Sometimes Discomfort Comes Before Inspiration (A Love Letter)

A dispatch from London and Wells

View of the Thames from Westminister Bridge. What you don’t see from this angle are the hordes of tourists and gaudily decorated rickshaws catering to them behind us. Plus tourist buses. And traffic. But it was all glorious.

Hi lovies,

Coming to you live on Saturday morning from Wells, England, where the residents really do call you lovie and also greet you with a cheery hiya! The writers for our workshop arrive today and we’ll gather tonight to get to know each other. All of them have been in workshops with us before and they are all lovely people and great writers so it’s going to be a great week.¹

We rode down from London on Thursday in a car hire and the drive seemed to take forever. The first year we came, in 2022, our car took us straight through on the freeway. But the last couple of years, traffic around Stonehenge has gotten bad, so the drivers take to the country rodes. And they are beautiful, no doubt about it. Rolling hills covered with green fields and hedgerows. There are also moments of terror when you meet an oncoming vehicle on the narrow roads. But I’m not entirely certain that the detour was any faster.

All that by way of saying that I don’t have a lot of Wells news or photos yet so you’re going to be stuck with a bit of London travelogue. But first, I do have a point that relates to writing and creativity. You might have guessed it from the headline: discomfort often precedes inspiration.²

True confession: I’m always excited to travel internationally (and domestically, for that matter) but that excitement is mixed with dread and anxiety. There’s worry about the plane flight, making connections, trudging through airports. (Luckily that was not a concern this time, since we got a direct flight from Portland to London.) Worry about finding a cab at the airport, accomodations, getting around town, sleep schedules and hoping the stomach digests new and different food.

It all comes down to worrying about discomfort. And there will be some along the way. Nine hour plane flights, direct or not, are uncomfortable. The food is awful, it’s hard to sleep, people get cranky. Then you will trudge for what seems like miles to get to customs and your luggage while your brain is in a huge fog. And did I mention you might feel cranky?

But then you get into the cab and hurtle along crowded streets and see the hustle and bustle of the glorious huge city, modern buildings cheek by jowl with old ones, classic pubs tucked in everywhere, humans thronging the streets.³ And it is all magnificent. And inspiring.

That’s the thing about travel. It yanks you out of your comfort zone, your little safe home bubble where you walk Chip the pug every day and spent lots of time at your computer writing. And that edge is an impetus for inspiration. So it’s all more than worth it in the end. And sometimes I think it’s not a bad idea to make yourself uncomfortable even when you’re not traveling afar. Despite the ridiculously horrible political situation, most of us lead cushy lives. I’m grateful for that, but I know that I also sink into it way too easily. I need to walk farther with Chip the pug, drive a different route, take a chance and book a date with someone new.

Meanwhile, here’s what inspired me in London.

The above are views of our hotel, which we were not nearly hip enough for but loved anyway. It’s called the Ruby Stella, part of a small chain of boutique hotels across Europe. The rooms are tiny, as is common in big cities here, but with common areas as highlighted above, we didn’t mind at all. The place is decorated with a nod to literary London, since it was once the stomping grounds of Charles Dickens.

My friend Jeni Hankins! We’ve known each other on the internet for a couple of years, but we got to meet in person! She was even more wonderful than I thought she was going to be and we had the best time. Jeni was on her way to her first in-person doll club meeting so she had her dolls along, as you can see above. We met at the V and A museum and got to also meet and chat with the incredibly interesting and personable Ekta Kaul, who was demonstrating her embroidery as part of London craft week. Next year I want to spend a whole day at the V and A. And more time with Jeni. Both are amazing.

My new BFF Daffy, her waitress Suada, and a photo of the hub with Daffy. Daffy runs the best restaurant in London,⁴ where for two nights we enjoyed delicious food and drink and met fascinating people. Daffy runs the kind of place that is so welcoming that everyone chats with each other. And she herself is inspiring as all hell. Please do go there if you are in the city and tell her that Charlotte sent you. (It’s in the Clerkenwell area of London.)

That’s it for now. Love you guys! With luck, you’ll have a letter from me next week even though I’ll be winging my way back home on Sunday.

Love, light, and good writing,

Charlotte

P.S. Leave a comment! Tell me what you’ve been up to. What’s been inspiring you lately?

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Other places to connect with me:

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My coaching website

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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).

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1. And because I am soon going to be preparing for their arrival, this newsletter will be shorter than usual, lacking the regular book and resources sections.

2. But let me make it clear that this is not always the case and does not have to be the case.

3. Whenever I visit a big city like London, I’m always amazed to ponder the people walking the streets. They live here. People actually live here.

4. Her website calls it the best Italian restaurant in London, but I say its the best, period.