: Claire and Erica reached out to me with an email subject line of "Something romantic?" and the rest is history. The story is deeply inspired by When Harry Met Sally, a story I've always loved, but never found that sexy. So I tried to write a Midwestern, modern version of it with characters that felt both familiar and fresh.

KD: What was the most surprising—or unexpectedly challenging—part of bringing Exit Lane into the world?

EV: I was so surprised at how laborious the editing and revision process was. Honestly, thank God, because I worked with some brilliant minds who helped bring the book to a whole new level, but when you're writing a Substack or for an outlet, the process is, understandably, less robust.

KD: You’ve built what you often call a “portfolio career,” spanning fiction, journalism, consulting, and events. For someone looking to carve out a similar path, what advice would you give on building a portfolio career that feels both sustainable and creatively fulfilling?

EV: My advice would be to ask yourself what you would do for free, forever, and see if there's a way you can bake this into your portfolio career. For me, it's writing. It always has been. I wrote Long Live weekly to an audience of 500 readers for a year before I found any real traction. And I did it willingly!

KD: Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind EV Salon, your creative series where attendees are matched for conversation and connection.

EV: I wanted to steal the Old Boys Club model and use it on the really compelling, creative women in my network—creating opportunities and bridging connections in a warm space where everyone has a match. It started in my apartment and now, it's a brand-led series in NY and LA, mostly.

KD: In addition to your editorial work, you consult with brands on editorial strategy and voice, often guiding them into Substack. How do you decide which projects feel like the right fit for your creative energy?

EV: Well, it's funny you ask. In 2026, I'm sunsetting this part of my offering to be able to focus more on my own projects. It's bittersweet! But the time I can reinvest into my creative pursuits and my own audience always comes back with compound interest. Working with clients can be very draining, but I'll miss the special relationships that have turned into friendships I've made along the way.

KD: You’ve been refreshingly candid about money, often sharing financial transparency in your work to encourage other creators to know their worth. What drives that openness, and what response have you seen from your community?

EV: My dad worked in finance and we started talking about money when I was two. It's always been a fact of life to me, one he found endlessly interesting, and I guess I inherited some of that. When I graduated from my MFA program, I was starving to read a writer talking candidly about how they made money. It was so hard to come by! So I sort of made a pact with myself that if I really made a go out of creating a career out of writing, I'd be honest about the finances, knowing how helpful it can be for others.

KD: How does being comfortable with rejection (nothing will quiet one's ego quite like being a writer!) help you gain the confidence to create content consistently across so many platforms?

EV: I have been rejected by so many agents, so many editors, brands, potential collaborators, you name it. And I used to keep a list of every single no I got from story pitches, which resulted in a very depressing sheet of paper taped above my desk, but then when I did get a pitch accepted, it made it all the sweeter. I'm a former athlete, so I use the phrase "shots on goal" to reorient myself. The more reps you can get in, the better your game gets.

KD: It was recently announced that you're joining the contributing editor lineup at Marie Claire. Congrats! What type of stories can we look forward to from you there?

EV: Marie Claire has always been an iconic magazine to me, so I'm really thrilled about the new role. You can expect secondhand fashion, extremely practical recs, etc. Think of it as an extension of the Long Live universe.

KD: The Sunday Series was conceptualized as a love letter to my favorite day of the week. If we were with you in your neighborhood on a Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?

EV: I would insist we swing by Greenlight for a new book, then maybe we'd read and have tea at Anaïs for an hour. An afternoon matinee at BAM is a certain kind of bliss. And maybe we'd wrap things up with a foot massage at Bergen Spa.

Long Live

It’s a twice weekly letter from secondhand-fashion-obsessed writer, Erika Veurink.

By Erika Veurink

And in closing, my curation of stories, pop culture moments, and podcasts I’ve consumed and loved this week.

• The Books Times Readers Are Most Excited About This Fall. Thrillers, literary fiction, history, science, memoirs and more: Here are the books you’ve saved most to your reading lists. (The New York Times)

• Benny Drama for J. Crew to roll out the roll neck

• Nobody Wants This season 2 airs on October 23rd. Seth Rogan will be guest starring!

• Hailey Bieber Gives Chase Sapphire Reserve a Hollywood Glow Up. It's part of a huge marketing investment as the card's annual fee increases this year. (Ad Week)

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Happy Sunday, lovers!

If you caught last week’s Local’s Guide to the West Village Guide—like all of my guides, it’s exclusive to paid subscribers!—then you know I’ve been feeling extra grateful to call West Village home as of late. So, it only felt right to keep the neighborhood pride going with this week’s Between The Lines feature spotlighting fellow WV resident . If you’re not already familiar with the internet personality known as SFK, her bold energy and unfiltered honesty have taken this multihypenate far beyond what began as Instagram fame. In our conversation below, we dive into what it means to embody “main character energy”—just in time for the premiere of her new TV show, Older Hotter Wiser, hitting screens tomorrow, May 19th.

But before we get into that fun, some life catchup! Last Sunday, I spent Mother's Day weekend upstate with family in Buffalo, cooking out of ’s new cookbook, Tahini Baby. I’m a huge fan of Eden’s approach to cooking, and the spread my sister and I crafted (pictured below) of sugar snap pea crunch salad, za’atar asparagus with walnut date farro and tahini vinaigrette, and fennel salad topped with crispy halloumi was pure perfection. On Wednesday, we marked one year since my nana's passing with what we deemed the ‘nanaversary’ alongside my aunts and cousins; we all miss her dearly, so being together to cherish and share memories of her just felt right.

Since getting back to the city on Thursday, I’ve been playing major life admin catchup, but I’ve had the chance to sneak in some fun, too, including a Friday night dinner at The Polo Bar with Gary Janetti and Brad Goreski. I’m not going to lie, it was a pretty iconic night that included Gary popping by to Susan Lucci’s table (nana would have been beside herself to learn I was in the company of the soap star!), shaking Sandra Lee’s hand and telling her I loved watching her TV show growing up (who else remembers Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee?) and even Nina Garcia coming up to our table to chat with Brad (again, my teenage Project Runway-watching self would have just died…but mostly because I was sitting next to the real star of the Rachel Zoe Project).

Other highlights of this weekend have included the transition from tulips filling our streets to roses beginning to bloom in Jackson Square and the Jefferson Market Garden. It was a real *pinch me* moment this morning when the gracious volunteers at Jefferson Market Garden let me in ten minutes before opening time and quite literally encouraged me to smell the roses. Food wise, I also delighted in my usual Saturday stop at Rigor Hill Market for the best turkey sandwich in the city and soaking up a gorgeous charcuterie and wine spread at Sogno Toscano.

As for how I’m spending my sacred Sunday, I lucked out with a very short line at L’Appartement 4F this morning to grab croissants for a trip planning session with my girls. We’re headed to Mallorca and Formentera in July and in the midst of finalizing all the fun details. It’ll be my fourth visit to Mallorca and I’m hyped to even further refine my recommendations before sharing a guide with you all in late July. Consider this your official warning that recs for the best hotels, restaurants, shops, and beaches on the island are loading! Let’s get into it.

• In Between the Lines: A conversation with on the inspiration behind her forthcoming show Older Hotter Wiser, plus, more about her book deal for Let’s Fucking Date

• The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): articles I loved this week covering buzzy books, film, and New York restaurant news

• The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): podcasts that left their mark

• The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): the Substacks I’ve devoured this week that I think you’ll love—including a roundup with predictions for the ‘book of the summer’ where a recommendation of mine was featured!

But, before we dive in, to access the complete version of this and future posts, upgrade today! Paid subscribers of The Sunday Series unlock an exclusive section of paywalled content in each send, access to the full archives (including Your Local’s Guide to West Village, Your Ultimate Paris Guide, 100 Hotels I’m Dying to Check Into, My Holy Grail Rules for an Overnight Flight, 31 Ideas for Your Next Birthday Trip, A Playbook for How to Make Friends As An Adult, and 16 Prompts for a Personal Quarterly Review), the commenting feature on each post, exclusive giveaways, and more. Plus, your support directly helps ensure this newsletter can continue to grow! Subscriptions are $8/month or less than $7/month if paid annually—also known as less than one fancy Starb*cks order. But don’t let me be the one to tell you why you should upgrade! I’ll leave that to a fellow reader…

“I've been following your newsletter for the past few months and it's such a delight! It always makes me smile and I feel like your content is thoughtful and unique every week. I'm glad to finally be able to support you with a subscription.” – Gina C., paid subscriber of The Sunday Series

Kayla Douglas: Serena, your debut series Older Hotter Wiser is part road trip rom-com, part existential spiral — and we’re here for every chaotic turn. What inspired this story, and how much of it mirrors your own journey?

: Older Hotter Wiser is deeply inspired by my real life and the work I’ve done around confidence and identity. The show explores the duality of performing a persona online or onstage versus confronting who you really are behind the scenes — and the very real struggle of trying to embody confidence when you’re not always feeling it. It was incredibly cathartic to make because so much of it mirrors my own emotional journey.

I saw people in the comments asking, “Wait, is this a reality show?” which made me laugh — because if it feels that real, then we did our job. But no, it’s fully scripted. I wrote all seven episodes, and half of them with my brilliant creative partner, Michael Brown. If it blurs the line between fiction and reality, that’s kind of the point.

KD: You’re not just starring in Older Hotter Wiser — you also wrote and executive produced the series. What was it like shaping a character who walks the line between who she is online and who she’s still figuring out how to be in real life?

Through the process of writing and acting in this show, I came to realize that true confidence isn’t about always being sure of yourself — it’s about being your own best friend. It’s about loving the flawed parts, sticking by yourself even when you’re not your favorite. The duality between SFK and Serena is a huge part of the story, and for me, this show feels like the perfect bow on that chapter of my life. SFK was armor, and she served her purpose. But I’m in a place now where I feel more comfortable just being Serena — a real, messy, evolving person — and sharing that with the world.

KD: You’ve built a brand around exuding radical confidence. But in this series, your character is forced to confront some messy truths. How did you approach designing a character arc that would navigate the tension between empowerment and vulnerability?

SK: Without giving too much away — because I want people to experience it — the show makes that duality really clear. You see the shift between the character and the real person in a way that feels intentional and, at times, uncomfortable. That tension between empowerment and vulnerability is the heart of the series.

I think what’s powerful about Older Hotter Wiser is that it doesn’t pick a side. It shows how both can exist at once. You can be someone who empowers others and still feel lost. You can be confident and still question everything. The show doesn’t shy away from that contradiction — it leans into it. And that’s what makes the arc feel honest.

Older Hotter Wiser premieres Monday, May 19th on Peacock. All seven episodes drop at once, so get ready to binge. And if you subscribe to my newsletter linked below, you’ll get an exclusive discount code for a yearly Peacock subscription.

The Plot

The Plot is a newsletter about becoming the main character you were fucking born to be.

By Serena Kerrigan

KD: From Instagram to Peacock to Penguin Random House — the evolution of Let’s Fucking Date has been wild. What made now the right time to turn your viral content into a book?

SK: It’s honestly surreal. In 2020, I said I was going to build an empire, and I had no idea what that would actually look like. What started on Instagram Live turned into best-selling card games, a live show, a series on Peacock, and now a book. But none of it happened overnight. Success takes time, and each step built on the one before it.

I couldn’t have written this book a few years ago. I wasn’t ready. I spent most of my twenties single, dating every type of guy, living through every kind of situationship, and learning what it really means to value myself. Now I’m in a healthy relationship, one that still has its own challenges, and I finally feel confident giving advice that’s grounded in real experience.

This book isn’t about teaching women how to be more appealing to men. It’s about helping them feel confident in who they are. It’s about making dating fun again, which I think we’ve all forgotten it can be. Women don’t need to be fixed. They need to feel empowered. I think it’s time for dating advice to come from someone who’s actually been in it.

KD: You’ve said, “Most dating books tell you how to be chosen. This one reminds you that you’re the prize.” How have you personally embodied this message in a world that constantly makes us feel like we need to further optimize ourselves to be desirable?

SK: For so long, I was told to edit myself. To downplay my accomplishments. To not mention my social media presence. To send the perfect text and say the right thing to seem more palatable. And the irony is that when I met my boyfriend, I was completely, radically myself. He saw straight through the SFK persona and connected with who I really am. That experience reminded me just how powerful it is to show up as your full self.

Of course, it’s hard. We’re constantly fed messaging that we’re not enough. And it gets even harder when we face rejection. But the truth is that your person will love you not in spite of who you are, but because of who you are. That kind of love doesn’t require you to shrink. It invites you to expand.

Something that helped me when I was single was reminding myself that I already had people in my life who loved me deeply. I had friends who saw every part of me and stayed. So how could it be true that I wasn’t lovable? It wasn’t about being better. It was about trusting that being me was already enough. That’s what it means to be the prize. Not proving your worth — just knowing it.

KD: You’ve created everything from card games to content that encourages people to own their worth. What advice do you have for someone who knows they’re the prize... but often forgets it when facing rejection?

SK: Get in front of the mirror and talk to yourself the way you’d talk to your best friend. If your best friend got ghosted, you wouldn’t say, “Well, maybe you just weren’t good enough.” You’d say, “He clearly couldn’t see how amazing you are — and that’s on him.” So why don’t we offer ourselves that same grace?

Rejection hurts, but as you get older, you start to see it for what it is — redirection. Every guy who didn’t text back, every breakup, every dead-end situation, they weren’t setbacks. They were detours pushing me closer to the right person. It’s hard to trust that when you’re in it, but it’s the truth.

The key is to keep reminding yourself who you are. Look yourself in the eye, literally. Say it out loud. Rejection doesn’t make you less worthy. It just clears the path for something better.

KD: Since we have to wait until 2026 for the book form of Let’s Fucking Date slated for 2026, what’s one piece of dating advice you’d shout from the rooftops going into this summer?

SK: Your person is out there. The more you can trust that — really trust it — the more peace you’ll feel in the meantime. When you’re ready for love, the opportunity will come. But until then, your job is to live. Fully.

KD: The Sunday Series was conceptualized as a love letter to my favorite day of the week. If we were with you in West Village on a Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?

SK: My boyfriend and I live in the West Village, on the same block I was actually conceived on — very full-circle New York energy — and it’s right next to Café Cluny. We love going there for brunch and always order the French toast and the breakfast sandwich. It’s divine. Then we take our little puppy Pancho for a walk along the West Side Highway with my mom, who also lives in the neighborhood. It’s one of my favorite ways to reset and spend time together. After that, we wrap it up with a stop at Hungry Llama for their honey iced latte — it’s so fire. I mean, it is nice to be a West Village girl, isn’t it? ;)

Okay! I moved locations to write this part—needed an energy shift and only the best for my paid peeps. Tucked away into the corner at Plantshed, I’m observing the Village at its prime…a gorgeous man getting advice on how to rehab his potted plant both from the woman who works here and a woman who lives around the corner who’s got a lot of opinions on the matter. Oh wait, now an Aussie standing in line behind him has something to say, too. The whole scene really reminds me of this article and what it means to be a good villager.

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I’ve been flirting with the idea of a rebrand for months, and the time has finally come to share where we landed. It’s official—my baby is growing up. I mean, did you notice I’m even using proper capitalization now? Honestly, this evolution is possibly even more groundbreaking than florals for spring.

But all jokes aside, allow me to reintroduce my pride and joy…Meet The Sunday Series: Curated by Kayla.

There felt like no better moment to reveal the new look and feel of my favorite corner of the internet than the start of the month that marks my fifth anniversary (!!!!!) of sending The Sunday Series. I sent my first edition in May 2020—also known as peak “uncertain times.” For a reminder of where we were at back then, there was a banana bread recipe in that first issue…I sent it to maybe forty people, probably half of whom I was somehow related.

After five years of evolving with you (thankfully, out of pandemic and into much more certain times…though, no less confusing ones?), a glow-up was in order. It was time for a refined look and a recommitment to what’s always been at the core: my obsession with aesthetics, both grand and granular. Because I firmly believe the way your cappuccino is served matters. A friend taking the time to handwrite a thank you card matters. Minimal overhead lighting, the familiar scent that envelopes you when you hug someone you love, and the just-right stack of books by your bedside—it all adds up to a life that feels more intentional. More romantic. More intrinsically and irrefutably you.

Since that first lo-fi send, this weekly love letter has grown into a global community of curious readers who crave the same things I do: connection, introspection, and discovery. No, really, we’re global. Substack has a cool tool that allows me to see audience location—turns out, TSS has readers across the U.K., Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Oman, India, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Mexico…to name a few! These readership stats are so humbling, a reminder of why I’ll never take the privilege of sharing stories from my movie set neighborhood of the West Village for granted.

In recent years through countless editions of The Sunday Series, I’ve been able to bring you conversations on craft with writers I’ve long admired—Rebecca Serle, Robinne Lee, Carola Lovering, Grace Atwood, and more. These interviews have become some of my favorite sections of the newsletter to work on, so I decided to give them their own spotlight—and a new name to match. Introducing In Between The Lines: a Q&A series where I go deeper with the voices that inspire me most. We’re kicking In Between The Lines off with none other than Christina Najjar—aka Tinx—who opens up about writing her first novel, which hits shelves on Tuesday. And in true TSS fashion, she’s also dishing where she’d take us for the perfect New York Sunday together.

• The Mother’s Day Gift Guide: an edit for every type of mom (or maternal figure) in your life—including the one who swears she doesn’t need anything. Expect a mix of chic, sentimental, and straight-up spoil-worthy picks.

• WVBC Things: A snippet from my interview in this month’s newsletter, including a breakdown of our event with Gary Janetti!

• In Between the Lines: A conversation with Tinx on the inspiration behind her forthcoming novel Hotter In The Hamptons, which hits on themes of self-discovery, exploration, and the importance of friendship

• The Vault (Paid Subscriber Exclusive): My latest cultural deep dive—featuring the show I’ve been bingeing, the articles I can’t stop thinking about, and the Substacks I forward to my friends this week.

But, before we dive in, to access the complete version of this and future posts, upgrade today! Paid subscribers of The Sunday Series unlock an exclusive section of paywalled content in each send, access to the full archives (including Your Ultimate Paris Guide, 100 Hotels I’m Dying to Check Into, My Holy Grail Rules for an Overnight Flight, 31 Ideas for Your Next Birthday Trip, A Playbook for How to Make Friends As An Adult, and 16 Prompts for a Personal Quarterly Review), the commenting feature on each post, exclusive giveaways, and more. Plus, your support directly helps ensure this newsletter can continue to grow! Subscriptions are $8/month or less than $7/month if paid annually—also known as less than one fancy Starb*cks order. But don’t let me be the one to tell you why you should upgrade! I’ll leave that to a fellow reader…

"I decided to become a paid subscriber because I appreciate how much info you still give to free subscribers *before* they get to the paywalled part of your email. Counter-intuitive? Maybe! So often a writer turns on paid subs and EVERYTHING is behind the paywall. That's how I thought yours would be too, but I've been pleasantly surprised. It made me make the jump to converting to paid!" – Alison Z., paid subscriber of The Sunday Series

Subscribe now

So, something slightly problematic for me is that my mom is definitely reading this. Hi, mom! She and I both got gifted TheraBody Depuffing Wand (currently $20 off) when we went to a live taping of Jimmy Fallon earlier this year, and are obsessed. If your mom is also into biohacking and you are feeling a bit more splurgey, I’m seriously enamoured with the idea of and Red Light Therapy Face Mask (up to $200 off if you get yourself and a friend one too!) and I have friends who swear by their Infrared Sauna Blanket (currently $140 off). If we’re going for more reasonable beauty buys, the Crown Affair Towel is a fave. I also finally got my hands on a friend’s La Bonne Brosse hairbrush, and I officially understand the hype.

Maybe your mom or a mother-like figure is more of a homemaker! You can’t go wrong with gifting some of these chic Sabre Pearly Bistro Spreader for hosting. Or if they are in the market for a reorganization of their chaotic spice drawer, this Evermill Countertop Spice Rack is dreamy. The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook (out Tuesday, but preorders help authors so much!) by would also make an incredible gift. For the woman who prefers to be in the garden versus kitchen (or maybe she does it all), this Gardening Tools: Set of 10, this cutie Gardening Caddy, or this practical Gardening Bench could be clutch.

Shop My Gift Guides

Each month over in our monthly newsletter, we feature a spotlight on a member. Since I hosted in April, it was my turn to answer some questions, and it was so fun! From how WVBC came to what my dream Sunday would look like to the one book I’ll never stop recommending, I loved spilling so many recommendations. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes (or just want more recs, always), you can read the full feature here. Oh, and I’m still not over our meeting at The Mercer with writer Gary Janetti and his celebrity stylist husband, Brad Goreski—a true ‘pinch me’ New York moment.

West Village Book Club

six voracious readers sharing their book recs, book club hosting tips, and love for New York City

By Kayla Douglas

Christina, the world knows you as Tinx, but to many, you're a big sister figure offering advice on your podcast and socials. What inspired you to translate your guidance into your first book, The Shift, which you've shared is a chronicle of the advice your younger self needed?

I wanted to write a sort of love letter to my followers. A manual for surviving dating and knowing your self-worth. It’s really the book that I needed when I was younger, so I wanted to put all my thoughts in one place. It also serves as somewhat of a mini memoir. I think that advice is best delivered with personal experience because then people know why it matters to you to share it!

Hotter in the Hamptons comes out this week. Congratulations! What's the premise behind your debut novel?

Hotter in the Hamptons is a spicy summer fling that follows Lola, a canceled influencer and fashion It girl, to East Hampton, where she tries to get her groove back after her life falls apart. Little does she know all the romance in store for her! There are themes of self-discovery, exploration, the importance of friendship and more!

You've shared that you wrote the book you wanted to read, with a complex protagonist and lots of sex (not all straight sex, either!). How has intuition played into creating a story that you feel will resonate in this cultural moment?

My community is my greatest inspiration. Some of the questions that they’ve asked me were the first kernels of idea for this book. This book is for anyone and everyone, but as usual I kept my followers in mind while creating it. Without giving too much away, it’s a romance novel for the courageous women of today.

Back in February, it was announced that Hotter in the Hamptons was optioned and set to be adapted by the Foster sisters with you as an executive producer. What's been the most meaningful part of your first TV adaption project?

Getting to learn an entirely new process is so thrilling for me. I’m soaking everything in and it’s so wonderful to be a student again. I couldn’t be more thrilled that the book is going to be turned into a show and is in such good hands. Erin and Sara are the smartest around and I am so lucky to learn from them.

Shifting to what you're reading! Tell us about something you read recently that left you with a book hangover.

I can’t stop thinking about Graydon Carter’s memoir, When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines. I worship Tina Brown and I didn’t think I would ever love any memoir as much as hers (The Vanity Fair Diaries), but Carter’s might be dethroning! The common denominator, obviously being Vanity Fair… I love getting a peek into the literary world of the 90s.

What book is on your TBR pile that you're most excited to pick up next?

I just got Amy Griffin’s The Tell.. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews.

The Sunday Series was conceptualized as a love letter to my favorite day of the week. If we were with you in NY on a Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?

I’d take you to Frenchette for a long lunch with lots of pancakes and French bread and coffee and probably glass of wine. Then we’d walk it all off on the West Side Highway looking over the water! Perfection!

Well, now that I’m officially salivating thinking about the Frechette pancake, I supposed we can jump into our cultural deep of the week. We’ll begin with our guests’ pod, Its Me Tinx, which dove back into one of my friend group’s favorite topics: Summer of Outside!!!!

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