brb, holding my breath until november...

plus, a Q&A with Chelsea Fagan, author and founder of The Financial Diet

before we get into the fun, this edition of the sunday series is too long for email, so I’d recommend clicking out to read in browser or even better, in the substack app, where you can like and comment!

happy sunday, lovers. today we’re diving into a grab bag of fun that closely resembles the variety you’d find in a child’s halloween loot, including:

• my thoughts on the impending presidential election

• newsworthy tidbits: stories to distract you (once you’ve voted, that is!!!!)

• want to write a book? I have a special 30% off code for a four-part masterclass taught by Chelsea Fagan to teach you how to crack the code on publishing!

• Q&A with Chelsea Fagan, author of A PERFECT VINTAGE (amongst other titles) and founder of The Financial Diet

• paid subscribers only: this week marked two years of West Village Book Club! I’m sharing my insights for what I wish I’d known when we started it and what I’d recommend if you’re looking to start your own book club

• paid subscribers only: films I’ve watched lately that I think you should add to your queue

as seen in the snap captured above on my anxiety-fueled morning walk (Apollo Bagel in hand), Roevember is coming. it’s both reassuring and scary to see how many of our West Village halloween stoops are getting political—the precarious nature of all that’s on the ballot is putting an extra weight of responsibility into the air this season. it’s spooky enough to be living through these times as a woman, but seeing visual representations of all that’s at stake with a casual walk down the street is a sure reminder that our votes matter.

walking past SJP’s place, it wasn’t the pink and gold pumpkins on her stoop I was enthralled with, but instead, the Harris-Walz signs in each of her many, many windows! the declaration (she also shared a beautiful post to IG) excited me even more than a sighting I had just around the corner where I walked past Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband dining in the window of one of our neighborhood favorites, San Sabino.

god, I love the West Village.

on the note of all that’s at stake, while doom scrolling at the close of a 25k step day yesterday, Michelle Obama’s closing words at a Michigan rally made me cry. among many other points in her poignant 40-minute speech, our former First Lady said, “To anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump or a third party candidate in protest because you're fed up, let me warn you. Your rage does not exist in a vacuum. If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”

the first thing I did was send the video to my sister and mom. I mean, you better believe my group chats have been ACTIVE this week!! I hope yours have been too because you’re totally and completely in the right to ask those you love to think deeply about the impact of the vote they cast and how it will affect you, your mother, your sister, your aunt, and the next generation of children we’re raising.

needless to say….anyone else feel you’re quite literally holding your breath until the election results are decided?? in addition to eagerly awaiting the decision of who will be our country’s next president, there are quite a few things that I’m personally waiting to fall in place. things I hope to be able to tell you about SOON. but let me tell you, the absolute worst time to be holding your breath is when you’re about to run a marathon!!

no, but really.

next sunday, at 10:20a, my wave of the New York City Marathon will set off for 26.2 miles—I’m hoping to complete the race in under 4 hours, and based on how my last four months of training have shaped up, I’ll either just make my goal, or just miss it. we’ll talk about how the cookie crumbles more in my November 10th send, but for now, just know that I’m a bundle of anxiety until the race and election are behind us.

newsworthy tidbits

what better antidote to future-tripping than consuming the news? ha! promise, most of my “news” included below is on the breezier side!!

• Goop x New Balance collab launched. some items are already sold out (no surprise!!) but it’s a relatively small edit of retro feeling pieces in some of my colorways.

• Is There a Feud Between Martha Stewart and Ina Garten? (The New York Times) having just finished Ina Garten’s memoir, BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS, this morning, I’ve got Ina on my mind! this gossipy article may not have any definitive answers, but one things for sure: Ina and Martha are no longer friends.

• Surprise! Timothée Chalamet crashes look-alike contest in Washington Square Park (News 4 New York): so this happened just a few hours ago and I’m dead that he showed up to his own look-alike contest.

• Meet the HENRYs: The Six-Figure Earners Who Don’t Feel Rich (The Wall Street Journal) the feeling of running in place is one I know all too well. it’s exhausting. but this article at least made me feel better that I’m not alone? sharing in case it can do the same for you.

• How Do I Reverse Lifestyle Creep? (The Cut) I’m including this because I feel this article is speaking directly to me. there are certain things I catch myself doing lately ($11 butter being one of them) where I’m like, “oh, nooo…how did this become my normal?” YIKES!!

• Casa Magazines is taking over the space next door to the shop to create a café, sell books, and do pop-ups. I don’t have an article or IG post to substantiate this news, but rest assured it came straight from my favorite Casa personality, Ali—who was just featured by Isaac Likes this past week—who just this morning told me it’ll be ready in a couple weeks!

• Through the Turnstile and Down the Aisle (The New York Times): my friend Sarah (and the first ever guest on the sunday series!!) wrote this article, so what a proud friend moment to be sipping my coffee at Plantshed with the paper in hand to see her name in print. yay, Sarah!

• The Cut launched a new newsletter (their 41st, by the way, kinda crazy) called Book Gossip. it promises to “recommend unexpected books that match the vibe of the season or the mood or the moment and devote attention to genre books that, frankly, more people should be reading.” you can sign up here.

• Author Lisi Harrison and Ellen Marlow Share They’re Writing a New Book in The Clique Series: ‘Update on the Girlies’ (People): I grew up on The Clique, so this is ground breaking for me personally!!!! let the countdown to publication begin.

we’re going to get into so much more below, but can I ask you something first? if you enjoy the content I share here each sunday, I would be so appreciative of you ‘heart-ing’ it on Substack so that the sunday series can be read by more people! this engagement will help us continue bringing on more exciting talent in our Q&A series 🤍

---

so you want to write a novel?

one of my favorite parts about growing this community on Substack is that it attracts talented writers who aspire to write their own books! if you’re wondering how to bring your idea for a book to life, author Chelsea Fagan is sharing her secrets and showing you the roadmap. beginning November 12th, she’s hosting a four-part comprehensive masterclass series to teach participants about book writing, publishing, and marketing alongside expert guests. and even better? she’s offering us a 30% discount if you use the code “KAYLA” at checkout!! read on for details on what the class includes, which you can score the four courses for $245 (versus $349).

• the class covers fiction and nonfiction, traditional and self-publishing

• it features experts across the disciplines of book writing, editing, selling, and marketing

• it's applicable to people from the ideation stage all through the publishing/marketing stage, and can be used for previously released titles

• it will also feature an accountability group, open office hours, and interactive Q&A sessions with all experts

• if attendees can't join live, they get access to all class videos, chats, materials, and resources/links

…and drumroll please! sunday series subscribers can get 30% OFF the masterclass with code KAYLA at checkout!!

meet Chelsea Fagan

I first became familiar with Chelsea’s work via TikTok (you should definitely follow her if you aren’t already!), and then had the chance to meet her last summer around the time when her debut novel, A PERFECT VINTAGE, came out. I brought her book with me on a trip to Spain and it gave me all the feels! if you haven’t already read it, I encourage you to add it to your TBR, stat.

Kayla Douglas: Chelsea, before we wind back through your career path, tell us a bit about what you do today through your work as a multi-hyphenate, both as an author and founder of The Financial Diet.

Chelsea Fagan: So, I'm the co-founder and CEO of The Financial Diet, which is a media company that (primarily) talks to women about money. (Our staff is all women, too!) I'm also an author of several books, both self- and traditionally published, including two out next year: one on the art of hosting with Penguin Random House, and my next romance novel, published under my own imprint. In addition to my work in media, I also love home decor and entertaining, which is a lot of what I do over on my TikTok. 

KD: You weren't always in the personal finance world. What were some early career choices that led you to wind up pivoting?

CF: Frankly, the only reason I started talking about money in the first place was because I was so terrible with my own. I was working at another media company at the time, and I created a blog talking about my financial issues just as a way to hold myself accountable. At the time -- about ten years ago -- the only people talking about money at a large scale were... not hugely relatable, and often incredibly shame-y in how they talked about it. So the content got a lot of traction right away, and from there, it ended up expanding into a full-fledged company!

KD: How do you approach the realm of personal finance in a way that feels authentic to you versus following the traditional blueprint in such a male-dominated space?

CF: I'm just honest about it, both transparent with my own finances and with the systemic realities that put us in difficult situations to begin with. I grew up poor, and like most Americans, was fed a steady narrative about your net worth being entirely a reflection of your own work ethic, and poverty being the result of incompetence or moral failure. It took a long time to unlearn that, and that's what we try to do in our work -- our monthly video essays, for example, are usually more macroeconomic explorations than personal shaming. 

KD: You launched The Financial Diet in 2014 as a personal blog, but it has since grown into a cross-platform media company that empowers women to talk about money. What does growing and scaling your business look like to best align with your vision for your life as an entrepreneur?

CF: My partners and I practice transparency in our company's finances, and essentially everyone engages in some form of revenue or profit sharing -- we also offer a four-day work week and six weeks' PTO, for non-financial compensation. We also generally try to create work we believe in, take care of our community, and offer a lot of value for what we charge. That said, one thing the pandemic taught us was that there will always be variables in business beyond our control, so we try to balance working hard with taking care of ourselves as people and not burning out.

KD: Speaking of, what does an average "day in the life" look like?

CF: On a work day, if I'm not going into the office, I wake up around 8:45 (I'm a night owl, through and through). I'll do some work, usually go get lunch or run an errand, then come back and do some more work. In the late afternoons I'll often go for a long walk (I try to get 10,000 steps daily), then come back for a little evening work before I cook dinner. On non-work days, I'll usually alternate between writing, home projects, seeing friends, and just enjoying life in New York. My husband and I don't have children, so the flexibility of that is one of my favorite things about my life. I'm not interested in optimization, and my "doing nothing" time is just as valuable to me as my productive time.

KD: Amidst building The Financial Diet, you've written a lovely novel set in France titled A PERFECT VINTAGE — but you combined your passions for personal finance and authentic storytelling by openly talking about how you self-published. Can you tell us more about why you felt compelled to pull back the curtain on this decision?

CF: Because the publishing industry is, to put it lightly, in its flop era. There are still good deals out there (I still traditionally publish some titles!), but the model is largely broken for smaller or newer authors, and so much of the marketing responsibility falls to authors even with substantial advances. As I have my own platform, and was not likely to get a substantial advance for my novel, I decided to explore the possibility of doing it on my own. And for trade paperback fiction titles like mine, to put it in perspective, I clear between 35-70% of the list price on every copy sold, as opposed to 7.5% with a traditional publisher after earning out my advance. And with advances in printing and distributing technology, there isn't even a need to warehouse books, or a barrier to being sold in bookstores. For my novel, I own all of my IP, sell foreign licenses or adaptation rights as I choose, and though it was an up-front investment, have been entirely profitable for nearly a year. For my nonfiction titles, especially because they are generally higher-production, more logistically complicated books, the traditional model makes sense. But I'm a huge advocate of creatives understanding the industry they create for as thoroughly as possible, and making it work for them financially.

KD: Now that your novel has been out in the world for a year, what's been the most surprising part of seeing it in readers' hands around the world?

CF: Every day, I'm tagged in photos and stories of people reading it, or book clubs discussing it. I see it in bookstore windows and on shelves, even in other countries. Having published books since 2012, none of that is particularly new, but seeing it happen with a title I brought into the world on my own terms has a totally different meaning! It makes me emotional and genuinely proud of myself every time. I don't take a single reader for granted.

KD: You recently announced that your next book, HAVING PEOPLE OVER, will be released in September 2025 as a modern guide to having, throwing, and attending every type of party. What stories will you be bringing forth in this book?

CF: So I have two books out next year, ABOVE DECK in April (a new enemies-to-lovers romance novel), and HAVING PEOPLE OVER in September. The latter is a book that's been requested by my community for a long time, as I've always had a huge passion for the art of hosting, and it's a lot of what I share on my personal social media. The big idea, for me, is really making hosting accessible and adapted to the world we currently live in -- especially as we're often pushed towards more and more isolation. Communities are essential, and gathering them doesn't happen by itself!

KD: Much of your platform is about transparency, including how open you are about your journey with both traditional and self-publishing. What can aspiring writers expect from your upcoming course, "How To Bring Your Book to Life"?

CF: Basically, it's a 360 primer on writing and publishing any kind of book, regardless of how you're publishing it. I'm co-hosting it with four experts from around the industry -- representing all the different perspectives -- and it's about reclaiming so much of the practical knowledge that is often gate kept from authors.

KD: What are you most looking forward to as we approach 2025?

CF: My new books, a fresh year, and so many adventures I have yet to even imagine! Every new year that we are lucky enough to enjoy should be embraced with curiosity and hope, and that's how I always choose to view them. The best is yet to come!

---

bonus content for paid subscribers

okay, we’ve already covered a lot of ground this week, but a huge focus I have as we wrap 2024 is to make the sunday series more valuable than ever, especially for my growing community of paid subscribers. so, we’re going to be diving into a few final tidbits including:

• West Village Book Club turns two! what I wish I’d known before creating a book club, and advice I have for starting your own

• films I’ve watched lately: what I’d recommend you add to your queue