I accidentally went live from my birthday dinner. This one’s on purpose.

Yesterday, I did my first live virtual event using Substack’s newest feature, GoLive. Well—my first successful one. I attempted a chaotic soft launch at my birthday dinner in Marrakech, thinking it might be sweet to share a quick glimpse of Jon singing happy birthday to me (a niche marital perk), followed by an impromptu dance performance in the middle of the restaurant. I assumed maybe a dozen people would tune in. I assumed it would vanish when I hit “stop recording.” I assumed wrong.

I emailed it to all 230,000 of you.

I immediately deleted it in a panic, then stared into the decorative tagine on the table and whispered: You live, you learn.

So, I’m officially declaring yesterday’s GoLive my real debut—and it was such a joy. I got to talk with

Anand Giridharadas

and

Leigh Haber

about The Book of Alchemy, which they chose for The Ink’s new book club.

Leigh ran Oprah’s book club for a decade. Anand is a dear friend, and possibly a time-traveling truth-teller sent here to wake us up. We had the best conversation. Here’s a recap of what we talked about:

• How journaling just for yourself—messy, unstructured, expectation-free—can unlock the path to the future

• How a 100-day project (inspired by designer and Book of Alchemy contributor Michael Bierut) transformed my writing—and saved my life

• What living with the uncertainty of illness taught me about surviving political uncertainty

• And how to actually start journaling (or jumpstart any creative practice) in a way that makes you want to keep going

The video is right there above—click to watch. Tell me what it stirred in you.

P.S. Slowly conquering stage fright and those terrifying tech buttons—so maybe I’ll do this again? Stay tuned (or run for the hills).

P.P.S. Here’s a 5-second clip from the cursed birthday livestream, featuring: butter knife karaoke, deeply committed air guitar, and a trio of unshakably professional Moroccan musicians. You’re welcome.