Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig (A Love Letter)
Although I did not bring home a pig
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Hi lovies,
I’m just home from two weeks overseas and having all the thoughts about home and what it means for writing. My writing and all of our writing. Let me sidestep for a moment, the way my brain does when I’m pondering things.
I do a lot of embroidery and for the most part, I dislike following someone else’s patterns. I like to stitch intuitively, letting the needle and thread lead me across the fabric. (So it’s no wonder I’m a fierce proponent of free writing and Shitty First Drafts, about which we’ve been discussing in the Bird by Bird class.) But lately I’ve been thinking I need a theme to tie my stitching together. In London I met the inestimable Ekta Kaul, whose theme is maps, and that totally inspired me.
So I’ve been paying attention to what kind of imagery I’m drawn to, making an ID list for the visual. Lots of items on it are home-related. But an equal number are sky and space (in the mystical, poetic vein, not rockets and NASA) oriented. And the ear worm in my mind these days is two lines in the Spirit of Life Doxology from my childhood in the Unitarian church: Roots hold me close, wings set me free.1
In simpler words, I love to travel, but I love coming home more. And I need both poles to be happy. (We shall see how this manifests in my stitching.)
And, of course, all of this is intricately connected to my writing, because that’s just the way it is when you’re a writer. Writing is life, life is writing. It makes me realize how important knowing thyself is when it comes to writing—knowing your themes, your loves, your hates, your obsessions. And secondly, putting those on the page.
The late, wonderful writer and coach Susan deFreitas2 taught that using things from your own life in your fiction is what makes them sing with vitality and depth. She didn’t mean taking events and people wholecloth from your life and plopping them into your novels. She meant putting in echoes of them, finding the emotional connection and writing that. This idea also harks back to the afore-mentioned ID list.
And so, you’ll find quirky characters and small towns in my stories. Christmas markets and places where people gather and connect and then go back to their cozy homes. I might write about a road trip, because I love those, or Paris or London or a villa in Italy because I love all those, too. But I’ll likely never write about a digital nomad because the idea of not having a permanent place to call home gives me the willies.3
I’ll end this newsletter with the following, because, well, the vid says it all.4
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. Tell me what you love about home—and getting away from it, too.
P.P.S. It’s not too late to join my Bird by Bird class. We’ve only had one gathering, and all zooms are recorded. Honestly, it’s like having the most supportive, fun, online writing group you can imagine.
Articles and Resources
Not sure how I found this fellow Substacker, but, wait for it, she’s an expert on resistance. We writers can use some understanding around that, right? In this post she describes an inquiry process into resistance. And there’s mention of a scarecrow festival.
Does your writing process need a refresh?
On character and profluence.
This is a newsletter about making pies, but this particular post shares a lot of what it’s like to write a Substack, in case you’re thinking about it.
Books
I’ve not been in a reading slump but I’ll call it a reading slowdown. On the ten-hour flight home I watched one movie (see below), and read my friend Reta’s ARC. (You can pre-order her book here or here.) And now I’m reading a cozy fantasy the title of which I can’t remember because I have so many titles on my Kindle. It’s kind of meh, but okay enough for me to keep reading. Oh and I’m almost done with Phil Stutz’s wonderful True and False Magic. My friend Jacqueline and I are obsessed with the book. It’s so wonderfully woo, weird and helpful. I’ll be back to my usual book listings next week.
Watching
Here. I viewed this strange movie on the plane on the way home (always an excellent time for strange movies.) Starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, the movie is told in a non-linear fashion and relates mostly the story of the two stars’ marriage. Though there are also dinosaurs and colonial times and Native American characters as the movie shifts through times. I appreciated what the movie tried to do but it didn’t quite work for me. What I loved was the conceit of telling the story through one setting—the living room of a house, which you always see from the same angle.
Workshop in France
Our England workshop is over, but France is coming up! And we have room for a couple more. We may not speak their language but as long as you give it a whirl (Bon jour is easy to say) you’ll be fine. Find out more on our France page. And seriously, give it a ponder. We’d love to have you.
Also—writers in and around the Portland area, we’re offering a series of in-person summer workshops and we’ve got room in those, too. Learn more here.
Other places to connect with me:
My website (badly in need of an upgrade)
Our workshop website
My original blog (now for archive purposes only, no longer updated, but damn there are a lot of articles on it).
Though I do love to read about nomads traveling the world. But I also love to read about mountain climbers and extreme sports and hell will freeze over before I do any of that.
And remember, “you’ve always had the power, dear.”
Thank you so much for this, Charlotte! I’ll always remember getting to see Ekta Kaul with you! And that bookbinding riff on jazz. What you say here is so true, I like an adventure and all of the potential wonder of it, but I love coming home. Hugs to Chip, too. He’s got his person back and I bet he’s so happy!
Read, enjoyed, and shared...as always. ;-) Your column was ringing true a little extra this week since my girl Eryn is back from her big Quebec City adventure. Preparing for and going on a trip can be fun, but I think the fun is rooted in the fact that you have the safety and comfort of home waiting for your return.