You're a Writer, You're Part of a Special Tribe (A Love Letter)
Let's never forget how lucky we are
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Dear lovies,
I was at AWP last week, and I was inspired. Inspired by being surrounded with books and literary journals and writerly swag. But most important, I was inspired by the people.
And I was reminded that we writers are a tribe.
We are a tribe of people who:
*Don’t say, “huh?” when you talk about plotters and pantsers.
*Nod knowingly when you talk about character arc.
*Commiserate with you and comfort you when you mention you’re writing a query.
*Happily wring hands with you over the state of the publishing industry.
*Have an opinion when you mention the blurb controversy.
*Obsess with you over word choice.
*Bemoan comma usage.
*Argue about the precise definition of scene.
*Express strong opinions on the usefulness of various theories of story structure.
*Celebrate with you (despite being jealous) when you get a great book deal.
We are all that and more:
We are a tribe of people who put themselves on the page. Who make scratch marks on paper or push keys to make letters and words appear in the hope that somewhere across the miles or years, somebody will read the work. Read it and laugh or cry or gasp or smile or clutch their heart with emotion. Because our words have moved them.
So please don’t ever forget that.
And please don’t squander the gift of it.
Love, light, and good writing,
Charlotte
P.S. You know I love hearing from you. Hit reply to land directly in my inbox or leave a comment.
Articles and Resources
*The art of not finding what you’re looking for, from Austin Kleon
*I loved this example of an essay that combines a very personal moment with writing, specifically, plotting vs. pantsing.
*From the department of seriously weird, the sound of rhubarb growing. Go listen! It’s wild.
Books
The Ghost Trials, by M.C. Metz. This is an exciting one for me to announce. It’s my client Maria’s novel and I’ve had the pleasure of reading part of it in manuscript and I highly recommend it. Maria creates extraordinary worlds and has a knack for writing the scrappy hard-luck character. So, so good.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. A friend recommended this book and I’d seen it mentioned a lot so I picked it up before I left for LA and read it on the plane on the way down. I was immediately entranced. Margo is a painfully young mother of a newborn, the father of whom is a supercilious university English professor who won’t have anything to do with Margo when he finds out she’s pregnant. So of course she turns to OnlyFans as a way to make a living. Other characters include witless roommates and a father who is a former WWE wrestler. It’s hilarious and charming and I love the way the author takes chances with viewpoint and writing in general. However, I’m currently a bit stalled in the middle. It feels like a book that has a great idea and fabulous set-up and then loses steam. But I’m powering through.
Anxious People by Frederik Backman. I’m not sure why I downloaded this to my Kindle or why I chose it to read on the way home from LA out of the twenty thousand titles on my Kindle. (Kidding. Sort of.) I haven’t read a Backman title since A Man Called Ove. (Never did see the movie.) But I’m enjoying this one. There’s an omniscient narrator and a bank robbery gone awry that turns into a hostage situation. But mainly the story focuses on a whole cast of cranky characters. Backman’s gift is to reassure readers that, yes, life is freaking hard and you’re right to be anxious and crabby. But then he turns it around into a life-affirming wrap-up that feels earned.
Watching
Is it Cake? In my defense, my four-year-old grandson was home sick this week and so it fell to me to take my computer into his house and sit with him while he hung out and watched TV. Usually we watch Octonauts or Cocomelon. But this week he insisted on a show called Is it Cake? I’d never heard of it, of course. But it’s pretty hilarious. It’s a cooking competition game show in which contestants create cake (duh) replicas of items like handbags, suitcases, statues and so on. And then judges have to guess which is real and which is, well, cake. The host is Mikey Day, a former SNL regular, who I first thought was annoying but then grew to enjoy. So yeah, that’s about all I’ve watched this week. Except for Octonauts. Would you like to learn more about elephant seals? Spookfish? Or eels? Hit me up, I’m here for you.
Workshops in England and France
Life is crazy here (and everywhere in response). So why not shuck it all and go to England (think swans and the gorgeous garden in which they live and an ancient cathedral with sort of magical Evensongs and a high street bursting with people of all ages and dogs and pubs with fish and chips and mushy peas) to write for a week? I think it’s an excellent idea and I’ll be there to hang out with you. Tons of info, including dates and cost is here. England is easy because they speak the language. Ish.
But there’s also France coming up! 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 accompany us for either workshop.
And if you want a taste of the adventure that awaits with our overseas workshops, 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, but damn there are a lot of articles on it).
This is the best description of writers I’ve ever seen, Charlotte! I feel like you were talking to me (and I bet a lot of others do too) about not squandering the gift. I know I know! 🙄 Also— how fun you went to AWP!!
I loved “Margo” (keep reading!) and “Anxious People” made me cry like a baby. Excuse me, I must be off now to listen to rhubarb grow. ❤️