Chortler on a Train, No. 1 is live on Substack today. This episode is the companion to it.

Madame J notices what people wear because what people wear is information. She was a spy. That kind of attention doesn't retire just because the war ended.

This week I talk about:

• What Madame J sees when she opens that curtain and looks at the dead man across the aisle
• Why I built her eye for style into the character from the very beginning
• What we all do every day without realizing it
• What your style is actually saying right now whether you intend it or not
• And the research rabbit hole that gave me a better detail than I imagined

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

She's Here. Almost.

This episode is about what a story can do that an essay cannot. I have spent years writing essays about formidable women. About refusing smallness. About taking up space without apology. I meant every word of every one of them

I have been sitting on this long enough.

Madame J arrives Tuesday June 2nd on Substack. Five installments. Every Tuesday. Free to read.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Where Do You Want to Be?

This week I talk about the very human experience of looking for your reflection in someone else's record of the night, what I actually found when I looked, and the distinction that changed everything for me: I wasn't missing from the night. I was missing from the record of the night. Those are two different things.

This week I talk about:

• The event, the Instagram carousel, and the very human pang that followed
• Why I looked anyway even though I told myself not to
• What I actually found in those videos
• The difference between being missing from the action and being missing from the record
• Where you actually want to be this season (not where you think you should be)

Your mission should you choose to accept it: intentionally get in the photo record when it feels good to you. And move toward where you actually want to be. My hope is that this episode helps move you to the dance floor.

Where do you want to be this season? Come tell me in the comments on Substack.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

This week I want to introduce you to a woman you haven't met yet. And before I tell you about Madame J, I have to tell you about Elle.

Elle was my imaginary friend when I was eight. A 1920s movie star with a jet black bob, cupid bow lips, and apartments in Paris, Hollywood, and New York City. Whenever I opened the imaginary door to her apartment I never knew which city I'd land in. Sometimes I held up a bottle of Palmolive soap and accepted awards alongside her while I did the dishes. She was the fun place to go.

Madame J is not Elle. But there are qualities to her that remind me of Elle, as if these were real women who simply knew each other.

This week I talk about:

• The childhood imaginary cast: Berg, Peter, Betty, and Elle
• What this season of life made possible that my eight-year-old imagination couldn't
• Why I wanted to write women I'd actually want to spend time with. She's not nice, but she's kind.
• The short story serial tradition: Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Beatrix Potter
• Bringing Madame J to life with illustrator Gemini.H
• My 26 girl cousins, the matriarchy, and the women we surround ourselves with

Madame J arrives June 2nd on Substack. Five installments. Every Tuesday. Free to read.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Gemini.H's work

This week we're continuing our A Collection of Lovely Things series with a theme of Blue: Hopes, Dreams & Aspirations, and this week's room is a little different.

The Blue room has comfy couches, table space, journals, notebooks, whiteboards. It's a space for dreaming. And more importantly, it's a space with a microphone in the center because this week we're talking about something rarely discussed among highly accomplished women.

Accomplishment Loneliness.

Not platitudes about goal setting. Not a vision board exercise. The real, lived experience of what it feels like to accomplish much and still feel completely alone in it.

In this episode, the three faces of Accomplishment Loneliness:

1. The Loneliness of Outpacing Your Circle
2. The Loneliness of the Summit
3. The Loneliness of Not Being Able to Celebrate Fully

Your missions this week:

• Find the part of the good thing you're willing to share — and share it with someone
• If you reach a summit and it's not what you expected, find the emotion you can name and share that instead
• Communicate your expectations of celebration clearly and unequivocally — no hinting, no hoping
• Ask yourself honestly: am I doing this for the love of the thing, or for the applause?

Accomplishment Loneliness is real. It's common. It's survivable. Say the quiet parts out loud.

If this episode resonated with you — share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review. It means the world.

Until next time.

Read the full Blue collection — essay, playlist, poem, style inspiration, and book recommendations — at: maisongaton.substack.com

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

This week we're continuing our A Collection of Lovely Things series with a theme of Green: Home & Environment, and it's all about turning the space you already have into the retreat you've been waiting for.

The episode opens with a reflection on a self-scheduled weekend retreat: a whiteboard in the dining room, a pillow nest on the couch, and the question that started it all: do you want your home to feel like a museum, a workshop, or both?

From there, we dig into three ways to reimagine your space as an incubator for creativity, ideas, and mojo. No travel required. Just a willingness to break a few self-imposed house rules.

In this episode:

1. The Museum Mindset
2. Your Home as a Workshop
3. Move Your Damn Chair

Chapters:

• 0:23 Introduction: The at-home retreat concept, inspired by friends and a Substack essay by Jamie Attenberg
• 2:55 The Museum Mindset: Think like a curator, rotate your collections, display what you love, and treat your home like a children's museum you can actually touch
• 6:26 Your Home as a Workshop: Break the house rules, use every room differently, reclaim the forbidden chair, and let your home become a living breathing mastermind space
• 9:57 Move Your Damn Chair: The simplest entry point, a literal new seat can unlock a figurative shift in perspective and spark the mojo you've been waiting for

Your missions this week:

• Embrace the museum curator mindset: gather objects, find themes, display and rotate what you love
• Break one house rule: use a space differently than you normally would
• Move your damn chair: literally change where you sit and see what shifts

If this episode gave you permission to finally inhabit your home more fully, share it with a friend who needs the nudge. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review. It means the world.

Until next time.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

This week we're continuing our A Collection of Lovely Things series with a theme of Yellow Friendship Gathering, and it's all about the little pieces of ourselves we give to one another.

The episode opens with a reflection on being truly known by a friend, the kind of friend who can read a book you wrote and spot little pieces of you scattered across every character.

From there, we dig into what it actually takes to maintain real friendships as a very busy woman. Not the Instagram version, the real kind. And that means getting honest about three things:

1. Time
2. Energy
3. Stage of Life

Your missions this week:

• Ask yourself: What do I have time for in this season? What do I have energy for? What stage of life am I in?
• Walk through your home and look for gifts, trinkets, and items tied to friendships and look for chances to connect.
• Share your photo albums of gatherings and tag us on Instagram!

If this episode sparked a conversation you and a friend have been needing to have — please share it with them. And if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review. It means the world.

Until next time, friends.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

This week on the Maison Gaton Podcast, we're stepping into the Orange Room, a space dedicated to creativity, whimsy, and permission to be a messy beginner. Drawing on a reframe from a MythBusters creator, we explore how creativity is really just problem solving in disguise, something you're already doing every day. Your missions this week: try micro creativity, be brave enough to be bad at something new, and take a color walk around your home.

In This Episode:

• Why perfectionism is the enemy of creative flow

• How creative people are really just problem solvers

• Mission 1: Micro creativity — starting small to build momentum

• Mission 2: The bravery of being a bad beginner

• Mission 3: The orange color walk

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays

Petite Pleasures and Everyday Glamor: The Red Collection

In this episode:

• What petite pleasures and everyday glamor actually mean (and why it's a mindset first)
• Judith's personal story of finding glamor in the smallest of things, even a 99-cent Shasta soda
• Why you work too hard not to be savoring the life you've built
• How to do a Color Walk through your home and rediscover the gorgeous things you already own
• The two key questions to ask yourself this week to shift into a pleasure-first mindset
• Practical ideas: the good China, the red lipstick, the good candle…use it all, friend

Your mission this week:

Go on a red color walk through your home. Pull out 5–10 red items: beauty, home goods, clothing, trinkets, and actually use them. Enjoy them. Savor them.

Connect: Instagram @judithgaton | Substack for weekly essays