How Beautiful the World Is
How Beautiful the World Is
It's our job to remind readers of that
Mindset, motivation and inspiration for novelists—with a dash of instruction about writing craft added in. There’s no one approach to writing that works for everyone, but I can help you find what works for you. Subscribe (free or paid) to get the fuel you need for your writing career.
“We all have to find our own way. May you find yours.” Jenni Hart, proprietress, Sublime Stitching
Hello my loverlys,
I want this to be my way in the world: to make you a little more aware than you were the day before of how beautiful the world is. The artist Robert Irwin said that about his job as an artist.
I read the quote today in Austin Kleon’s newsletter and it struck me because at core, that’s what we writers do. We don’t do it through painting or sculpture or light (a medium Irwin worked in, apparently, his art* is hard to pin down). We do it through words.
Those words of ours do not have to be about beautiful things to make our readers aware of how beautiful the world is. They can be about dark and awful things, that thus make us appreciate the beauty even more. The world is a beautiful place and it is also a terrible place—but one does not exist without the other. Much as I’d like to live on the planet of only beautiful things, that’s not how it works. And it’s the terrible places that make our jobs as purveyors of beauty all the more important.
As I write this, it all sounds horribly abstract. But I write it because I want you to remember it, to remind yourself that what you do is important. That’s easy to forget in the grind of day-to-day life. You can make a person aware of the beauty of the world in an image, a sentence, a line of dialogue or description that means very little to you but everything to your reader. You never know when something is going to land just the right way for your reader. And you may never get to know that you’ve made a difference or changed somebody’s life for the better.
But here’s the thing: just by virtue of doing the writing, you are making a difference. I’m convinced that engaging in the act of creation makes the world a better place—even if your creations never see the light of day. Doing the work raises everybody’s energy.
All you writers doing Nano out there—I see you and cheer you on. And all you writers who aren’t doing Nano but still are showing up to the page regularly, I see you and cheer you, too. Never think for one second that what you are doing is not important. It is actually world-changing.
Let that be your way in the world.
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. How/where are you finding beauty and light these days? Hit reply and tell me or share in a comment below.
Books
Goodnight, June by Sarah Jio. This is an older title—2014—that I got from the library. The conceit is that narrator June’s aunt was friends with Margaret Wise Brown, the author, of course, of Goodnight, Moon. When June inherits her aunt’s Seattle bookstore she finds letters between Brown and her aunt and also unravels a family secret that helps her save the bookstore. Highly enjoyable.
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver. I’ve only just started this one, but I enjoyed one of the author’s previous books. I’m not totally engaged yet but one thing I’ve noticed about women’s fiction lately is that it often takes a bit to get into the story. That’s okay—I’d prefer a slow start to a fast one.
Articles and Resources
Honestly, this is a must-read on the current state of publishing. (And make sure you read the comments, too.)
If you’re looking for a Substack to subscribe to (besides this one, of course, haha) now is a good time to go paid on J.T. Ellison’s because next week she is going to go behind the scenes as she starts building a new book and a new short story. Good stuff.
Considering this planner for next year. Of course I go through them like a marathoner goes through water. Do you have any planner reccs?
And finally, Judi Dench doing a Shakespeare sonnet off the top of her head. (via Austin Kleon) You’re welcome.
(And surprise on me: the whole video appears! Too cool.)
Events
Creative writing workshops in England (only one space left), France and Italy next year. See all here.
What a wonderful, well-written reminder, Charlotte. Thank you.