Paddling Across an Ocean With Bare Hands (A Love Letter)
On the art of recommitting
Hello lovelies,
For the last three and a half months, I’ve happily risen early, grabbed a cup of coffee (I wait to get out of bed until I hear the machine signal the brewing is finished), and gone straight to my desk to work on my WIP novel. And when I say happily, I mean it. I’ve loved it. The draft is the messiest and most unorganized I’ve ever written but I adore it anyway.
Or I should say, I did adore it. Until a couple of weeks ago.
Because that’s when working on it turned into a slog. The closer I got to finishing it, the more of a slog it became. And I am a person who likes comfort. Slogging is uncomfortable. I prefer to feel motivated and engaged and passionate about life and writing. So you can guess what happened.
I quit writing.
Quit working on my WIP. Wandered away one day, telling myself I had other commitments and deadlines to worry about. (I did, but that was nothing new. All those days when I worked happily every morning I had plenty of other things calling my name.)
I wrote in my journal (which I had now turned to in place of working on my novel), that facing the last few chapters felt like paddling across an ocean with my bare hands. And my hands were tired and wanted at least a paddle.
And then I found that paddle.
But, ugh. Because the paddle was me recommitting to the writing. Going back to the page and restarting the slog. But, people, that’s the thing. The only way out is through. And maybe, just maybe, once you get yourself back to it, your adoration and passion for the project will return.
True confession: Mine hasn’t yet.
But that doesn’t matter, because I know once I finish these chapters and get to the reorganizing and rewriting part, it will. How do I know this? Because I have to restrain myself from going through all my old notes and starting to print out the chapters.
It’ll happen. And it will for you, too.
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. Remember, you can ask me anything about writing in the comments.
P.P.S. This topic was inspired by AMA comments in last week’s newsletter.
Articles and Resources
I’m eager to try this out when I finally get to my second draft.
Love as a practice. There’s some great quotes in here.
Great and comforting tips on how to market and do social media with ease and grace, from Dan Blank. (And thanks to Marta for sharing this with me. I follow Dan, but somehow had missed this one.)
Books
The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing, by Adam Moss. I shared about this book in my mid-week extra on Thursday, but it’s worth sharing again. The processes of artists, writers, and all kinds of creatives are considered, with copious illustrations and photos. A book to dive into again and again.
The Writing Retreat, by Julia Bartz. Just started this one, a supposed “instant New York Times bestseller” and I’m not sure I’m going to like. Our heroine, Alex, gets invited to an exclusive writing retreat (of course) at the estate of a famous horror writer. Horrible things ensue. We’ll see how it goes, not my usual cup of tea.
Events
Overseas Workshops
We’ve written several new blog posts about the location of our France workshop and why we love it so much. You can read about art and artists in Céret, the crazy annual footrace there, and best of all, the wonderful local bakeries. There’s only a couple spots left, so nab them now. And here is the promised interview with our guest resident Angela M. Sanders (written by the wonderful Shari Lane, who has a book coming out May1!)
And now stay tuned for an upcoming blog post about Perugia.
Write-alongs
Also—I host zoom write-alongs on Mondays and Thursdays from 3 to 5 PM Pacific. All are welcome. We’re a friendly group, I promise, and also a productive one. If you’d like to join (its free) hit reply or comment and let me know.
Other places to connect with me:
Instagram (trying to get back on there more regularly)
My website (badly in need of an upgrade)
Our workshop website
My original blog (now for archive purposes only, no longer updated)
That’s it for now! See you next week on Thursday.
This post contains affiliate links.
Charlotte, I love your balance of weariness and willingness and your trust in yourself and your process.
What a great word to use: slog, both a noun and a verb, and I've been there all month, in a slog, with a piece that is due May 1. Finally, I had a break through that required self-reflection and deep honesty. Finally, I like what I've written. Thanks for this post.