Community Check-In

The Flagship Newsletter

Hello and welcome to Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s Sitting in Silence, the newsletter and podcast about writing, craft, worry, and joy. We’re celebrating three years of community. Thank you for tuning in.

We’re also celebrating making it up to 64th place on Substack’s Rising Literature page. This isn’t a competition, but it’s nice to know that you’re reading or listening.

I thought I’d try something different today and ask a simple question: how are you? Are you working on a story, poem, or book? Are you struggling through an MFA program? Suffering from writer’s block? Will the souffle not rise?? Please comment below and I (and hopefully others) will chime in with suggestions, ideas, inspiration, or just say that we see you.

Why? Because writing is a solitary object. We must sit in silence to hear the muse. But that doesn’t mean that we’re ever alone in this. We gather inspiration and strength from each other. Whatever issue you’re dealing with is not one of first impression. Dickenson was afraid to share her work widely, but she persisted. Faulkner failed as a poet but found his footing as a novelist. Butler dreamed of becoming one of the greatest fiction writers of all time. She followed the path and found her destiny.

We’re powerful together. A community of humans who have told stories and shared impressions of the world since the first gathering around a fire. We have laptops and movie theaters with surround sound now. We can communicate instantaneously with almost anyone on the planet. But at our core we just want to connect, share, and commune.

In the spirit of the above, here’s where I am. I’m in the middle of the draft of my next novel. I met these characters four years ago. I thought I knew exactly what their adventure would be. But the muse had other ideas. It’s been a consistent trait of my book projects over the years that they morph into something I never expected. Very much like caterpillar into butterfly.

I know that evolution and revision is a part of my process. But that doesn't mean I couldn’t use your encouragement. If you have nice words to share or would like to share your own doubts or concerns, it fits the mission of this newsletter. After all, this is the newsletter about writing, craft, worry, and joy.

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Coming up on Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s Sitting in Silence this week: an interview with award-nominated fiction writer Marguerite Sheffer (author of The Man in the Banana Trees), an audio craft lesson, and more.

The ongoing Quick Hitter Sitting in Silence audio craft lecture series is now live. Patrons can find the latest episodes under the title, Elements of Craft. The first episode is POV. The second is Character. Find them in the feed. More to come.

I’m teaching an online class called “Five Things I’ve Learned Too Late about Publishing My First Book.” May 18, 2025 at 8 pm EST.

I’m also teaching an online class June 9 at 7 pm EST called Developing an Effective Book Pitch. It’s one session designed to give you what you need in a fleet two hour package. I know how busy you are.

In the meantime, find me in-person at the Annapolis Book Festival. I’m doing two panels Saturday, May 3, 2025.

And I’ll be speaking on a panel at the Deep South Convening called “Building Literary Community Without Leaving Home.” Live at 11:30 am CST, Saturday, May 24. If you’re near Alabama, say hi.

Lastly, the paperback of The American Daughters is on sale everywhere now!