30 Things I Love About Writing

Plus! Introducing the Book Club for Writers!

I am turning 30 next week! To celebrate, I am taking a leap and opening up a paid subscription option of my newsletter.

Since launching Lonely Victories in May 2020, it has been a free publication. The newsletter will still be free, but paying subscribers can participate in my new Book Club for Writers and receive a discount on all of my writing workshops.

Book Club for Writers

The Book Club for Writers will focus on books about the craft of writing as well as the creative process. This book club is for:

• Writers of all backgrounds, genres, and skill levels (including those who have always wanted to write but haven’t known where to start).

• Readers who crave accountability.

• Anyone looking for a friendly environment to discuss the creative process and write in communion with others.

Starting in January, the club will meet quarterly on Zoom for an hour and a half on Sunday afternoons (EST).

If you can’t make it to the book club meetings (or if Zoom isn’t your thing), there will also be a lively discussion thread available for paying subscribers only.

Here are the books we will read in 2023:

• Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos

• Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life by Jenny Boully

• Daily Rituals: Women at Work by Mason Currey

• Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts by Matt Bell

Purchase all four of the book club selections here.

Writing Workshop Discount

I’ll be teaching several online fiction and nonfiction writing workshops next year and will be offering 10% off workshop tuition to paying subscribers.

If you’re a returning student or would like to take a workshop with me, this is a paid subscription perk worth considering!

How much does a subscription cost?

In honor of my 30th birthday, I am offering an initial discount on paying subscriptions: $30 for the year. You can also gift a subscription at this special introductory price.

On December 1, subscriptions will go up to $40/year or $5/month.

Thank you in advance for supporting my work!

I am excited to read together and talk about our writing next year (and hopefully for years to come).

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30 is the theme of the day! In honor of my milestone birthday, I’ve decided to reflect on my reasons for returning to the page over and over again.

Here are 30 reasons why I love writing.

My hair has been many different lengths throughout my twenties, but one thing I’ve kept consistent has been writing.

1. To put it very simply, I love moving my pen across paper.

I relate to something the poet Mary Ruefle once said (which I stumbled across via Mason Currey’s newsletter) about writing by hand:

“I write by hand because that is how I began, and I love it. Moving the wrist, the marks the pencil or pen leave on the paper—like the trail of a snail—well, it is like drawing, no, it is drawing, and I am so enamoured of this activity that sometimes I write continuously without actually forming real words, I call it ‘fake handwriting,’ and it’s just as much fun as actually ‘writing’. By fun I mean it’s just as much a mystery. The whole wrist-moving action is why I write in the first place. I don’t like tennis, or knitting; I like writing with my hands.”

2. I love the clarity that writing gives me.

And similarly…

3. Writing can make my problems go from feeling ginormous and swirly to tight and contained.

I recently came across this Janis Ozolins illustration that sums this feeling up for me:

Illustration via @jaozolins on Instagram.

4. Writing helps me dive into my feelings with courage.

5. But other times, when I need it most, writing helps me escape the world.

The fact that it can give me both a place to explore my feelings and a place to put them away for a while is a truly amazing thing to me.

6. Hours can pass, and there I’ll be, in my own head.

This is especially true for me when I start working on a draft and can’t get my ideas down fast enough. In fact, I think this is the feeling I get from writing that I love more than anything else—the feeling of ideas vying to be written down first.

7. I can write anywhere.

And I really do write everywhere. I even write while I’m driving. And no, I don’t mean that I prop a notebook against the steering wheel! (Though I have jotted things down quickly at red lights before.)

If I get an idea behind the wheel, I’ll record myself talking in a voice memo, or I’ll ask Siri to remind me about my new idea later on when I actually have time to write it down.

8. By journaling, I’m keeping an archive of my past.

To some, this benefit may seem self-indulgent, but… is it narcissistic to admit that I’ve never once thought of it that way? I’ve been journaling since I was a kid and love looking back at them (even when they make me cringe at past Hurley).

9. I love seeing my own progress on the page.

When I first started writing, I didn’t know how to get my ideas across. Now, I’m much more confident when I write, and I can see my craft improving.

10. …but then again, there’s always room for growth!

Which brings me to #11:

11. Writing never bores me.

Do I dread it sometimes? Sure. But only when I’m feeling lazy. Once I sit down and start writing, I’m never bored.

12. When I write every day, I notice a difference in my overall outlook on life.

I do not feel like myself unless I make time to write. That’s something I’m grateful for. Whenever I don’t feel like “a writer,” whatever that means, I consider how much writing makes me feel like me.

13. It is (almost) never a bad idea for me to sit down and write.

The only exception is when I’m feeling burnt out. Then, I’ll take a break, and at some point during that break, I can’t wait to get back to the page.

14. When I give myself the accountability I need, the writing becomes even more fun.

One of the biggest gifts I gave myself during my twenties was accepting my need for accountability. I’m grateful to be entering a new decade no longer viewing this need as a weakness.

15. Many of my dearest friendships have formed through the writing community.

Speaking as a rare breed of extroverted writer, this one is especially important to me. I can’t imagine my life today without the friendships I have formed with people who take this art as seriously as I do.

16. Writing makes reading more fun.

I’ve heard some writers complain that writing takes the fun out of reading because they are overanalyzing every book they crack. For me, though, it’s just the opposite. I love reverse-engineering books while I read.

17. Sometimes, I surprise myself when I write.

This is probably the most magical thing about writing: distilling truth. Writing my way to a sentence that stuns me with its exactitude. Re-reading it and thinking, Damn. That’s spot-on.

18. Writing makes me excited about other people’s writing lives.

There’s nothing I love more than talking to someone who writes and asking them, “How’s your writing going?” If it’s going well for them, celebrating that fact is so much fun. But if they’re struggling, I feel like I always know what to say. It’s because I, too, have struggled in my writing. I, too, have had to answer “not so great” when asked that question. And when other writers have told me something that shows me that writing is always worth it, it has kept me moving forward.

That’s why I started this newsletter in the first place. I wanted to help writers celebrate their victories on and off the page.

19. Throughout my twenties, I’ve gotten to travel to some amazing places because of writing.

I spent my early twenties traveling up to Cambridge, MA twice a year for my low-residency MFA program’s residencies. Since then, I’ve attended workshops in Italy and Big Sur, and I spent three weeks at a particularly special residency on the Florida marsh.

Plus, I’m about to head to Seattle in March for the AWP conference! These reasons to travel have been such a gift.

20. Writing has taught me how to commit to myself.

Every writer knows that writing requires dedicated time and space. Dedicating myself to making that space has granted me a sense of self-love that I never saw coming.

21. Writing has clarified what I can’t control.

Things I can’t control: the entire publishing industry. Which agents and editors say “yes” to my submissions and queries. Any writing opportunity happening on a certain timeline. (I spent years telling people, “I want to publish a book before I turn 35,” and now I see how bogus that is.)

22. But at the same time, writing has also put into perspective the things I can control.

Things I can control: planning ahead in order to ensure that I have enough time to write. Saying “no” to certain social invitations in order to protect my writing time. Keeping my eyes peeled for a cheap Airbnb where I can go and have a few nights of uninterrupted writing time.

The Airbnb where I went away to write back in the spring.

Kara Cutruzzula said it best in a recent issue of her newsletter:

“Create the odds that are in your favor.” 

23. Writing gives me a chance to connect with complete strangers.

It never ceases to amaze me how, when I share my writing with the world, people reach back out. (If you, dear reader, have ever done that through this newsletter: thank you.)

24. I’ve never regretted writing something.

25. In fact, I’ve only ever regretted *not* having written something.

And whenever I experience that regret, it’s an invitation to finally getting around to writing through that idea.

26. My writing time is often the best part of my day.

Once I cracked the code to becoming a morning writer, I hit the ground running.

27. Like most things in life, writing is much more fun when I do it with a friend.

One of the best things I’ve done for my writing life was making a zine with a pal. My good friend Aysha Miskin and I created a zine called Nickname together in 2017. I did the writing; Aysha did the art.

Photo by Jesse Brantman

At a time when I felt shy about sharing my work with the world, Aysha built up my confidence and helped me take the plunge.

28. There are few things greater than when my loved ones read and respond to my writing.

Nothing makes me feel quite so seen and loved than that.

29. This year, for the first time in my life, I have felt 100% committed to my writing.

For years, I had doubts. I wondered if there was something else out there for me. Now, I can’t see any alternative.

I’ve spent my first 30 years on this planet proving to myself that I need to spend as much of my time on writing as I can.

30. And I’ll get to spend the next 30 years writing even more.

And hopefully, if I’m very lucky, I’ll have 30 more years after that.

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Thank you for reading this special birthday edition of my newsletter.

And if you became a paying subscriber today, holy mackerel—thank you so, so much for supporting my work.

🍰,

Hurley