I bet it’s the same for a lot of you. You make a plan and then life gets in the way. When my computer started whirring really loudly a couple of weeks ago and I eventually took it in, I didn’t expect them to send it away for days and days, taking with it passwords, stories I’m working on, my mojo… packed it all in and took the to Optimist Hill (have any of you been there! The clue is in the name ;_))))

Slowly, I’ve pieced together ways to get back into my bank, my mailchip (so I can write to you) and my inbox. Where I found this waiting and waiting for me:

Can I ask you to suggest ways I might nurture my love of writing? Do you have routines or resources that inspire you? An article I might read or a book that might guide me. I would appreciate anything you can share … putting pen to paper or fingers to keys bring me joy – from writing a sympathy card to a letter to cancer for my friend’s blog.
With gratitude and joy,
Susan Voitka-Seager

I love helping other people find their stories and so I asked Susan if I could share my answers with you, in case it helped any of you on your writing journey.

Ways to nurture your love of writing?

I think that reading is crucial for anyone who wants to write. But it’s not just what you read. When you read like a writer, every time you sit down with a book, you’re paying attention to how the author has made their story work. How have they connected (or not) with you? What do you love? What do you want to create yourself? If you can put aside some time every day or two for reading, I think that’s the first step to nurturing your writing self. Even before you dive into the world of books, I want you to do something. I want you to ask yourself WHY you want to write. For a lot of people, they want to write because they want to communicate with other people. They want to deepen a conversation they’re having in their head with others. Sometimes, we think that looks like publishing or being famous, but what I’ve learned is it looks like a journey.

And the journey is different for each of us. We all have our own experiences and our own unique way of being in the world, and when we decide to write that down, be that in fiction or personal narrative, or in poetry or a picture book, each of those ways are a gift to the world. It’s very hard to let go of end result expectations, but it brings us back to the true purpose of sharing our words, which I believe is to share, to give, and to grow.

When I first started writing, I wrote a novel that went to several agents. Eventually, I heard back from one. The envelope was addressed to me but the letter inside was a standard rejection. I immediately called the agent to see if there had been some mistake. Maybe there was an acceptance letter that should have gone to me. Then I’d know my book was good, that what I’d written was worth it.

That was not the case. During the call, the agent told me that my characters were flat and unbelievable, that the story didn’t grab their attention, that the book wasn’t something he wanted to represent. The standard rejection letter meant for me arrived a few days later.

I’m a lover of gin, and a large gin and tonic later I decided that was it. I was done writing. I was never going to waste my time again. Clearly, I wasn’t any good and I should give up completely. This agent was the decider in my mind. He knew good writing from bad and he knew I wasn’t good.

Can I tell you a secret? I still hear his words all these years later. Thirteen published books and millions of words later, this man, whose name I can’t remember, is still in my head.

So, I wonder, Susan, if there’s a voice in your head telling you that your words aren’t good enough. Perhaps success looks a certain way for you and the words have to be a certain way for you to feel free to write them. I have to fight that voice all the time. I have to remind myself that it doesn’t matter if someone else deems my work good or bad, what matters is whether the words fuel the conversations I want to have. Do I want to keep talking about the importance of stories and creativity? Yes, so I write about it. Do I want to help other people share their words, yes! So I write this infrequent but hopeful blog. Do I believe that books can change the world? Yes. That’s why I share other people’s books and write about them.

Do I think your words can change the world? I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s what you want them to do. Do I think they matter? Absolutely. You’re the only person who can share what you have to say. You’re the person generating the conversations with other people that your words create. So, if I can reassure you and help you nurture your words in any way, it would be to tell you to ignore any voice that tells you what you’re doing isn’t good or successful or worth it.

Now you’ve thought about that part, I have some practical advice, too.

1. I write 350 words a day. For joy. Could you try that? You pick the word count.
2. Perhaps you’d like writing prompts? I have lots on my site. Writer’s Digest shares loads. Sarah Selecky is also wonderful and generous with prompts.
3. Read anything and everything by William Kenower. A lot of how I think about writing comes directly from his wisdom.
4. Follow Jael Richardson in Instagram. She shares books and prompts and writing tips and is all round amazing! Be inspired by the incredible work happening right here in Canada and please do let me know what you’re writing.

I hope this helps you with your writing. I wish you joy, opportunities and great conversations as you trust yourself to create.

xxxx

Ali

I love talking about books and I’m so happy to share five of my favourites here. The first book I talk about on this list is How to Pronounce Knife.

Why this book?

I’ve always been a big reader of short stories (I have four children and can pretty much tune them out for a short story, whereas reading a novel requires me to actually go into hiding.) These stunning stories took me out of place and time to the lives of many other people, all of them dislocated in the world. Souvankham explores the immigrant experience so artfully, and I love how she titles these works—bringing so much extra to the story, the way that artwork in a gallery is enhanced for me by the title on the wall.

Read the rest of my suggestions over at Beta Shepard where they’re talking books all day long!

I got this in my inbox today, from One Story. I love them and their stories and I thought one of you might like to try for this opportunity:

Together with the Talve-Goodman Family, One Story is pleased to announce the Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship. This educational fellowship will offer a year-long mentorship on the craft of fiction writing with One Storymagazine. The first recipient will be for the year 2019.

This fellowship calls for an early-career writer of fiction who has not yet published a book and is not currently nor has ever been enrolled in an MFA program. One Story is seeking writers whose work speaks to issues and experiences related to inhabiting bodies of difference. This means writing that explores being in a body marked by difference, oppression, violence, or exclusion; often through categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, illness, disability, trauma, migration, displacement, dispossession, or imprisonment.

Adina Talve-Goodman was raised in St. Louis and attended Clayton High School and Washington University. When she was 19 years-old, Adina received a heart transplant, due to a congenital heart condition, and began writing about it. Adina started working at One Storymagazine as an intern in April 2010 and later became Managing Editor. She supported emerging authors, helped organize donations to prisons, and had a strong interest in issues of embodied difference, illness, and suffering. In 2015, Adina won the Bellevue Literary Review’sNon-Fiction Prizewith her essay, “I Must Have Been That Man.”She left One Story in 2016 to attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was working on her first book when she was diagnosed with cancer. Adina passed away on January 12th, 2018. She was 31 years old.

The 2019 fellow will receive:

• Free tuition for all One Story online classes and programming offered in 2019.
• Travel stipend ($2,000) and tuition to attend One Story’s July 2019 week-long summer writers’ conference in Brooklyn, which includes craft lectures, an in-person intensive fiction workshop, and panels with literary agents and publishers.
• A full manuscript review and consultation with One Story Co-Founder & Executive Editor Hannah Tinti.

Applications are now open and will close November 15th, 2018. The winner of the 2019 Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowshipwill be publicly announced on January 3rd, 2019. For complete details visit our website.