No F*cks Given® Newsletter | 2.12.24
Mardi Gras music, a Dominican baseball adventure, and a BFD (Big February Deal)
Here we are again, my fabulous fucklings: the monthly(-ish) NFG Newsletter roundup is upon us! Per usual, it contains great deals, fun links, book recs, and random AF musings from me to you.
If you’re new here, FYI I’ve been sending this puppy in one form or another for 7+ years and it’s always free. If you want a more from me (aka weekly tips and strategies for living your best life based on my bestselling book series), you can upgrade to a paid subscription at any time; you’ll receive all of my posts plus full access to the archives and the NFG community. We have fun.
(HINT: There may or may not be a pretty darn good reason to upgrade buried within this very newsletter. Keep reading if you like a discount, is what I’m saying.)
What’s up?
The biggest news in my household lately is my husband’s new single, “NOLA,” a horn-fueled party anthem ode to his hometown of New Orleans, released just in time for Mardi Gras.
(Fun fact: We got married at the House of Blues on Decatur St. and chose our wedding band based on the fact that their repertoire included Lyle Lovett’s “She’s No Lady” and Rick James’ “Give It To Me Baby.” I’ll let you guess which one was our first dance song.)
If you’re throwing a Fat Tuesday party or looking for a funky tune to dance around the living room like an idiot to (just me?), give “NOLA” a listen and laissez les bon temps rouler!
In other respects, it’s been a quiet month. No more cats giving birth in the roof, which is great, although little pieces of the roof keep blowing off in the insane wind we’ve been having (not so great).
We discovered a new beach club a bit further outside of town that plays music at a reasonable level and has excellent Aperol spritzes (shocker: the owners are Italian), so I’m hopeful that once the wind dies down we can make a regular date of it. We tried to go last week and were promptly rewarded with a mini-monsoon and sand in every possible repository.
Every. Single. One.
Tropical life, she giveth and she taketh away!
And speaking of giveth…
DEALS
Alas, all of my fun January deals have expired (The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck was the Kindly Monthly deal on Amazon UK a full seven years after it was published, which fucking delights me), so I guess I’ll have to come up with something else for you. Hmmm…whatever could that be? Oh! How about this:
Use the button below to get 30% off of an annual NFG subscription between now and the end of February.
That’s $49 (down from the usual $70) for a whole year’s worth of sweary tips and practical life advice—or as Elle magazine once put it, “A mix of Oprah Winfrey-style mantras and Amy Schumer-esque obscenities.”
3 things to note:
The coupon only works for FREE subscribers wanting to upgrade to a PAID ANNUAL SUB. That’s just how the backend tech is set up. However, if you are already a paid subscriber and you’re like Shit, I wish I hadn’t signed up before she offered this discount, you can email me at sarahknightauthor@substack.com and I’ll sort you out. (It involves me canceling your sub, prorating a refund for the time you were here, and then you can use the coupon, because nothing is ever easy.)
This is a lifetime discount! Meaning that if you decide to renew again next year, you’ll still get 30% off in thanks for being an early adopter of NFG.
Again, this deal is for upgrading to annual subscriptions only. I don’t offer discounts for monthly subs because, well, the math don’t lie.
What else?
We watched Saltburn and I loved it so now I am a person who works “Have you seen Saltburn???” into every conversation. We also just started the Sexy Beast prequel limited series which is riveting thus far. And since I’ve actually never seen the original movie with Ben Kinglsey, I get to look forward to a viewing of that later, as a treat. (PS: the female lead in this series is one of the actresses from Bad Sisters, which I consider a perfect television show, in case it was not already clear exactly what kind of dark-ass shit floats my boat.)
In the Random AF Department: we recently attended a local baseball game, and it was B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
I live in the Dominican Republic—a country that fields an outsized share of Major League stars who got their start in stadiums (I use the term loosely) like the one sitting at the edge of my dusty little fishing village—and this game had everything you could ask for:
A guy dragging a doormat from the back of his motorcycle to groom the infield; several stray dogs lounging in the bleachers; a drunk fan who kept walking onto the field to either congratulate or castigate the players (maybe both?); a speaker system that would blow the doors off of Terry Benedict’s vault; and a series of crowd-funded “bonuses” being called out over said speaker system to reward players for getting a strikeout, taking an extra base, or in the case of our guys in the middle innings, simply not letting the other team score.
Three thousand pesos to stop the bleeding, boys! (They did not stop the bleeding.)
Even though Terrenero Soy ultimately took the L, the beers were ice cold, the people-watching was on point, and we even got to see an actual MLB draft pick, Enoli Paredes, pitch a couple of innings. (He did great; it was the bullpen that let the game get away from us, in a story as old as time.)
Also, I got to wear my Carita hat.
And now I’m extra excited for Spring Training to get underway, even though my beloved team is almost certainly destined for another year of mediocrity before management gets its head out of its ass and our best prospects get out of diapers and get the hang of the Big Leagues.
(Go Sox!)
LINKS & LIKES
Adrienne Herbert is a phenom and I absolutely loved the conversation we had on her Power Hour podcast about growing the fuck up. Listen HERE.
All of the FEELZ about earning money for writing by
viaThe existential horror (and dumbfuckery) of AI-generated prose by the inimitable
Making meaning out of chaos by
And my favorite sex-positive nerd Dr.
graced us with this inspiring excerpt from her new book, Come Together: The Science (And Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections.
Book recommendations
As longtime subscribers know, I was a book editor myself for fifteen years and I like to use this newsletter to shout-out my recent favorite reads. I don’t take requests or PR trades or anything like that; whatever I recommend is because I truly enjoyed it and think other people will too.
Fiction:
Wellness by Nathan Hill. To be honest, I avoided this one for a while because it was everywhere and I worried the hype would set me up for disappointment. (Welcome to my brain!) But then a personal rec from a friend tipped the scales and WOW. I feel like I read at least three books in one, and each of them was a banger. Turns out there’s a reason everyone was raving about it.
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall. I love it when a long-ago preorder pops up on my Kindle, like a surprise visit from an old friend. I had really enjoyed Marshall’s debut suspense novel (“debut” for adults, that is; she is also an accomplished YA author) What Lies in the Woods, and I thought No One Can Know was even better. I do love a twist-upon-a-twist…
Nonfiction:
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by
This new memoir from the author of Maid (which I loved and which I recommend to everybody) was my final read of 2023 and I’m still thinking about it two months later, which tells you everything you need to know. If you’re not familiar with Stephanie’s writing, she’s also on Substack now (Huzzah!) and this post is a great place to start.
Alrighty folks, that’ll just about do it for this monthly(-ish) installment of the NFGN.
As always, thank you for reading my books, listening to my podcast, and joining my mailing list over the years. Until next time: I see you, I appreciate you, and I hope you’re out there giving fewer, better fucks and living your best life!
Sarah
HOUSEKEEPING:
“Getting your shit together” is the winner of last week’s poll, and thus the topic of next week’s regular tip email. (And since “Boundaries, baby!” came in a veeeery close second, I think I know what’s on tap for the week after that...)
I’m doing another Thursday Thread this week. Paid subscribers will get an email when the conversation goes live and a link to join. (Or just to lurk. You do you.)
RECENT POSTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
What’s it Worth to You?: How to stop undervaluing your expertise - and say perfectly reasonable No’s to unreasonable asks
Congratulations, you made it halfway through January! (free)
Come for the cursing, stay for the drive-by Ocean’s 11 references
Sarah, when did you get a dog? This reminded me of your work and had to share. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1iCI6RiY1z/?igsh=MWVzMHl1dmE0MXVldQ==