Making Room For Surprises (A Love Letter)
In your writing, at least. I know we're tired of surprises in the world.
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Hi loves,
Two stories:
1. One morning I planned to go to a nearby coffee shop and work. I figured some concentrated time away from home would force help me to finally get all my brilliant notes transferred from my journal.
So what did I do? I looked the coffee shop up on my phone. I checked their hours, studied the menu, perused the photos from reviewers. I got frustrated when the site was slow to load—because I had to know so I could plan when to go.
Because god forbid I go anyplace new without knowing exactly what to expect.
2. On a recent day, my daughter was at home (which happens to be in the house connected to my cottage) in the middle of doing a million things and the doorbell rang. It was a friend-ish, more of an acquaintance, popping in to say hi. And clearly expecting to be asked in for a sit-down with coffee and snacks.
But that didn’t happen. My daughter chatted politely with her for a bit and then gently sent her on her way. I was sympathetic because when I was younger I had a pathological horror of somebody dropping in on me. My household was always in chaos and back then I worried about what people thought about me a lot. (I never do anymore. Not ever. And if you believe that, I’ve got a sure-fire investment that will require you give me a million dollars.)
I also miss the days before smart phones when dropping in was a common thing, even if I did fear it. When my kids were little, we’d go do stuff—hit the park or go window shopping at brick and mortar stores, see a movie—on the spur of the moment. Those carefree days were full of surprises.
But now I avoid surprises in favor of comfort.
We’ve reached a point where life is pretty damned comfortable. And part of that is the lack of surprises (present governmental chaos excluded). Cold plunges are popular for precisely this reason. Because of A/C and heat, our bodies are always comfortably temperature-controlled, yet our bodies are designed to accommodate temperature changes. And they are good for us. Temperature changes keep us alert, in top form. Yet I haven’t been uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold for more than a few minutes recently.
We know the menu and the decor of a restaurant we’re planning to eat at. GPS tells us exactly how to get where we’re going. No more surprises getting lost! We text if we’re going to visit somebody and tell them we are on our way. We have calendars and planners to track our days. Ample lights to turn on when its dark (I do so hate a power outage). Computers and smartphones and twenty-four hour news sites so that we know what is happening everywhere always all at once.
All in the name of comfort. Maybe not specifically, but that’s the end result. (Except for the news, of course.)
And I’ll admit, I like being comfortable. I like cozy. Give me a hotel with a bed full of a lush pile of pillows over an air mattress in a tent any day. I like the fake fireplace heater that keeps me warm evenings while I stitch and read. I like knowing what my day is going to be and planning my excursions. Anybody who knows me knows better than to plan a surprise party for me because I do not like surprises. I don’t want to be caught up with my hair awry and no make-up on.
But here’s the deal: probably the most fun I had last year was when Debbie and I drove from France to Italy. The roads were terrifying, the Italian drivers even more so, the sandwiches at the rest stops gaggy, we couldn’t find the place to return our car in Nice, we missed the train to San Remo and when we got on it there was no place to stow luggage and my suitcase rolled all the way down the aisle and there were no taxis or ubers at the train station. The trip was one long surprise, a continuing series of uncertainties and discomforts. And it was marvelous.
And what would you rather read about in a novel: a character happily sitting by the fire reading or one who was being challenged at every turn by mishaps in her travels? Exactly. Comfort is boring. Surprises can be fun.
So I’ve been pondering that maybe what I need is a bit more surprise in my life. And I’m starting with my writing. (Because it’s easier to torture characters than myself.)Julia Cameron often says, Put the drama on the page. Same with surprises. Put surprises on the page. You can put comfort on the page, too. We’re all craving it these days. But pair it with surprise. How to do this? Let it come out in the writing.
Maybe—just maybe—work on letting a little surprise back into your life, too. I’m going out to dinner tonight and, gasp, I’ve not checked out the menu at the restaurant. I took my pug for a walk and we met two new humans and an adorable Australian Labradoodle—because we didn’t cross to the other side of the street to avoid them. Surprise—the humans were friendly and Chip the pug behaved.
I hope you have a good week, lovies. One full of personal and lovely surprises and comfort, too.
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. What have you been surprised by lately? Drop a comment or hit reply and let me know. (No politics, please.)
Work With Me
I was crazy busy in January and I’ve completed some of those projects so I now have room on my roster for either one book coaching client (regular sessions to discuss an ongoing project) or a manuscript evaluation/dev edit (reading your story when it’s finished).
Here’s what my client Jacqueline Hampton said about me in an email:
“I have to say I continue to be SO thrilled at how your comments are just right on the money and help me go deeper in areas where it makes sense. And refine those character arcs. Super excited about the book."
The truth of the matter is that I’m thrilled to be working with her and super excited about her book, too! If you’re interested, reply to this newsletter or email me at chardixon@comcast.net.
Articles and Resources
My friend Deidre nails it.
My friend Terry had a short story published.
(It’s good to have cool friends.)
How to live for the next four years.
Beloved client Heather sent me this video and it’s good, all about authors pivoting, which a lot of us are doing at the moment.
The NYT has a series on focus and this one (gift link) asks you to stare at a painting for ten minutes. When I was a baby freelance writer, I accidentally acquired a specialty in writing about art. One of my editors taught me this same technique. Stare at the painting until you really, really get it. Works for other aspects of life, too.
Books
The Last One, by Rachel Howzell Howell. I got this for Christmas. Okay, I bought it myself and made my husband wrap it. But I digress. I’ve read her thrillers, most recently What Fire Brings, which in retrospect is eerily prescient with the L.A. fires. So I was interested in her foray into romantasy. I’m not a big fantasy reader (though I do enjoy cozy fantasy, no surprise), so I’m not sure how it fits into the genre. At first I was a little put off, the pace felt slow and the character has a very modern sensibility. But it’s picking up and I’m starting to feel more enthusiasm for it. We’ll see.
We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman. This is the first book in a new series by the author of the beloved Thursday Night Murder Club, which I never got into. But I like this one a lot. Main characters are Steve, a cop who has retired to a small English town where he lives with his cat Trouble, and grieves his wife. The other is Amy, his daughter-in-law, who lives for the adrenaline her job in private security allows her. The chapter in which Steve is introduced is a master class in showing setting and character. I’m really enjoying this one. Update: I loved this book so much. Can’t wait for the next one in the series.
Workshops in England and France
Information, including dates and cost, for our 2025 England workshops is now listed on our website. We’ve had several writers indicate strong interest in joining and a couple of sign-ups already, so we recommend registering soon.
I’ve just updated our France page as well!
And if you want a taste of the adventure that awaits, with our overseas workshops, 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, but damn there are a lot of articles on it)
Have a great week, everybody!
Oooh!!! I love this thought about surprise. You’ve touched on something so particular about right now when we get daily surprises (bad ones) in the news. This makes us surprise averse. Even Anita Brookner’s characters who seem to do be doing nothing at all have to contend with surprises and that is the pivot, the moment of decision. Thank you, Charlotte!
Hello Charlotte, My first coming across you here on Substack and glad I did. You are an enjoyable and most completely relatable read. Though I too dreaded the unexpected guest, I miss the company and fulfillment of the unexpected pleasure and time well spent in the company of others...as opposed to a couple of texts! If only we knew then how loved it was.
Your story of your tri full of surprises brought to mind a similar trip with my sister this past summer and the most memorable and laughed over events were the unplanned ones. ..unexpected picnic lunch from whatever was in our bags brought forth a sandwich tastier than any deli, getting off the beaten path via GPS misdirection took us deep into local camping and homestead areas where none but locals typically travel, but came out giggling nonetheless!! Thank you for reminding me to leave space for the surprise in life.🥰🥰