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Tell Me What You Want

(What you really, really want…)

At some point, you started following me: maybe for writing prompts (like these), maybe for inspiration and recommendations (like this), or maybe for something else entirely.

As I hatch plans for the coming year, I’d love to know how I can help you, best?

What do you need more of? What could you take less of?

How can I help you pursue your dreams?

​I’d love it if you’d fill out this 2-question survey​

(People often find that answering the questions helps them clarify where they need to focus.)

If you didn’t make it to our Annual Planning Workshop, this week, this exercise can be a springboard into your own end-of-year assessment/planning.

​Answer the questions here​

Keep writing,

Julie

Release The Hounds (aka ‘your stories’)

As I sit here, thinking about what I want to achieve over the next year as a writer, that generosity of spirit is something I want to keep in focus…

Note: I might be writing this message for myself.

One of the best things I did for myself this year was to take a chance on a book of poetry: Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama

(This is why I will never give up on physical bookstores and libraries: the sheer joy of stumbling across books and taking a chance on them!)

I’m not a poetry expert and often find books of poetry unsatisfying, as I sit there thinking, “‘what am I supposed to get from this? What am I missing?”

Well, Ó Tuama’s book follows up each poem with an essay in which he tells you what he loves about the poem. It’s not prescriptive. It’s not an attempt to tell you what you should get out of the poem, but it does offer a way in.

A Great Start To The Day

Every day that I start by reading a poem and essay from this book, is a good day.

I start my day thinking about words and what can be done with them.

I start my day thinking about how words affect the people who read them.

I start my day with black and white proof that it is possible to use words to share tiny moments and experiences, to be brave enough to put them out into the world, and to find other people who will be moved by them.

And that’s a pretty good way to start the day.

Borrowed focus.

Borrowed courage.

A chipping-away of my excuses.

Do The Work

In a recent conversation with one of the StoryADay Superstars she talked about a gift she made for her brother.

It was challenging (so much that she put off starting, for years), it was a little beyond her skill set (so much that it was imperfect) AND yet she resolved to finish it and give it to her brother anyway.

Of course, he loved it.

He saw all the things that were right with it, not the few tiny details that could maybe have been neater…

Perfectionism Generosity

As I sit here thinking about what I want to achieve over the coming year as a writer, that generosity of spirit is something I want to keep in mind: a willingness to finish things and share them, and let them be enjoyed.

To not withhold.

To not be arrogant enough to think I’ll ever ‘get it right’.

To be bold enough to finish and share my stories.

How about you?

What inspires you? What gives you courage? What’s the best thing you’ve done for yourself over the past year? What’s the most generous thing you will do, in the coming year?

Leave the Dark Night of the Soul Behind

…after which, the hero assembles their team, recognizes the strengths of others in helping them fulfill their quest, and starts making good decisions, at last….

You know that moment in the story when the hero has lost everything, and the odds seem stacked against them, and all seems lost?

Imagine if that was the end of the story….what a terrible way to live!

But in the stories we love, the hero looks at herself in the mirror and says ‘what am I doing?’.

  • Someone says one word, and suddenly she sees all the clues in a new light and finds the final piece of the puzzle.
  • Or he realizes, for the first time, the strength has been inside him all along.
  • Or she realizes she has all the resources she needs, available to her after all if only she would ask for help…

AND THEN…the hero assembles their team, recognizes the strengths of others in helping them fulfill their quest, and starts making good decisions, at last.

Cue: storming the castle, starting the bombing run, making the mad dash across town to catch their lover before they set foot on the plane.

Wouldn’t it be nice if life worked that way?

Ahem.

It DOES.

The Problem With Being Bright

Were you one of the brainy kids at school?

It probably left you with a legacy of expectations that say: you should be able to do this by yourself…

…which is a dangerous lie.

We are all people who need people.

We need them,

  • To make random comments that spark connections for us, that unlock a creative idea in our heads
  • To point out to us that actually, we are quite capable, even if we don’t always feel like it
  • To show us how to do new things, or improve our existing skills, or even to do part of a task for us (like, spotting that final typo in your manuscript!)

How do you go about finding the right people to help in your quest to be a writer?

Well, I’ve spent 15 years assembling a community, and six of those years curating a small group of writers who write, who cheer each other on, and who help each other out.

Is it any wonder I called the group the ​StoryADay Superstars​?

Big "Join Superstars" Button with a shooting star and click icon

If you’re reading this, I think you belong with us.

  • Something is pulling at you, telling you that you need to try something new.
  • Something about the way I talk about writing resonates with you.

I’ve created a gang of like minded writers, and I think you should join us.

Give yourself the gift of six months with us and see how it goes.

It works out to about $2.77 a day for,

  • Daily writing dates
  • Twice-monthly hangouts
  • A monthly special event (workshop or challenge or critique)
  • An archive of 40+ workshops and masterclasses, plus a library of worksheets
  • A place to belong where you are always reminded that you are a writer.

PLUS, if you ​join us on CYBER MONDAY​, you get the I, WRITER Course (6 modules of curated instruction on building a writing practice and buffing up your fiction skills) for FREE!!!

(This offer really does go away tonight.)

​Find out more here​

Lessons in microfiction

Look how these five words transform everything…

Someone sent me this, this morning and a, haha, of course! And b, look how the last line turns this into an actual story…

The last line, just five words, puts the reader into a specific moment. Something is happening. We have a character to root for. Stakes! Suspense! (Ok, mild suspense but still).

That line alone transforms the whole thing from an funny observation into a story.

Everything Starts With A Story

In 1802 Albert Mathieu-Favier began telling people a story.

Imagine, he said, a tunnel that dives under the sea that separates France from England. It will be lit by oil lamps, and big enough for a horse-drawn carriage to pass through. Here, he said, is an island where the drivers will change horses. Here, he added, is the second tunnel that will carry away groundwater.

It was a crazy story.

And so everyone continued to make the trip by boat.

Later, people started to travel between the countries in a conveyance that had also started as an outlandish story: flying machines!

But Mathieu-Favier’s story never entirely faded away.

When I was three years old, people started talking seriously about the Channel Tunnel, this time for a train.

In 1990, when I was 18, the story first told by a Napoleonic-era French mining engineer had become a reality, as an English engineer reached through a gap in the rubble, under the sea, half way between France and England, and handed his French counterpart a cuddly toy version of Britain’s most famous fictional immigrant: Paddington Bear.

Stories FTW

Everything our civilization has ever produced,

  • started as an idea,
  • took root as a story, and
  • became reality when someone told the story well enough to convince a lot of people to make it real.

The world needs people who are curious.

The world needs people who can create characters, and situations, and worlds that we want to make real.

What you do is not frivolous.

And it’s not easy.

It’s hard to do alone.​

If November looks like it might be a hard month for you (and December, and January), it’s worth finding a place that is a refuge.​

Next week I’m opening up membership in the StoryADay Superstars for the next six months, because we need to be together.

I’ll have some more information (and some really nice bonuses) for you over the next few days.

If you want to know more, sign up here

You’ll get a free “Creative Commute” lesson and worksheet, and I’ll know I should send you more information about the program.

Let’s keep writing through whatever life throws at us!

Keep writing,

Julie

Make a plan

To ease eye strain, experts recommend that every 20 minutes we focus our eyes on something further away than our screens–ideally at least 20ft away– for at least 20 seconds.

As a trained historian, I feel the same way about the news: current events are thisclose. It wouldn’t hurt us to make a concerted effort to look away, periodically. 

Fortunately fiction offers the perfect respite.

Today, why not step away from this place and time and read some Tolstoy or JM Coetzee, Nnedi Okorafor or Haruki Murakami, Kiran Desai or Ian Rankin. 

Whether you’re voting in the US elections, or watching from abroad, or couldn’t care less about politics in a country you’re not in, this is a great time to remind yourself of the importance of writing.

Here are my suggestions for you:

Short Fiction

Best American Short Stories 2024, Lauren Groff (ed)

CRAFT Literary Magazine

Poetry

Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama

Essays

Book of Delights by Ross Gay

General Non-Fiction

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Funny Stuff

The Hidden Tools of Comedy by Steve Kaplan

Comedy Book – How Comedy Conquered Culture–and The Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox

KafClown on Instagram

The Diplomat on Netflix (serious, but characters are allowed to be funny in places)

Steve Martin: A Documentary In 2 Pieces

My Man Jeeves: A Jeeves & Wooster Collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Jeeves & Wooster (Hugh Laurie and Steven Fry version)

Books About Writing

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland

The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger

Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin

Author in Progress, Therese Walsh (Ed)

Watch 

Shrinking (Apple TV), from the people who brought you Ted Lasso, and with a similar sensibility (Content warning: a dead wife/mother killed by a drunk driver.)

The Dish – a quiet movie from 2000,  starring Sam Neil, about  a vital Apollo-era  satellite dish in an Australian sheep paddock!

What would you recommend, for people looking to appreciate art and take a break from the here and now? Leave a comment.

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. If you want to focus on your writing, stay tuned for a super-special offer coming this week, that will help you improve your writing and stick with it over the long term (what?! I know!!) Want to be among the first to know?