To Write is To Face It, And That's a Good Thing (A Love Letter)
Writing is the cure
(This one’s for you, Jean)
Hello Lovies,
Awhile ago, I got an email from a friend, bemoaning her recent lack of desire to write. There is so much ugliness in the world today that I’m almost afraid to write anymore. To write is to face it, she wrote. I answered that writing mitigated the ugliness, and it was the only thing I knew that did. She asked me to elaborate. And so that is what I am doing today.
I’m rubbish (to borrow a favorite British-ism) at activism (although I am writing postcards to encourage people to vote). I’ve never worked in a field that helps people in trauma (unless you include assisting writers angsting over their books, which only counts as a first-world problem). I’ve never had the least desire to run for political office.
I can’t do any of that. But what I can do is write. What I can do is tell the story. The stories.
I write fiction for entertainment. To give people a break from a grim world and allow them to dwell in a happy, positive place for a few hours. I used to think that this wasn’t worth much. When I compared myself to surgeons saving lives or researchers finding cures for cancer, my efforts seemed lame and futile. And viewed from a practical angle, perhaps they are. But I see things differently now. People need breaks. People need to relax. We need happiness and joy.1 I can’t give much, but I can give people these things through my writing.
There’s another aspect to mitigating the ugliness, too. Writing encourages transformation. I take my childhood wounds and work through them the actions of my characters. Focusing on the misbeliefs2 that rule my characters’ lives, I magically help them transcend these ideas. And so too I transform my own misbeliefs. And with luck, with any luck at all, those of my readers as well.
I can’t end wars, or stop hurricanes, or halt racism or misogyny or other ugliness. But I can tell the story. And so can you. I love this quote, which says what I’ve been trying to say so much more eloquently:
“You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”
―James Baldwin
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. If you enjoy getting these love letters, please hit the like button and/or leave a comment. This helps my post become visible to more readers. Thanks!
Articles and Resources
Good article on doing morning pages—a nice reminder of their value.
How to align yourself with your inner champion.
A lovely write-up of the weekly market in Céret, France, the location of one of our writing workshops.
Books
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I first read this book in 2013 because we assigned it to be read for our first France workshop. I liked it a lot then. I reread it last month because once again we assigned it, this time for our Italy workshop. And this time I adored the book. It’s a brilliant book and I’m shocked, in retrospect, that it didn’t win any big awards. Highly recommended.
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. I’ll admit it, I’ve gone down the cozy fantasy rabbit hole and this is so far my favorite read in that genre. (For the uninitiated, cozy fantasy is low-stakes, high-charm reading set in, you guessed it, fantasy worlds.) Our heroine Kiela has spent the last eleven years as a librarian, living among her city’s precious spellbooks. But when a revolution hits the city and the library is burned, she and her assistant Caz, a sentient spider plant (yes, you read that right) must flee. This was the perfect relaxing read for my month on the go.
The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski. Yes, another cozy fantasy, this one featuring three witchy sisters who can read people’s futures (except for their own) in tea leaves. I’ve just started it and I’m not yet quite all in, but I think I will be as it picks up steam.
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.
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:
And of course, none of this is to deny the very real suffering going on in Florida, North Carolina, and the Middle East.
According to Lisa Cron, of Story Genius and Wired for Story fame, a misbelief is a belief about the way the world works or themselves that is mistaken.
I think this is my favorite installment you have written. You are absolutely right, hard as it is. All I have, in addition to some relatively measly campaign contributions, to fight the evils and bring about goodness are my words. Thanks for giving us writers that confidence and hope, Charlotte!
YES!