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 reading!

The response to the last quarterly community check-in was so strong I decided make this a monthly event.

The check-in is simply a way for us to be in community with one another. Here, we can share our triumphs, tragedies, questions, or just say hello. Are you working on a book, a poem, or even a sentence? Are you struggling through an MFA program? Suffering with writer’s block? Is your Mercury in retrograde?? 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 pursuit. 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 an update on where I am. I’m somewhere in a later 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. Again, we spend a lot of time Sitting in Silence, but that doesn’t mean we’re alone. After all, this is the Substack about writing, craft, worry, and joy.

(Welcome to new patrons, Lois, Steve, and Lauren! You help keep the lights on. This is a small operation, but your support means a great deal to me.)

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Coming up on Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s Sitting in Silence this week: for the first time ever, I’ll offer a writing prompt for premium subscribers. Also for patrons, 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 most recent episode was on research. I anticipate doing one more of these before wrapping the series.

I’m teaching an online class (TONIGHT) 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.

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.