Yesterday Gloria Steinem appeared in a show I was watching and I started crying. Ah I guess I do need to include some of what early feminism meant for me in the 80’s as my life was on the precipice of changing - to add to my memoir
I’m about 80% through the first draft of my fifth novel and, yesterday, I heard about the popularity of “weird girl fiction”. I read the newsletter about it and it was like an A-HA moment for me because that’s exactly what I was writing. I have been so in love with my MC and all her quirkiness but reading about the trope, it has pushed me to lean into it more, which I will do in the second draft.
I haven’t had one (lately), but I witnessed one yesterday in my writing circle. Several weeks ago, I shared a flash non-fiction piece I wrote about a friend I lost in the PanAm bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. It had an impact I was unaware of on a poet friend. She carried some of my words with her. They popped back to the front of her mind as she visited MOMA and then the WTC memorial in Manhattan last week, and in the midst of those visits, she made a connection between them and a personal event in her life. Breakthrough! All those connections across the weeks resulted in her dashing off one of the most beautiful poems I’ve read in ages — it all rushed out of her in our writing circle yesterday. It was an amazing thing to witness, and I’m so grateful I got to be a witness to it, and even more grateful that a few of my words helped to spark something so lovely and powerful.
I attended my first writers and readers conference at the end of April. It was an incredible experience! I had so many great conversations with so many amazing people, all of us energized by being together with people who love writing and reading as much as we do. I came home with ideas for my main WIP and ideas for another book in a slightly different genre. It was truly a gift!
Yes! Since the last time I commented, I've written 15K and figured out a visual strategy for the book! It's not going that well this week, but next week it will be better.
I have been plants-ing this new manuscript (but working with characters from 2 prev books) and just passed 30k and feel like I have a much better grasp of what this book is, but right now I’m looking forward to the continued discovery.
Not sure it's a breakthrough, but I've been trying to come up with a sort of spine for #1000 words. What I've been working on lately, and not very well, is an essay about post-Roe rape conceptions. Maybe the work isn't going well because the topic is too big for an essay. What got me started was learning of a statistical analysis concluding there were over 60,000 rape-conceived pregnancies in 2023 in the 14 U.S. states that (then) had total abortion bans. So my new idea about this topic is that it could be expanded to a book about people conceived in rape. I'm one of those people.
I've had a big breakthrough in the book I proclaimed finished and never felt comfortable with calling "Finished" - so I am once again going through it in a different way and finally, finally, it is feeling good again and it will be actually finished again soon.
I did! I had a breakthrough the day before I got your email and couldn't believe it! It sets me up so perfectly for #10000 words. So happy for you too! xo
Yesterday Gloria Steinem appeared in a show I was watching and I started crying. Ah I guess I do need to include some of what early feminism meant for me in the 80’s as my life was on the precipice of changing - to add to my memoir
I’m about 80% through the first draft of my fifth novel and, yesterday, I heard about the popularity of “weird girl fiction”. I read the newsletter about it and it was like an A-HA moment for me because that’s exactly what I was writing. I have been so in love with my MC and all her quirkiness but reading about the trope, it has pushed me to lean into it more, which I will do in the second draft.
I haven’t had one (lately), but I witnessed one yesterday in my writing circle. Several weeks ago, I shared a flash non-fiction piece I wrote about a friend I lost in the PanAm bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. It had an impact I was unaware of on a poet friend. She carried some of my words with her. They popped back to the front of her mind as she visited MOMA and then the WTC memorial in Manhattan last week, and in the midst of those visits, she made a connection between them and a personal event in her life. Breakthrough! All those connections across the weeks resulted in her dashing off one of the most beautiful poems I’ve read in ages — it all rushed out of her in our writing circle yesterday. It was an amazing thing to witness, and I’m so grateful I got to be a witness to it, and even more grateful that a few of my words helped to spark something so lovely and powerful.
Yes, that's a good way to talk about "breakthroughs": they're connections, like the one your poet friend made among these disparate events.
Everything is connected, I like to remind myself daily.
I attended my first writers and readers conference at the end of April. It was an incredible experience! I had so many great conversations with so many amazing people, all of us energized by being together with people who love writing and reading as much as we do. I came home with ideas for my main WIP and ideas for another book in a slightly different genre. It was truly a gift!
Yes! Since the last time I commented, I've written 15K and figured out a visual strategy for the book! It's not going that well this week, but next week it will be better.
I have been plants-ing this new manuscript (but working with characters from 2 prev books) and just passed 30k and feel like I have a much better grasp of what this book is, but right now I’m looking forward to the continued discovery.
Not sure it's a breakthrough, but I've been trying to come up with a sort of spine for #1000 words. What I've been working on lately, and not very well, is an essay about post-Roe rape conceptions. Maybe the work isn't going well because the topic is too big for an essay. What got me started was learning of a statistical analysis concluding there were over 60,000 rape-conceived pregnancies in 2023 in the 14 U.S. states that (then) had total abortion bans. So my new idea about this topic is that it could be expanded to a book about people conceived in rape. I'm one of those people.
I've had a big breakthrough in the book I proclaimed finished and never felt comfortable with calling "Finished" - so I am once again going through it in a different way and finally, finally, it is feeling good again and it will be actually finished again soon.
I’m friends with Sophie who owns Three Muses! Have a great reading!
Yes - I went to an event on 1st May and it provided the missing piece to bring my whole textbook together. I’ve been talking about it ever since!
So great to hear this!
I did! I had a breakthrough the day before I got your email and couldn't believe it! It sets me up so perfectly for #10000 words. So happy for you too! xo
“and I got a strong coffee” I read that as “and I got strung out on coffee” and I was like damn that’s a mood
I’m sorry I seem to have missed the Livestream of the first day of #1000Words. Is there a recording?