Great, thoughtful issue. I’m in the same boat as you, if on a smaller scale. When lockdown started (March 2020), I was just starting to take writing seriously. I’d been writing for six months. I took workshops, and during the first year or Covid I wrote a lot, published a bunch of stories, went to workshops, read a few of books on craft, and I submitted a ton of stories. Every rejection hit me HARD. Then, work hit, and for almost a year I wrote zilch. It was so hard coming back to it and establishing a new habit that worked in my new circumstances, but I found that after that long break, something changed. I’m not as anxious as I used to be, and I think I don’t care as much. Everything feels more down-to-earth. But I sometimes long to return to that place of extreme productivity and excitement, if only for a little while.
I love the quotes, tweets and other inclusions as they not only add value but also prompt me to re-interpret what you wrote because of the similar themes found in everything you shared.
It’s like a David Fincher movie where you only see how everything completely fits together once you reach the end. Masterful!
Thanks for this! The up and down and uncertainty is just so certain. I appreciate hearing how it is for you and other writers walking the path before me. It helps the ground I'm travelling feel less shaky!
Wow Sara, when I read your words from the past it reminded instantly of the Future Me website. Then I saw your recommendation!
I have been writing letters to myself for the past couple of years and love finding some nuggets of insights from the past. this was so pleasant to read, thank you
I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, but I also liked to do stuff, and finally started doing some much stuff that I didn’t have much time to write, except for writing I did for my job.
I enjoyed telling people I wrote fiction (project proposals), earned millions of dollars each year (in grant funding), and gave it all to the poor (humanitarian aid projects). In some wild and crazy way, I got my cake and ate it.
Now I’m not doing so much stuff, for reasons, but I do have the stories to tell. And if you get me just the right amount drunk, like the old story teller in Mark Twain’s Roughing It, I can go on and on and on.
And that’s a good way to be. Zero writer’s angst and zero trouble coming up with weird and wonderful stories, because doing stuff in the world is way crazier than than any fiction I can come up with.
Cams recommended I read this after sharing about some adjacent things and so glad I did.
this line rings true for me from your 2013 past self: "It takes work to get to the work is what I'm saying."
all these past selves of ours are surely supporting our present selves and future selves in doing the work to get to the work
thank you for sharing both present and past
Great, thoughtful issue. I’m in the same boat as you, if on a smaller scale. When lockdown started (March 2020), I was just starting to take writing seriously. I’d been writing for six months. I took workshops, and during the first year or Covid I wrote a lot, published a bunch of stories, went to workshops, read a few of books on craft, and I submitted a ton of stories. Every rejection hit me HARD. Then, work hit, and for almost a year I wrote zilch. It was so hard coming back to it and establishing a new habit that worked in my new circumstances, but I found that after that long break, something changed. I’m not as anxious as I used to be, and I think I don’t care as much. Everything feels more down-to-earth. But I sometimes long to return to that place of extreme productivity and excitement, if only for a little while.
wow! sensational! gotta read it over and over!
This is the best email I’ve read all week!
I love the quotes, tweets and other inclusions as they not only add value but also prompt me to re-interpret what you wrote because of the similar themes found in everything you shared.
It’s like a David Fincher movie where you only see how everything completely fits together once you reach the end. Masterful!
Thanks for this! The up and down and uncertainty is just so certain. I appreciate hearing how it is for you and other writers walking the path before me. It helps the ground I'm travelling feel less shaky!
Onward.
Damn. Love this, Sara.
Wow Sara, when I read your words from the past it reminded instantly of the Future Me website. Then I saw your recommendation!
I have been writing letters to myself for the past couple of years and love finding some nuggets of insights from the past. this was so pleasant to read, thank you
I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, but I also liked to do stuff, and finally started doing some much stuff that I didn’t have much time to write, except for writing I did for my job.
I enjoyed telling people I wrote fiction (project proposals), earned millions of dollars each year (in grant funding), and gave it all to the poor (humanitarian aid projects). In some wild and crazy way, I got my cake and ate it.
Now I’m not doing so much stuff, for reasons, but I do have the stories to tell. And if you get me just the right amount drunk, like the old story teller in Mark Twain’s Roughing It, I can go on and on and on.
And that’s a good way to be. Zero writer’s angst and zero trouble coming up with weird and wonderful stories, because doing stuff in the world is way crazier than than any fiction I can come up with.
Switter
💃🏻