I haven’t written my newsletter for a little while.
I am back in Mexico and have been in a deep moment of processing. I was away for four months and I travelled across the world to South Australia and then to London. In both places, I had profound and deep experiences. I remembered parts of me long forgotten, I reconnected with my beloveds, people I love, people I had missed. Amazing things happened, moments of overwhelming joy, moments of sweet, gentle contentment, moments so full of love that my heart could barely hold the tenderness. Profoundly hard things happened, things that unalterably changed my world, moments also full of love, but the rougher kind that requires growth, requires all of you to show up even when it hurts. It was incredible and it was a lot! What a deeply transformative year 2023 has been.
And because of this, I haven’t known what to write. There was/is too much to say.
So, I needed to not write for a while. I needed to process, to rest, to fill my cup.
In addition, air travel is wild! I have said it before and I will say it again. It takes time for our energetic body to catch up with us, as if it’s traveling by boat while our physical body has soared ahead.
So I took some time.
I am re-emerging again now. The new buds of me. Ideas are once again starting to flow.
I am excited for what’s next (more mentoring hours, workshops, being of service with writing, treating my new novel with reverence and joy). I’ll be back properly very soon, but in the meantime, I am filling my creative cup and I have lots of recommendations of wonderful cup-filling resources for you below.
I’d love to hear from you all too. How are you? How are you feeling as we move towards November 2023? How’s the writing/creative work going? Any great cup-filling joys you have found in the last month or so? Any peeks or troughs you’d like to share?
Recommendations
Things that have filled my cup recently…*
Podcast: I have listened to a lot of podcasts with Zadie Smith, but this interview by Sam Fragoso on his Talk Easy podcast is by FAR the best. I just love how she speaks, how she is happy to disagree with things she previously said. There is something so sure in the way she talks (maybe it is the lack of fear of later changing her mind and the fact that she is not on any social media)? I will undoubtedly re-listen to this episode multiple times.
Podcast: The above podcast hooked me in to Talk Easy and there are so many good episodes. I highly recommend the one with Elizabeth Gilbert, it’s from 2020 but still packed with gems (the way she talks about being in love with the world spoke directly to my heart), and this more recent one with George Saunders (watch for his genius idea for generating stories).
Newsletter: Ever dreamed of winning the Booker? Maybe go the Indie Press route. Mslexia sent out this fascinating newsletter detailing how this year seven out of 13 of the shortlist were published by Independent presses! I considered writing a whole newsletter about this because it is fascinating and says a lot about the way publishing is moving.
Podcast: Speaking of the publishing landscape, this Secret Library Podcast episode called The Shadow Side of Writing and Publishing was insightful, expansive and uplifting. If you are having trouble getting your work out in the world, you might find it inspiring. I also highly recommend another in the same series where the host interviews a literary agent and probes into the industry as it stands in 2023.
Newsletter: This
newsletter, “Slow Down Where it Hurts” offers a great tip for flash fiction (and really any) writers to lean into the painful bits.Podcast: Among other things this podcast episode from
by addresses the idea that our phone use is affecting our memory, which is turn is affecting our creativity. I found it interesting and it added to my ongoing desire to address my phone usage.Newsletter: Oliver Burkeman, writes so beautifully here about “being willing to be who we actually are.” It seems so obviously and yet he found a way to articulate it that really hit home.
*There are a lot of suggestions here. If that feels overwhelming, maybe shut your eyes and place your finger on one at random. In these days of overwhelm, let’s not add to the to-do/read/listen etc list.
Mentoring
As we move into November, I will be opening up more mentoring hours. Mentoring brings me the deepest joy. Seeing wonderful writers move out of stuckness to finish their books, seeing them blossom as they allow writing to take up the space it deserves in their lives, seeing their lives change, I feel so deeply honoured to witness it all.
If now is the right time for you to get support to start a project, finish a project or anything between, I’d love for you to sign up for a free call with me to see if I am the right person to support you.
I'm also in that processing moment and not blogging. Lots going on with my mum and her husband, both in their 80s, which brings up a lot of stuff that just needs allowing to settle.
I love that your message is like giving the rest of us permission.
Be kind to yourself and allow the process to go at its own speed. Something I've learned over the years XX
Your post was perfectly timed, being that I've been traveling and feeling new beginnings stirring up within me. I'm happy to hear that your journey gave you such profound connections and that you took the time to let that settle inside. Thanks for the treasure trove of resources you posted.! I can't wait for my next long bus trip to hear those podcasts. Oliver Burkeman's article in particular resonated for me.