Hey, hey, whaddaya say?
My newest "Ask the Coach" article is live on ScriptMag.
It's called "How Can I Step More Fully Into My Writer’s Identity?" and harkens back to my earlier-this-year workshop along the same lines (and my own journey around this too).
The reader who wrote in asked:
“How can I cultivate and step into my writer’s identity more fully, or better design and live a ‘curated’ writing lifestyle? I want to engage in the routines and rituals of my writing lifestyle with aplomb, no matter the storyline or plot twists of daily life, and let them serve to enhance my writer’s identity.”
Here's the TL;DR of my response (+ you can click through to the article to read the details):
- The desire to live a writer’s life is real.
- Writing is also a job, not only an identity or lifestyle.
- Do claim your identity as a writer.
- Writing is about taking action.
- Close your writer’s life gap in specific ways.
- Build routines and structures.
- Trust you’ll get through the plot twists.
Check out the full article with more reflection by clicking here ⇣
Plus, here are three cool things this week (in spite of it all):
- Holy smokes, batman, I got to see Annalee Newitz and a bunch of new-to-me folks speaking on a "Public Transit Visions in Speculative Fiction" panel the other night. I couldn't make it to San Francisco around parenting and personal obligations and needs, so I watched the live stream but sheesh-wow it was so fun and exciting — at least to me. The combo of geeking out about speculative fiction AND urban design AND transit? I was pretty much over the moon. And given the many dark moments this week and last, it was a delicious experience to have a moment of inspiration and joy.
- My 'lil sis came over and we worked on purging and decorating our house. We moved here 2019 and sort of unpacked stuff and shoved it onto shelves and then covid hit and everything sort of stayed where it was? But we don't really need all those things? And there's too much stuff in our house? Anyway, she's been working on similar things at her place so it's a massive help to have fresh eyes and a good accountability partner.
- I'm still reading a ton. I finished reading Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir to my younger child, so we picked up The Martian (same author) and dove into it (if you enjoyed those books, I highly recommend To Each This World by Julie Czerneda). On my own, I've been carrying on reading Michael Connelly's Bosch-universe books (just wrapped up reading the 3rd book of the Lincoln Lawyer series), so my book count since June 6 is now up to 39.
If you're looking for support making writing happen day in and day out — including regular writing sprints — check out my Called to Write Community, now available at a new lower rate: https://calledtowrite.mn.co
If you're looking for developmental editing support, I have space coming up in my editorial calendar for manuscript critiques and script notes in mid-October. https://jennaavery.com/for-writers
* All book links herein are affiliate links for Bookshop, which means I earn a small referral fee
if you purchase from them, and which helps me keep my writing ship afloat. Thank you!
Thank you for reading, and happy writing!
0 Comments