Writing In Reality
Also: holiday sale on This Creative Life and feedback wanted!
Writing In Reality
Yesterday I was talking to a coaching client who had a hard few weeks finding time to write. A spouse’s changing job schedule, raising a young child, work, and living with extended family all kept interrupting. She’d gotten writing done anyway, but not quite how she wanted to.
I asked: When you visualize your idealized writer self in the act of writing, what does it look like? We talked through that and concluded that it’s not so much about a time and a space, but an experience. How she wanted writing to feel in an ideal scenario vs how it felt in the reality of her last few weeks.
I relate to this so much! It’s a rare writing session that feels like I want it to, or how I imagined it would or think it should. I, too, have the idealized version of writing and being a writer that I carry in my imagination, and I have the reality of life as it is and me as I am, and sometimes they feel very, very far apart.
The difference between a person who actually writes and a person who wants to “be a writer” may lie in how well we’re able to negotiate with our idealized vision in the face of reality.
There can definitely be those moments when writing is dreamy and feels like, wow, this is how I always pictured it! But most of the time, it’s a very grounded, routine act that can feel like it has more in common with chores than with art-making.
This is also true of the process of bringing a story out of its flawless, shimmering idea state into the reality of words. And if we can’t find a way to accept the fact that reality — and our limitations within it — have some say in what ultimately comes out on the page, we’ll never let that idea out of our imaginations.
And if we can’t find a way to accept that the act of writing may not feel the way we’d hoped, we won’t write.
The holiday season can bring this into sharp relief. Reality somehow becomes more chaotic as routines are disrupted and visitors are around or kids are home or we travel or whatever else.
It’s a good time to let go of an idealized version of writing and being a writer, and feel the victory of writing anyway — amidst all that messy reality.
(Speaking of the messy reality, construction noise continues to put a pause on new podcast episodes, but I promise they are on the horizon!)
Holiday Sale on This Creative Life: A Handbook for Writers
⚡ ebook: $2.99
This should be in effect on every platform, though territorial pricing outside the U.S. can vary! (Amazon and Google Play don’t show up on the given link, but it is there, too.)
⚡ audiobook: $4.99 …
…on select platforms with no membership or subscription required. In effect at: Barnes & Noble / NOOK, Apple Books, Chirp, Spotify. That is, that pricing is scheduled and should be good 11/23-12/21, but the audiobook platforms are still new to me and sometimes changes don’t roll out smoothly. If you don’t see the sale price in effect when you check, check again later! Or pay full price! 🤗
🤔 What about my other books?
I don’t control the pricing on those, though I wish I could! Sometimes my publishers put my ebooks on sale for $1.99 or $2.99, and sometimes they remember to tell me and then I tell you (usually via social media). With a couple of exceptions, you can get a copy of any of my books in some format for under $10, which is still pretty great!
If you need any tips for buying:
My most popular novels with young readers, in order of age range from younger to older (though adults like them, too!): A Song Called Home, Once Was Lost, Sweethearts, Story of a Girl, and Roomies.
My most popular books for adult fans of YA and teen fans of realism that skew a bit older, in no particular order: The Lucy Variations, How to Save a Life, Goodbye from Nowhere, and Gem & Dixie.
In 2023 / Soliciting Feedback
I’ve been thinking for years about doing some kind of virtual (or in-person) MFA-style workshop for people who want that experience of facilitated, practical critique but aren’t in a program or don’t know how to find/make a writing group.
I’ve also thought about making the kind of craft talks I do in the MFA setting available for people who can’t afford or don’t want an MFA.
I get a bit held up by the question of the best format for things like that, how to price it, etc. So I made a little Google form and would love to hear your thoughts on this. It’s not set to collect email addresses and you shouldn’t have to sign in if you don’t want to (though it may try to make it sound like you do). ⬇️
I would also love it if you share this survey with anyone else you think may be interested in such a thing! Thank you, and I hope that however you celebrate this week, if you do, it’s restful and/or stimulating, according to your needs.
This Creative Life is a book, a newsletter, and a podcast from me, Sara Zarr, about reading between the lines of a writing life. The newsletter and podcast are free; buying the book (and leaving a great review!) helps support them and me. Sharing the newsletter is a big help, too!
