#11: murderous heat, walking and thinking, news blackout
Thanks to all of you who wrote in response to last week's letter. It did help to write about that old experience and anxiety, and so many of you reaching out with kind words and your own stories helped even more. I sometimes describe writing a novel as being like trying to catch a whirlwind with a butterfly net. This felt that way too; trying to capture a certain sort of anxiety. I wasn't sure if the net would hold it or if it would simply leak out the edges, but it did. And I felt freer of it to have put it outside my head, and into words.
I wish we could all say that this week was less troubling on the news front. Of course, it wasn't. Many sympathetic thoughts to those of you in the UK and other parts of Europe. And yet, as sometimes happen, I've reached a sort of breaking point. I could keep reading the news obsessively, or I can immerse myself back into the things that fill me up with something besides despair.
After all, I have a book to write, due September 1. This week I indulged in far too much news; Christopher was away in the mountains at a workshop, and so I stayed up too late reading it, watching TV, stressing for the mail to bring a book check it would be nice if it showed up any day now. I ate junk food--take out and the kind of stuff I can cook--and the only times I felt I was being particularly kind toward myself were at aerial yoga and when I stepped away to get my hair colored again and meet up with a friend. (Oh, I also discovered Eva Leigh's historical romance series, the Wicked Quills, and got all three from the library; if that's your jam, check these out--they're so good!) Anyway, I think it's time to stop following the news so closely. Sometimes it just makes you feel helpless, and I'm not sure it actually even results in being more informed. It's not like sitting in the salon chair for three hours and when you come out, your hair is once more teal... News must be taken in measured doses to be effective, for me.
This is not an argument for burying my head in the sand, or for you to. It's an argument for being aware that there are many ways we can contribute to the world. Ultimately, writing stories is going to be far more meaningful than my irritated, frustrated, pensive political tweets. One also helps pay the bills and the other doesn't. ;)
One of the things I do when I'm about to dig into a new project is to seek out thoughtful writing about writing or creating things. So this morning, it was serendipitous to see Austin Kleon, who I've known on the internet now for ages, and who I always find incisive and interesting (even when I disagree with him!), tweet a link to an interview with him that was filled with excellent stuff. Then, I decided to go catch up on his Tumblr, where I found some other things that resonated. Like this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
And another gem from Kierkegaard:
I feel like part of my summer discontent is that I hate intense heat -- I mean, I realize sweating is an essential bodily function and et cetera, but swimming in sweaty heat makes me vaguely murderous, definitely mutinous. Those of you who've known me for a long time have heard the joking story about how Christopher and I got married for air conditioning.
(If you haven't, here it is: So, we'd been together for several years and I had always said I didn't believe in marriage and maybe when I softened up toward that we should wait until all people could get married... However, I also came to believe that a) we were going to be together forever anyway b) if one person in a relationship has strong pro-marriage feelings and you have a philosophical argument against it, well you're sort of an asshole to let your philosophy get in the way of the other person's emotions (me being the jerk here) and c) listening to my queer friends talk about why they wanted the right to marry changed how I thought about it. This was the state of things, and then the air conditioning in the apartment we lived in died. Our landlord refused to fix it. My mother, sensing an opportunity, told me that she'd give me the money the family would spend on a wedding for a downpayment on a house if Christopher and I got married. I said, Hey, let's go to North Carolina to visit friends and get married over Labor Day weekend. During the two weeks between that oh-so-romantic proposal and the wedding: I slept under the fan in our office on an air mattress because it was the coolest room in the house, we found the house we live in now and moved in without really bothering to even look at any others, and we went to the air conditioned movies a lot. I also ordered a flapper dress off Macy's online and the rest, as they say, is history:
I was really into polaroids, even back then, so we have a lot of scanned polaroids of our wedding. Aside endeth, point being the ability to stay cool is very important to me.)
But I love walking. Writing and walking and writing some more is the way I get projects finished. So it is particularly loathsome this time of year, when the humidity is so sticky you step outside and the sweat begins. Basically, I'm just complaining about the sun. Sorry.
Where was I going with this? I don't even remember. And I should get back to work! Books, alas, don't write themselves.
News of the week!
- Hey, Girl on a Wire is a Book Bub today and on sale for a few more days for just $1.99!
Deal details here.
- New interviews! About Girl in the Shadows at Young Adult Books Central (which is also doing a giveaway!) and I was interviewed about Lois Lane and more by the fabulous Stefania Rudd at Doomrocket.
- Double Down is on Geek Mom/Geek Dad's summer reading list. Hooray!
- The comic came in the mail and I almost died it's so perfect. Speaking of which:
A sneak peek of Dita, Remy and Jules:
(My office lighting is terrible, obviously.)
I'm running a tweet giveaway through the weekend, RT the linked tweet to enter for issue #1 and an audio book of Girl in the Shadows.
Have a great week, loves!