Upcoming Workshops and Offerings
📖 On July 30 at 1PM EST, Book Club for Writers will discuss Daily Rituals: Women at Work. Paid subscribers are invited to attend book club meetings on Zoom.
🍎 I’m looking for input on my upcoming classes, which begin again in the fall. Fill out the survey here. Reminder: paid subscribers get 10% off all classes! Learn more.
I shared in my newsletter a couple weeks ago that I’m working my way through The Artist’s Way for the very first time. For the most part, I am loving this book. I’m participating in a book study that Marlee Grace is running through their newsletter, which is giving me the accountability I need to complete all 12 weeks of the book.
But last week, the book suggested doing something truly crazy.
“If you feel stuck in your life or in your art, few jump starts are more effective than a week of reading deprivation.”
A whole week without reading?
Was she kidding?!
Believe me, I understand what Julia’s getting at. Time away from books—from TV, from social media, from whatever—gives you time to work on your own projects. Or, in her words:
“For most blocked creatives, reading is an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings.”
What she’s saying here about using reading to numb or distract myself just doesn’t resonate with me. Reading keeps me engaged with my creative work. It gives me ideas. It inspires me to write.
“Hey, Julia,” I said. “No offense, but I’m gonna sit this one out.”
And I kept reading—in my living room, at the kitchen table, on the beach, at the coffee shop, in the library, in bed before falling asleep.
The Artist’s Way has given me a lot of tools that work for me. Non-negotiable daily morning pages and weekly artist dates have been a total game-changer. Ideas are flourishing. I’m in closer touch with a playful, nurturing side of myself.
And by ignoring Julia’s gentle demand to stop reading, I left behind something that wasn’t going to work for me.
I believe we should always take what works and leave the rest: a saying that’s popular in 12-step rooms that I also find helpful in the writing process.
It’s a powerful thing to leave the rest. It helps us get closer to what will actually work for us.
Recently, I got a quite a bit of feedback on something I wrote about writing rituals. I shared in this post that my process involves writing most days each week. I received emails from fellow writers saying they’d never be able to do that. One person who wrote to me explained that creativity wasn’t a faucet they could turn on and off.
It took me a while—years—to realize that writing most days (but not every day) was the pace that worked best for me. I once attempted Stephen King’s famous routine of writing daily, including major holidays, no matter what, and I hated it. Squeezing that much writing into my life felt both impossible and tedious.
But during my Stephen King attempts, I did notice something. As hard as it was to maintain the pace of writing daily, I was a lot less nervous every time I sat down to write. By writing frequently, I wasn’t putting as much pressure on the writing itself. I wasn’t trying to write perfectly.
So I took what worked: writing more often.
And I left the rest: writing without a break.
I encourage you to think about what works for you in your creative life and leave the rest behind, even if it’s a practice endorsed by someone who’s written dozens of bestsellers.
📚 If someone recommends a craft book to you that doesn’t resonate, don’t read it!
💬 If someone gives you feedback on your writing that feels wrong, don’t incorporate it!
💥 If you’re working on a writing project that isn’t igniting you, maybe it’s time to leave it behind, even for a little while.
🧠 If someone else’s writing process sounds ridiculous or unrealistic or miserable to you, your process should absolutely look different from theirs.
📖 If someone tells you to stop reading for a week and that doesn’t sound like a very good idea, don’t stop reading.
📕 But then again, if someone tells you to take a week away from books and that sounds excellent to you, do it.
Take what works. Leave the rest. Repeat.
✨ Help me plan upcoming classes!
My writing classes and workshops will return again this fall. I took the summer away from teaching and can’t wait to hop back in the Zoom room with you and talk about words and sentences and stories.
I’d love your input on the types of classes you’d be interested in taking with me. If you have three minutes to spare, please fill out my Class Survey. It’s short and anonymous.
Book Club Meeting: Sunday, July 30, 1PM EST
There’s still time to read Mason Currey’s extremely fun book Daily Rituals: Women at Work in time for the Book Club for Writers on Sunday, July 30!
In addition to discussing Mason’s book during our meeting on July 30 at 1PM EST, we’ll do exercises designed to help you find your own writing rituals and examine what is/isn’t working in your writing life.
It’s a great space for us to talk about taking what works and leaving the rest.
Join for the month of July for just $5, or subscribe for the whole year and save 27%. Upgrade your subscription by clicking below.
What’s next:
Get the book via Bookshop, Amazon, or your local library.
Add the book club meeting to your calendar.
As you read the book, take notes on the artist routines that stand out to you. Hunt for patterns.
Join the discussion live on Zoom on Sunday, July 30 at 1PM EST. Paid subscribers will receive a Zoom link the day before our meeting.
Can’t make it live? Our recorded discussion will be available on Zoom afterward.
Can’t participate this time? We’ll meet again in October to discuss Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts. It’s one of my favorite books about writing.
View the full book club schedule here. 2024 books will be announced in the fall.