Openly Obsessing

Is it a writer's purview?

Jane Friedman’s newsletter advice last week was just start the darn thing already. I agree wholeheartedly. But the number of writers I’ve met in writing groups who’ve been “talking about” their blog or their newsletter but who have yet to actually launch it, is a staggering, double-digit number.

As writers, maybe we have a tendency to always be in our heads. Erudite and cerebral, as well as keenly observant and highly sensitive, writers can overthink, of course. As Jane points out, and I know from experience, fostering a readership takes years. I’ve blogged on wordpress over three disparate topics for more than 5 years, and have zero subscribers there.*¹ But a blog is not a newsletter, is it?

Here on substack, I have changed tacks. I’m documenting the emotional excavation, the physical time and space, and the gumption it’s taking me to become a published author. I am openly obsessing about resources, craft, what I’m learning and how I’m processing all of that, with the hopes of gaining an audience that will want to read my book. (If I ever get it out there!)

There’s a stock image for everything!

One of the constant arguments in my head is if I need more instruction/ a mentor/another academy or incubator. The pragmatist in me says “girl, you’ve already spent enough money to have 2 MFAs. You’ve taken https://writeyourmemoirinsixmonths.com/ with Linda Joy and Brooke. You’ve also done Gateless Academy, Gateless Teacher Training and a retreat with Suzanne Kingsbury. Not to mention multiple bouts of Round Robin, and the one off workshop/classes that have led to forming writers groups. (I have 3 groups!) Now I’m considering this incubator?” The Gateless coach in me, who knows that radical nurturing is the path to a beautiful publication says “give yourself what you need.”

But it’s hard to know what we need, isn’t it?

And, if I’ve learned anything in all of that education, it’s that only I will know, only I can be the determiner of what my book is, does, says and becomes. I have the agency over the work, and hiring/paying someone else to guide me/coach me might be ill-timed, or mismatched. Yes, I want to create a book that has commercial appeal, but putting the cart before the horse can keep me stuck in the no-go-zone.

Are We There Yet?
(what my inner child is constantly whining, as if we’re stuck in the car on a long road trip and trying to annoy our mother!)

So I keep on keeping on. I have butt in the chair solitude, I have coffee-shop meetups with my heros, I have zoom sessions with my writing groups. Currently I’m revisiting the Blueprint for a Memoir exercises and I’m fascinated by how my answers have changed since my first interaction with it in 2024.

I think that means I’m getting there.

1. see for yourself: https://workplacewoes.com/. https://www.sistasmoke.com/ https://healthscareinamerica.com/