How to Cope (A Love Letter)
I don't even have to be more specific, do I?
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Dear lovies,
Election day in the United States is one week and two days away. Cue the panic:
Okay, got that out of the way.
The anxiety and angst here is palpable. Friends report they can’t sleep. (I thank Tylenol PM for my slumber.) Writers can’t write. Painters can’t paint. It’s affecting all of us to some degree, and in different ways.
So here is my three-step primer on how to cope.
First of all get it out. (Hence the images of screaming above.) Let it all hang out, as we used to say waaaay back in the day. Do whatever that means for you. Walk, run, shake it off, do yoga or Qi Gong. For me, it means writing. That writing most often takes the form of journaling, or letting my worries come forth in morning pages. But it can creep into my fiction as well. As I mentioned in a recent newsletter, to write it is to face it and that is a good thing.
I commented on Notes earlier this week about the value of doing morning pages. That’s especially true at times like these. And it’s true of any kind of writing. It may well feel like the last thing on earth that you want to do. But then you get yourself to the page and suddenly you realize how much you needed to do it. Times of stress and anxiety pull me out of myself, make me feel not myself, not at home in my body. And writing brings me back to my body and to myself. Often we resist the very thing we need the most.
Next, and forgive me but I’m going woo-woo here, stop your catastrophizing. It really is true that what you think about, what you lend importance to, happens. Now, I’m not saying that we can all visualize the result we want, but it certainly can’t hurt. And it feels a helluva lot better than obsessing over the possible negative outcomes. Related here: STOP YOUR FREAKING DOOM SCROLLING. You really don’t need to know every nuance of the latest polls. I recommend watching cat (okay sorry that one has a political bent but it will make you laugh anyway) and pug videos instead.
And finally, vote. Vote early and vote often. (Kidding! For real, I am, please don’t cancel me.) Here in Oregon, we have only vote by mail and have been doing it this way for years. So this weekend the hub and I will sit down, me with a glass of wine and he with a beer, and mark our ballots. We have a whole new system of city government starting here, and we have some interesting local races, including a huge slate for our next mayor. (My favorite is Liv Osthus, also known as Viva Las Vegas, the stripper. Seriously, she’s pretty great.)
So, again, in case you glossed over it the first time, VOTE! And also, WRITE!
That’s it, that’s all I have.
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. Thank you for reading, and thank you for choosing to subscribe to my love letters. If you like this story, please hit the heart button at the bottom of the post.
P.P.S. Let me know your favorite ways to cope in the comments!
Articles and Resources
This: “Write the way you can and not the way you think you’re supposed to.” Susanna Clark, author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Piranesi, and the soon-to-be-released The Wood at Midwinter. More on her and her books in this NYT article (gift link).
I have three free subscriptions to give away to one of my favorite travel blogs, Brent and Michael Are Going Places, one of my favorite travel blogs. (The other one being my friend Reta’s.) Leave a comment or reply to this email and I’ll hook you up.
15 ways to show character misbeliefs. This is from Jami Gold, and she bases it on Michael Hauge’s work, which I like a lot.
Books
The Honey Witch, by Sydney J. Shields. Still on a cozy fantasy kick. Maybe it’s the time of year, or the upcoming election, or the general awfulness of things happening in the world, but I’m all in for the charm of other worlds. I’ve only just started this one, but I’m enjoying it. The author says she wrote it in a month (of course I know that was a first draft) and I’m totally envious. UPDATE: Still reading. I’m pages from the end and I’m still liking it but I’m also ready for it to end. I am in awe of how the author gets conflict on every single page. Sometimes every single paragraph.
And I’m happy to report I’ve got a huge stack of books on hold at the library that have just come in so I’ll be grabbing those later today.
Workshops in England and France
Information, including dates and cost, for our 2025 England workshops is now listed on our website. And heads up! The deadline for early-bird discount is November 1. We’ve had several writers indicate strong interest in joining and a couple of sign-ups already, so we recommend registering soon.
We’ll also be returning to France, and though we don’t have exact info for 2025 up yet, you can read about 2024 here.
And if you want a taste of the adventure that awaits, you can read my posts about this year here, and here, here, here, and 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)
Ways I can help you:
Charlotte, I love your advice and tough love. This is just what Americans need right now. I have stayed relatively calm, but I see some anxiety creeping in as we get closer to election day. Penny the Talking Cat is my favorite YouTube distraction! Thanks, Charlotte!
Carved a pumpkin. Went to the art museum. Still need to write......