High Five With Jennifer Romolini
The author of Weird in a World That’s Not and Ambition Monster on five of her current obsessions.
Each month, I ask an author I love to share five recommendations they have for other writers, whatever is the wind beneath their wings when they sit down to write. This month I reached out to author Jennifer Romolini, author of Weird in a World That’s Not, and the co-host of Everything Is Fine, a podcast for women over 40. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Fast Company, and Vogue, to name a few. Jenn’s new memoir Ambition Monster has been the centerpiece of so many of my conversations with friends and acquaintances who all have been asking themselves the same question: what is success? And when is it enough? We’ve found ourselves on the hamster wheel only to wonder “what are we trying to prove? and to whom?” Jenn’s book gives us a peek into her childhood and beyond as she navigates what it means to “make it.”
So without further ado I’m handing the metaphorical microphone over to Jenn.
Hotel rooms with bathtubs
A few years ago I had a weird job editing a cannabis website based in Northern Ireland and I had to travel and work there every two months and stay for a full work week. Someone (honestly probably a Instagram placard or a Buzzfeed article) told me that submerging yourself in water on the same day you land helps with jet-lag so I started requesting hotel rooms with tubs. I don't know if it worked, but it's truly the most decadent way to travel alone — now I bring bath salts and take a long soak on the first night wherever I go.
"Finally! A Show About Women That Isn’t a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare"
This new-ish Jane Marie podcast about women's lives is spare and thoughtful, deeply human and compelling. The narration-free episodes follow a different subject each week, from an 83 year-old calendar girl to an NYC cat wrangler. I cried several times during the Death Care Provider episode, which was great. I love to cry.
My female writer friends
I used to think I was in writing all on my own, but in recent years I've made the whole enterprise more collaborative and developed tight bonds with other female writers — I spent my favorite recent afternoon helping my friend Catherine talk out her next book in real time. And my friend
and I have been side by side pitching, writing and now launching our second books which has made the process a lot more comforting and rewarding. Do yourself a favor and pre-order her book I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself. It's smart and decadent, the perfect summer read.eBay
In the years since I wrote a column about eBay shopping for Lucky magazine, everyone with taste/sense has moved on to more posh vintage sites. But I prefer the scuzziness of eBay where it truly still feels like 2008 and you can find anything, including secret scores. Just last month, I picked up a pristine '70s Brooks Brothers trench coat for $43, a brand-new-with-tags Rachel Comey for Target dress for $7. And, though most days I'm working from home dressed like a 12 year-old boy, I aspire to be the kind of woman who wears elegant vintage scarves; I've built up a collection of a dozen or so of them on the cheap.
Tinted glasses
I'm literally half blind and always wear glasses and I started tinting them in 2021. Rose- or amber-tinted glasses soften the entire world for you in a way I find desperately soothing. I don't know if I'll ever go back to clear lenses even though when I'm out after dark/inside I always feel a little "sunglasses at night."
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