Be Here Now, Even Through These Dreary Days(A Love Letter)

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Photo by Valentin Müller on Unsplash

“In February there is everything to hope for and nothing to regret.” Patience Strong

Hello lovelies,

We made it to February.

I saw that sentiment all over the internet at the end of this past week. People expressing relief that the long dreary winter (or maybe beastly hot summer for those of you in the southern hemisphere) was one month closer to being over. People expressing their hatred for this season, for the poor maligned month of January. People just wanting it all to be done. For spring to be here: sunshine, soft breezes, birds singing, new shoots pushing up through the soil in the garden.

I hear you, yes I do, even though I am one of the few humans on the planet who likes the month of January, even though it brought me a week-long ice storm as a winter gift. And I’ve got news for you. We have almost two months to go before spring arrives. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I don’t control the weather! Many of you may be toggling back and forth to airline websites, attempting to book a ticket to warmer climes even as you read this.

But you don’t need to do that! Because I have a place you can go without even leaving your home. Better yet, you don’t even have to leave your desk. And that place is the world of your novel. Quit worrying about being someplace else, quit worrying about the weather, and be here now with your novel. Writing is a gift to those of us who practice it because it forces us into the present. And if you’re a novel writer, that present is most likely a world completely different from the one you’re in that’s cold and dark and dreary.  Yes, our power has gone out here twice now so I get the the cold and dark and dreary. (Okay, the second time it was mid-day and only for a couple hours and outside temps were in the fifties so it wasn’t that bad, but still.)

Absorbing myself in the world I’m creating is the best way I know to keep myself from becoming discouraged about the long, grey, days of winter. I actually like rainy days, because I’m a native Oregonian, but I also weary of them. Tending to my writing on a regular basis saves me. Because here’s one thing I know: when you are demoralized in your life, it’s easy to be demoralized in your creative work as well.

But let me tell you another thing that happens when you allow your novel writing to take you into the here and now. When you’re present with it, truly present, you’ll come away from the work with that glowy feeling of being in love. And you know how it is when you feel that way. You’re in love with everything! Even the grey skies of February! Even the cold, damp rain! Even the bare limbs of winter trees!

The trick, of course, is to get yourself to the page in the first place so that you can experience that feeling. And when you’re feeling mopey and out of sorts that can be difficult. Here is the secret to that: you do it. You just freaking do it. Look, people, if you can make it through January you can tend to your writing. Write one word and then another and then another. There’s a sentence! Keep it up, pretty soon you’ll have a whole page. And then a whole chapter. And eventually a whole book. It’s a lot more fun than staring out the window at the bleak winter landscape.

Love, light, and good writing,

Charlotte

P.S. Okay, so last week I promised it was easy to comment and turns out it wasn’t quite as easy as I thought—apparently you still do have to sign up, etc., etc. But many of you did and I’m so excited to get our own little community going here. So please weigh in on how you’re getting through this winter and if writing has anything to do with it.

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Books

The Five-Star Weekend, by Elin Hilderbrand. This book was on the lucky day shelf in the library so I picked it up. She has rabid fans who line up to see her when she does events in Nantucket, but I’m usually more meh about her work. I do like the setting though (Nantucket, of course) so I’ll keep reading for now. Update: Still reading, though I keep telling myself I’m going to quit. I don’t like any of the characters in this book but I’m fascinated with how she writes so I plug along. I may give up, though, because I have so many others waiting in line to be read.

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Watching

Since I don’t have a lot of books to offer you this week, how about some viewing recommendations? You guys would laugh if you could see our TV—it’s about the width of a computer monitor and a tiny bit longer. It’s also an ancient “smart” TV that is not very smart by today’s standards, which is why the hub and I have never watched that much on it. But ever since my surgery, we have been enjoying it. I will spare you the long list of Christmas movies we watched but share a couple more recent things we enjoyed.

Fool Me Once, on Netflix. (Because our smart TV is so dumb, pretty much everything we watch is on Netflix.) The eight-episode series is intense and riveting. Two words: Harlan Coben. It’s based on a novel he wrote. Maya’s husband was murdered and so was her sister. She’s got bad PTSD from an incident during her tour of duty as a helicopter pilot in an unnamed war. (Textbook lesson about laying on the conflict.) She’s determined to find out the truth and lots of people are determined to stop her. We loved it.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, on Netflix. Loved the first season of Bridgerton, but for some reason never quite got around to watching the second. Queen Charlotte is a spin-off prequel six-episode series (say that three times) that focuses on the marriage of Charlotte to King George. Some fascinating semi-truthful bits about the king’s madness, with the overall high level of acting and staging of Bridgerton. Charlotte was always my favorite character in the series, and not just because of her name.

Love at First Sight, on Netflix. Oops, I promised no goopy Christmas romances. This one is set at Christmas, but the holiday is not part of the plot. A young girl misses her flight to London for her Dad’s wedding, which she’s not enthusiastic about anyway. But then a handsome Englishman gets seated next to her and, well, you can judge by the title what might happen. Loved the views of London since I’ll be there in May and the cast was engaging, too.

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Articles and Resources

The power of the prompt. Read the comments, too.

Write great dialogue. This is an ad for Masterclass, but it makes some good points. I do not, however, agree with #8. It actually makes me shudder.

Why write when the world is on fire? An oldie but goodie from one of my favorites, Susan DeFreitas.

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Events

Creative writing workshops in France and Italy next year. (England is now full.) See all here. And let me just add: future you is going to be sooooo happy that you committed to a week in Céret, France, or Perugia, Italy to further your writing career and your world travels! Reply to this email if you want to learn more.

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