About Words Like Silver

Hey y'all!

I’m a twenty-six year old reader and writer from Tampa, Florida. I left the sunshine to study history and studio art at W&L in Virginia, graduating in May 2020.

I’ve lived in Honolulu, in New York City, and in Park City depending on the season. Nowadays, I'm based on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i — in Waialua.

For work, I’m a freelance writer and editor at magazines and publications. I write travel, lifestyle, commerce, style, and entertainment for Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, The Wall Street Journal, PEOPLE, Cosmopolitan, Well+Good, and more. You can find more of my work here. I’m deeply interested in psychology and aesthetics and that framework often grounds my writing.

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Words Like Silver was established in April 2011 when I, in true middle school fashion, needed an outlet. It gets its name from my penchant for “silver-tongued” writers and lyrical prose.

Book-wise, I started my book coverage within young adult fiction because it’s where I find the most variety (and because I was thirteen.) I like high-concept commercial with a literary voice and a strong sense of place across both YA and adult.

In nonfiction, I go down rabbit holes and devour books on specific topics that catch my fancy. (I’m often reading Brain Pickings — now The Marginalian — or Aeon for inspiration.) Predictably, I read a lot of psychology and social histories.

I’ve been running this blog since I was thirteen, so have been involved in publishing for a minute. I hope and expect it to be a lifelong pursuit of the book industry! For more on how and why it's expanding, you can read about its recent makeover.

Because I'm blonde(ish) now and the old headshot feels dishonest. C'est la vie!

When not making art or reading, I’m probably exercising, on a beach, in the ocean, or attempting to find the nearest dance floor or studio. I’m a hobbyist at heart, and passionate about anything expressive.

For further specifics, you can stalk my portfolio.

A Note on My Editorial Process

Another note: it's just me here. No team or external help, besides my fantastic developer Chris Oka (highly recommend) who built the site, code, formatting. Of course, I am so, so grateful for all the personal and professional support within my life that gives me the capability to build WLS independently.

That being said, I'm pretty relaxed on-site. WLS has always been an outlet for me to express without limit, so I don't edit my work or publish my articles with baked-in time to review with fresh eyes. 99% of what you read here is a first draft that I think of, write, and publish all in a row—most likely within a few hours. Think of my musings as reflections rather than reported work.

So frankly, I think my writing here might be better than in other places because it's truer to my interests and synthesizes my reads/thoughts/personality in such a powerful way. But! My articles for magazines and other publications are much cleaner because I hold myself to a very different standard within my deliverables and undergo a more robust editorial process from brainstorming to execution.

So if you catch a typo, grammatical error, repetition, or some other quality you don't like, feel free to flag to me if that would make you feel better, but just know WLS does not align with my traditional journalism or authorship in that way—which is also perhaps a factor that has allowed me to run it for 14+ years without burning out on or resenting the workflow in the way I do sometimes within my day job and career. Just let it happen!

A Note on Buying Books

Amazon is terrible for the book industry. Originally, I had a paragraph blurb of explanation here, but it turned into a long, long rant and explanation about the dangers of devaluing books and systemically reducing our access to literature—and ability to create art, on the creative side.

I'd recommend buying through Bookshop. If you let me know which books you want, I can give you a referral code. Most of my reviews and book mentions will aim to use Bookshop affiliate links. (Since I’ve been blogging for so long, many of my older reviews contain Goodreads links, which has since been acquired by Amazon.) I also love Barnes & Noble (although they have their own issues), and ThriftBooks for secondhand titles! Your indie purchases are helpful. Buy used! Borrow from friends!

some calligraphy doodles

& I'm a twin by the way.

a picture of my sister reading that I like to pretend is of me—the aesthetic!!!

a favorite book

probably a little shyer in person, but that comes with the bookish territory! right?

hammock, wine, sun, read

lover of statement clothing tho

made you look.