The Lupine Lady

a flower, a lady, a name change

I love reading about how people write, the mechanics. How someone sits down, brainstorms, edits, writes free hand into one journal, edits in another, writes for one hour non stop, edits while listening to a specific album, has to write in a certain place, I don’t know, all of it is interesting to me. Maybe it's because I’m nosy by nature (or curious!), or because I chase a list and I have this idea that the exact right routine can be life changing. Or rather, for me, writing is a series of getting out of my own way, excavating that raw piece underneath all the other shit and finishing and polishing it to perfection. I want to know how someone else manages to do that. I’m fascinated by this process. 

My biggest lesson since starting this little substack so far is that you can only plan so much, you just kinda have to do it and see what works. Yes, this advice is not novel, but it's one that I finally do understand.

When I started I thought I’d be writing about labor, women's labor, union related stuff, maybe even veering into the political. I didn’t want the focus to be on me at all. I chose the name “half the sky,”  to reflect that intention.

But I also made the promise to myself that I would write what feels right and follow the inspiration where it leads. Doing just that I found myself writing mostly about my kids, being a mom, and myself.

So the name hasn’t felt quite right for a while. I want to move forward with something more to reflect what I am doing and feeling, hence the name change: 

The Lupine Lady. 

So, why The Lupine Lady? 

The Lupine Lady is a reuse of a social media username I’ve used in the past.  It's a reference to the Barbara Cooney children’s book, Miss Rumphius. This was/is my favorite book as a kid. I wanted (and still want to really ) to live in a Barbara Cooney painting. Fittingly, I too love planting and gardening and think Lupines are one of the most beautiful flowers. That’s it really. Because I’m focusing on myself here, I just want a name to reflect that and nothing more. This name is pretty and I like it.

I’m also reminded of something Kristen from

On The Map

said in one of her newsletter posts from a few months ago along the lines of “remember no one takes your newsletter as seriously as your self.” hahaha. This has been a constant reminder to not be too precious about my writing. Mistakes are there to be made, to learn, to refine, to edit, to continue building the craft. 

It feels right to do so, and I imagine I’ll keep changing, trying, editing. 

Welcome to the Lupine Lady and thank you for reading!