“Wake up and live”
― Bob Marley
If you’re in New Orleans this Thursday, May 4, come to Baldwin & Co. Books for the event in honor of Jamila Minnicks’ debut novel, Moonrise Over Jessup. Why is this book so special? A million reasons, but one thing I admire is the depiction of the black township of New Jessup. A town built by the hands of its people and sustained by the love of the book's characters, including the brilliant and beautiful lead character, Alice. Full of lyricism and insight, this is a novel for the ages. See my interview of Jamila in my Substack post of January 10. And join us this Thursday night at 6pm at the magnificent Baldwin and Co.
Also, have you ever been to Maine? I have. It’s quite beautiful. And it’s even more beautiful because I’m teaching a class there called The Joy of Text. We’ll cover everything you need to know to write compelling stories and have them published. Spend your free time seeing the sights and replenishing yourself.
As always, thank you to the premium subscribers who make this newsletter possible, especially those who just signed up. I appreciate your support. This would be much harder to do without your help.
Today’s Topic: Your Time is Now
I remember that feeling on the last day of school. The teachers were out of ammunition, lesson plans spent, chalk worn to nubs. All us kids waiting for the bell to ring so we could move on to the important business of having fun. For our youthful selves, the break represented the freedom of summer. The freedom to ride bikes, swim, work, dream.
Somehow, we adults lose that vibe. A world with no gracious winter or summer breaks. Most of us work year-round. The daydreaming of the last day of school is relegated to the past. Or is it?
Intention is all. If you’re reading this newsletter, there’s a good chance that there’s something you’d like to work on this summer. Today’s post is about making the decision to pursue your art as the temperature rises.
Whether you want to write a memoir or novel or just a few poems or maybe an essay, I can’t think of a better time to start planning than today.
Sometimes I never quite get to my goal. I get busy and distracted and next thing I know it’s September.
But occasionally, I’m able to lean into the moment and find a groove. For example, last year I gave presentations at the Longleaf Conference in Seaside, Fl. I studied my schedule and saw that I had some downtime over the course of the 10 or so days I’d be there. I decided that instead of listening to podcasts and staring at social media, I would do things I didn’t normally do.
The house where I was staying had a box of puzzle pieces. I realized that I hadn’t put together a non-metaphorical puzzle forever.
And I was feeling a little burned out from my ongoing novel project. I wanted to do something off-task.
My solution was that I would put together the puzzle and write poems and flash speculative fiction stories just for the fun of it.
Yes, fun and writing actually go together.
Over my days at the conference, after fulfilling my appearance duties, I’d go back to the little house and work for half a day. I’d read some poems to fire up my engines and then write some.
By the end of my stay, I had about seven story drafts (mostly under 1,200 words) and a dozen new poems. It felt good to just write for writing’s sake.
After the conference, I worked on revising some of the things I’d written. I extended one of the stories to about thirty pages and submitted it to a couple of magazines. I also revised some of my poems. This is not one of those posts where I tell you that I published the story and all those poems. The story was rejected by a prestigious literary magazine. I was devastated, but for only a few moments. I did get one poem accepted for publication last summer, but it was from a completely different batch of poems I began earlier in the year. While I was extremely proud of that publication, that wasn’t the point of the time I spent writing early last summer. The point was to have fun and be free.
I look back at that Florida stay with great fondness a year later. There’s something invigorating about writing whatever comes to mind. That invigoration fed me throughout the year as I worked on my more “serious” projects. Writers write when we have time(?). No, writers write when we make time.
Thank you for this 🙏🏽
Lol “Yes, fun and writing actually go together.” The invigoration from that Florida retreat is palpable from here (on a disgusting cold wet Michigan morning). I love that you carved that time for yourself and wonder if both the break in home and the specific timeframe helped you feel free to do so. Great reminder for setting the timer for quick bursts and/or saying “ok, for five days I’m going to work on this draft and then I’m allowed to go stare at goats or hit the craft store or reap whatever little reward I need to dive into this habit…” Puzzle work and totally switching up genre sounds like a beautiful treat. Huzzah and thanks for sharing your dream space with us!