The World is a Messy Place (A Love Letter)

But my office doesn't have to be

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Not my office, but it could be. Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

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“One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.” ~ Annie Dillard

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Hello my loverlys,

When it comes to putting it all on the page, as with all writers, there are many things that stop me. Grandchildren who are home from school due to a teacher’s strike (it’s like lockdown 2.0 around here), pressing matters in my coaching and overseas workshop businesses, all the mechanics that go with self-publishing novels, and more. At any given moment, I can spin the wheel of my life and point to one or several of those that are stopping me from writing.

But I have come to realize that there’s one big thing that underlies it all. A couple of months ago in my coaching mastermind, my amazing coach Camille Pagán asked if there was one thing, that if changed, would make a difference in our lives. A lynchpin, if you will.

My mind went to a variety of options: schedule writing time better, be more consistent on social media, learn more about marketing. But in my heart, I knew none of those were my lynchpin. And I knew immediately what it was.

And that is a disrupting lack of organization.

I’d let things get totally out of hand in my office. I have a zeal for collecting information. But then once I gather it, I have a difficult time storing it in a way that I can access it easily. Cue a shelf piled with notebooks. Binders and journals and folders of hand-written notes pertaining to WIPs and stories I want to write some day. Things I’ve printed out from the computer about writing. Notes from classes. All that interspersed with book to be read, pens, index card files, containers of post-it notes. I know. I’m cringing as I write this.

Not only am I cringing, my brain is recoiling on the regular. A messy space facilitates a messy mind. And every time I sat down at my desk I felt overwhelmed. Not only that, sometimes I wasted way too much time searching through notebooks for the note I was certain I’d scrawled somewhere. But the truth is, most of it I hadn’t looked at in a year. So, thanks to my lynchpin epiphany, the last couple of days I’ve been on a mad tear to sort through things which mostly means throwing crap away. So far I’ve filled up three grocery bags of paper for the recycling bin.

I’m about as far away from an organizational expert as a human being can get. (Exhibit A being the thirty tabs and nine word docs I have open on my computer as I write this.) So I’m not going to regale you with tips for being organized as a writer. I will tell you one thing that is helping me enormously, though.

And that is this:

As I rip and toss and sort I also pause and ponder my work flow, what kinds of information I really need to store (and will actually refer back to), and how I process information throughout the day. Instead of starting from the outside out by deciding that a certain new planner will be the one to finally organize me, I’m reversing it, and starting from the inside out.  Figuring out what will best work for my way of doing things.

I cannot even tell you how much calmer my brain and nervous system are, even just halfway through this process.  And that, in turn, is going to affect my writing and every single aspect of my life for the better. Not to mention the world at large.

The world is a messy place. Oh dear lord is it ever a messy place. And having the most important area of my home a mess adds to the stress of it all. And maybe, just maybe, from a neater foundation I can make better use of my talents to help change this messy old world.

Love, light, and good writing,

Charlotte

P.S. Any thoughts or tips on mess or organization? I’d love to hear. I’m also always eager to hear about your writing. You can leave a comment below or reply to this email.

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A quick note: On Tuesday I’ll be getting a knee replacement, hallelujah. Despite prescriptions for pain killers, I plan to be lucid enough to write next week. But we shall see! If you don’t receive a love letter next Sunday its because I’m passed out on the bed.

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Books

I get on runs with books. I’ll be on a streak, plowing through book after book that I love. Then it comes to a screeching halt for no good reason when I get on a run of stinkers. That’s where I am at the moment. But I just started one I got from the library and while I’m not over the moon about it, so far I’m still reading.

Always by Sarah Jio. Amazon. Bookshop. Kailey is having a romantic dinner with her fiancée, who happens to be kind, considerate, handsome, and rich. But on the way out the door, standing in the rain (this is Seattle, after all), she locks eyes with an unkempt homeless man. And is chilled to recognize him. It’s her ex-boyfriend Cade, love of her life, the one who got away. That’s as far as I’ve gotten but it’s a good start so far.Ar

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Articles and Resources

Napkin.one is a new app for capturing ideas and if you join the waitlist I move up. Looks like what I need as I work on getting better organized.

Witches may not be your thing, but cast aside doubt because….but there are deep words of solace for the terror we feel at the state of the world in this article.

7 Gifts for Our Collective Altar

My man, David Corbett. If I see his name, I automatically click the link. He’s stellar on character and this post is no different.

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Events

The Let’s Go Write workshop in England is now officially full. But space remains in both our France and Italy workshops! Learn more here.