Renewed Writing Attention

Welcoming our creative attention back home.

Jan 08, 2025

∙ Paid

🌼 HERE'S WHAT’S GOING ON

New Year Writing Nights · a joyful & encouraging co-writing group · meets every Wednesday through March 19, 7:30-9:30pm EST · $30 · SIGN UP

Deadline Darlings · personalized writing feedback & support · now booking for February! · $160 · SIGN UP

Write Like a Morning Person · write with me on MLK Jr. Day: Monday, January 20, 5:30-10am EST · join the session by becoming a paid newsletter subscriber

MY CREATIVE ATTENTION IS FINALLY HOME

Cody Cook-Parrott recently inspired me to add an “upcoming” section to my website’s homepage. I love the way it turned out. What a joy to see every offerings on the horizon compiled together in one place. How very in alignment they all feel when juxtaposed in this way. See for yourself.

These kinds of changes feel affirming as I begin the migration away from social media.

Today is the first day of

Anna Fusco

’s Instagram detox group. I immediately joined when I found out about it. After deciding to leave the platforms, I knew I’d need some accountability to actually leave. Now, I have a framework for it. The first step: closing my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I haven’t logged onto Facebook in years, but I want a completely clean break.

I signed up for a Twitter account while I was supposed to be writing a midterm in the Thomas G. Carpenter Library at the University of North Florida during my sophomore year. I used to daydream about having a publication credit in my Twitter bio. Now, I am saying goodbye, and my daydreams have widened into something along the lines of Dolly Parton buying 800,000 copies of my book + Judy Blume asking me to lunch in Key West, which are two things that recently happened to writer Emma Straub.

Though I haven’t officially left social media, I have not logged on in many weeks. I feel my attention blooming anew. In the time since I decided to leave for good, I’ve returned to many practices and rituals I love. Things I’d abandoned because I was stressed out and burned out and scrolling scrolling. Practices like texting my friends just to say “hey checking in to see how you are” or “here is a picture of my limequat tree, ok I love you bye.” Rituals like pulling tarot by candlelight like a spooky witch person.

Three times in the past week, I’ve pulled the Page of Wands. I shared this with my partner, Alex, who’s a statistician as well as an open skeptic and atheist. All of these identities of his came forward when he assessed my shuffling approach right after I presented him with with what I, a spirited and numbers-challenged god freak, have come to view as A VERY CLEAR MESSAGE FROM ON HIGH. I shuffled in front of Alex, and he said, “Hm. Yeah. That’s shuffling.” And then he said something about “true randomness” and I admittedly stopped listening. Opposites attract.

Lately, I’ve been using Chelsey Pippin Mizzi’s wonderful new book Tarot for Creativity. The Page of Wands, the author writes, is all about cultivating our creative attention: returning to the sound of the pen’s scrape across the pages of our notebooks. The message feels clear to me. As I shed social media, I must direct my renewed attention toward the things that matter.

And yeah, okay, I already knew that. But when you pull the same card three times in a row in a candle’s glow, the message feels louder and clearer.

The good people who run the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences asked me to return as staff for the Environmental Writers’ Conference this summer. It is my favorite writing anything I have ever attended, attracting some of the most kind-hearted writers I’ve ever met. It will be my third time attending. The years have a new cadence: before Bread Loaf and after Bread Loaf. Join me on the mountain in Vermont this June? Applications are open through February 1.

My time at Bread Loaf this past summer was utterly life-changing. I came home with new friendships and bonds, and I felt eager to replicate that social abundance in my day-to-day life. I identify as an introverted extrovert, a people person who’s also an only child and therefore needs her alone time. Bread Loaf really scratches a social itch for me. In my day-to-day, I don’t have the luxury of entering a cafeteria filled with 150 writers and sharing each meal with them. But I do have the ability to reach out to like-minded people I admire. As I shed the platforms, I want to make even more space for that reaching.

As my attention returns to me, as if it (my attention) is a deployed soldier returning home and I (Hurley) am its confused dog who is just so happy to see that it’s home safe, I will probably be writing this newsletter more often. I am overjoyed to be here in your inbox. Thank you for having me.

LET’S WORK TOGETHER IN 2025

🌼 GET PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK & SUPPORT

feedback on up to 15 pages of submitted writing
a 45-minute Zoom call to discuss your work and process

💥 Now booking for February! $160. Paid newsletter subscribers: get $30 OFF your first submission with the promo code at the bottom of this newsletter.

🌼 ESTABLISH YOUR WRITING ROUTINE

Sign up for New Year Writing Nights · a co-writing group that meets every Wednesday through March 19, 7:30-9:30pm EST. Our second session is tonight.

Find accountability in a warm & friendly Zoom room with more than 50 fellow writers. $30.

🌼 WRITE LIKE A MORNING PERSON

Mark your calendar for Write Like a Morning Person · a morning-long writing retreat on Monday, January 20. Lots of you have the 20th off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so if you’d like to start your holiday with some writing time, here’s how I’ll be leading it.

5:30-6:45AM EST · GUIDED MORNING PAGES · We’ll begin our day with some journaling. Prompts will be provided, or you can freewrite to your heart’s content.

6:45-7:00AM EST · MEDITATION READING · I’ll read a passage from one of my favorite creativity books, and we’ll take some time to integrate it, setting the tone for the rest of our morning of writing.

7:00-8:00AM EST · EAT YOUR BREAKFAST & WALK YOUR DOG · Or do whatever else it is you need to do before continuing on to our next block of writing. I, personally, will be walking Miss Susan around the neighborhood and wolfing down some oatmeal.

8:00-9:45AM EST · NITTY GRITTY WRITING TIME · Dive into your writing project for one luscious chunk of time.

9:45-10:00AM EST · SHARING & SIGNING OFF · Connect with your fellow morning people in a sharing session. We’ll celebrate our accomplishments before signing off for the rest of the holiday.

HOW TO ATTEND · WRITE LIKE A MORNING PERSON

Write Like a Morning Person is for paid subscribers of Lonely Victories. If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, you can sign up for $5/month, or save 17% and subscribe for the year. Upgrade your subscription by clicking below, and cancel anytime.

If you’re already a paid subscriber, no sign up is required for this morning writing session. You’ll find the Zoom link below the paywall of today’s newsletter.

Want to come for part of the morning but not all of it? Drop in anytime on the 20th. Mics will be muted upon entry, so you won’t disrupt us by arriving late or leaving early. Hope to see you there!

BELOW TODAY'S PAYWALL

I have three things for you today, my sweet Lonely Victories supporters!

Code for $30 off your first submission through my Deadline Darlings feedback program.
Code for $5 off New Year Writing Nights: weekly accountability, fellowship, and virtual pats on the back, every Wednesday night through mid-March.
Details for Write Like a Morning Person on Monday, January 20.

Thank you for being here, for writing, and for sticking with your work in this new year.

Lonely Victories