The Mind Creates the Abyss
and the heart crosses it. --Sri Nisargadatta
Because of the destruction the city of Los Angeles and its residents have experienced this past week, I’m sharing disaster relief resources in today’s newsletter. Next week I’ll be back with the usual writing-related post: an interview with Zeeva Bukai, whose debut novel, The Anatomy of Exile, will be published on January 14.* One other important, time-sensitive item of literary note is detailed at the end of this message.
The fires are burning in and around Los Angeles with feral violence, having already destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses, a staggering number of them in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. New fires keep springing up, the wind carrying embers into other dry, vulnerable areas. The firefighters and first responders must feel as if they’re trapped in a diabolical game of Wac-a-Mole.
Friends have lost their homes and everything inside. It’s an all but unfathomable loss. Most evacuees had to leave their homes within minutes of receiving an evacuation order and grabbed only enough clothes for a night or two away. Thousands have since lost their homes, and as of this writing, ten people have died.
A clip a friend posted to her Instagram account showed the street in the Palisades where her house had stood the day before. All that remained was a jumble of ash and metal. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it looked like a war zone.
I keep thinking about the birds and animals that lived in the affected areas too. Undoubtedly, many were unable to outrun or outfly the flames. The trees and plants that have also been lost—a magnitude of devastation also akin to a war zone.
The news of course has been broadcasting hellish images of the fires. In Pasadena where I live about a mile and a half below the current evacuation order line, I went out briefly on Wednesday afternoon and took a few pictures of trees that had fallen in the previous night’s punishing winds.
In a January 9 podcast episode of
, Daum spoke movingly of Altadena, which she described as an enchanted forest. It’s a short, very personal episode, “Letter from the Los Angeles Fires,” recorded not long after Daum learned the rental house she lived in had burned to the ground.If you’re in the area and need practical, financial, or mental health-related assistance, or if you know of others who do, below are a number of resources:
Comprehensive list of disaster aid services, including food, medicine, human and animal shelter, maintained by MALAN (Mutual Aid LA Network).
Planet Fitness and LA Fitness are offering free wifi and showers to members and non-members
Airbnb and 211LA are working together to offer temporary housing
Get up to $40 for a ride to a shelter with Uber using code WILDFIRE25
From the Authors Guild: “Authors League Fund, a sister organization to the Authors Guild that provides emergency aid to writers. If you are in need of assistance due to the wildfires, please reach out. The guidelines and online application are at authorsleaguefund.org/apply, or you can contact the Fund at staff@authorsleaguefund.org.”
From the Red Cross: “Anyone who needs a safe place to stay can find shelters on redcross.org, the free Red Cross Emergency app or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767). Search ‘American Red Cross’ in app stores or go to redcross.org/apps.”
You can also donate funds to the organizations below:
GoFundMe’s Wildfire Relief Fund
The Red Cross
The Writers Guild of America/Entertainment Community Fund
I hope you’re safe, wherever you are right now. ❤️
—
*Zeeva Bukai’s book launch for The Anatomy of Exile is January 14, 7 PM, at Powerhouse Arena Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY. She’ll be joined by fellow novelist Sara Lippman.
And lastly…
📘 Tin House is accepting debut novels (today) Saturday, January 11 & Sunday, January 12, 2025, through 11:59 p.m. PT.
Guidelines: Submissions can be originally in English and in translation (please only submit translation projects which the translator has already been granted formal permission to translate). As mentioned above, we ask that you do not send us a project unless you have a completed draft of the full manuscript available upon request.
Note that writers may submit only once during each submission period, and that a schedule for other submissions periods is available above. Eligible writers must not currently have an agent, and must not have previously published a book (chapbooks okay).
Please upload the first chapter in a PDF or Word document. We kindly request that you do not send any additional material beyond a first chapter, and we will contact you if we are interested in seeing more. In the submission form, you will also be asked to provide a short bio, 2-3 comparable titles (books that are similar to yours in theme, style, or readership), and a one-paragraph project overview that describes your manuscript.
Submit online here.
I'm so relieved that you're safe.
I'm glad you're safe.