Bibliographic 3.1: January
Hello!
It’s such a symptom of these online times that in order for me to feel worthy of having a newsletter I feel like I should have a focused, niche subject to tackle. Specificity is what the people want apparently, and sometimes I think I’m getting there (I was sure I’d write a series of newsletters about the process of writing a book over many, many years), but then, I don’t know, my focus kind of fizzles out. And instead of changing course, I just stop writing.
This has been the trend in my writing life since my last novel came out in 2016–all these fits and starts. And that’s fine, it was also because of general life circumstances, but what happens when you do anything in fits and starts is that your muscle memory starts to fade and gets replaced with your new normal. Which, again, is FINE if you’re fine with it! And I was for a long time, plus or minus a few existential crises, anguished texts to friends, spontaneous crying, etc. But I’m at the point now where: it’s not fine. I need to get back in shape, and the only way to do that is to do the work, even when I don’t want to.
Which is partially why I’m writing this newsletter. I want to practice the off the cuff writing I used to do more of in the past because the type of writing I want to get better at is the generative, flow of words kind. I’ll focus on editing again later. Quality is obviously better than quantity, but sometimes quantity has its place.
I think what I’m going to do is take you along on my journey to building up the muscle of writing again. How I’m doing it, how I’m not doing it, what works, what isn’t working.
I’m currently in the book publishing phase where my novel is sitting with my editor, and until I get his comments I want to use this blank space to work on a new book idea I’ve had swirling around in my head. I’ve told myself that whatever next book I write I’m going to plot it out– it sounds so comforting to have an outline, to fill in the blanks– and I still want to do that, but I also know that I’m not at the point where I know the characters well enough to start with plot. I want to get a feel for voices, points of view, first person vs. third person, present vs. past tense. I want some team building ice breaker activities where they play two truths and a lie and I figure out which one is the lie. I want to create a few sentences that I’ll fall in love with and then cruelly discard months/years down the road when I’ve figured out what I’m working on well enough to know they served their purpose and are no longer required.
So how do I do that?
Just write is easy enough to say but I know myself well enough to know I need some strategies. These are a few I think might work:
Hand write in my journal to avoid the lure of everything on my phone. I briefly considered “handwrite in a new notebook that I designate for this new project” but I know I have to remove as many barriers to entry as possible, and sometimes just the act of selecting a new notebook, carrying the notebook with me (in addition to my journal, which I like to always bring), getting into the headspace of writing in a different book– these seemingly small things are just enough to prevent me from doing the actual writing
No outlining, but create a list of scenes or character aspects I’ve thought about that I want to write about. My friend Lindsay’s “jar method” is my inspiration for this, having prompts that are specific to the project and give you a basis to start writing so that you don’t feel daunted by a blank page
Read books that could potentially be considered comps and think about how they were plotted, what I liked, what I didn’t like
Add writing to my weekly to do lists. I love to do lists, and writing is always the first thing to fall off because it ends up getting edged out by other commitments, long work days, gym sessions I’ve paid money for, my kid/me getting sick, tiredness, etc. I feel guilty when I include something on my list and it doesn’t happen and recently I’ve kept writing off because I didn’t want to feel bad about skipping it. But I think I need that guilt if it doesn’t happen!
Okay, so those are my strategies and can I say that it’s made me feel better to write them out? I’m going to report back in a month and let you know what worked and what didn’t, and if I actually got any writing done. If you’re in a similar position and want to do the same, tell me! Let’s do this together?!
Teri
P.S. Some things I enjoyed in January: August Blue by Deborah Levy, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Launer (which I somehow hadn’t read yet and actually had no idea what it was about other than “food, I think” and then spent a flight home from LA to Toronto reading it and SOBBING in my seat), the new Waxahatchee single, Olivia Rodrigo (because of Clara) and subsequently having the $18 Olivia Rodrigo Good 4 Ur Guts smoothie at Erewhon in LA, seeing the ocean at Venice Beach, doing karaoke TWICE (the first time with Emily and our daughters and it was truly so special), going to a Raptors game and not caring that we were in the very last row of the Rogers Centre because the vibes were so good, the last scene of Saltburn, getting to know our new kitties xoxoxo