What a Glorious Tribe We Are

Writers, you rock

May 25, 2025

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a close up of a bunch of colored pencils — It’s a tribe of pencils! Photo by Chiara Guercio on Unsplash

Dear lovies,

As you read this, I’ll either be sitting in Heathrow airport Terminal 5 awaiting my flight home, or on said plane winging it back to Portland.1 For the past week I’ve been co-leading a workshop with four enthusiastic, willing, smart, and talented writers. (I could use more adjectives to describe them but I will spare you.)

And all I can think is how great we writers are. How lucky we are to get to do this work. How important it is to the world. And how easy it is to forget that in the slog of daily life as we attempt to tend to jobs, to children, to cleaning the house and walking the dog. How vital it is for you to remind yourself, over and over, of the wonder it is that you take time from all that to write.

And so I offer you a list of why you rock in hopes it will help you remember.

Writer, you rock because:

—Despite what non-writing civilians think, writing can be hard. And yet you persevere and do it anyway.

—You listen to that spark within you that commands you to tell your stories. So many people do not.

—You are open to the world, observing and listening and noticing.

—And you’re open to your inner worlds as well, tracking emotions and thoughts in order to understand them and put them on the page.

—You get stuck sometimes. But you always go back to the page.

—You’re willing to engage with other writers and non-writers also, when you share your work in workshops or critique groups or readings or lectures.

—You never get bored.

—You’re a life-long learner. There’s always something new to learn about writing.

—You are following your passion. Again, not everyone does that.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll be back next Sunday, and paid subscribers, you’ll get your first Bird by Bird lesson on Tuesday. And there will be June prompts later this week, also. And—another reminder: I’m running a sale on annual subscriptions through next week.

Love, light, and good writing,

Charlotte

P.S. Tell me what I missed about how writers rock.

Workshop in France

Our England workshop is over, but France is coming up! And we have room for a couple more. We may not speak their language but as long as you give it a whirl (Bon jour is easy to say) you’ll be fine. Find out more on our France page. And seriously, give it a ponder. We’d love to have you.