Chaos with a spreadsheet
I hope the spring is treating you well. Welcome to the vernal edition of this newsletter, which will include...
- A brand new story at one of my white whale publications!
- A very writerly pep talk
- Random things
New
I’m thrilled to have a story in Ecotone’s newest Labor Issue.
WEEKS AFTER THE SLIPSTREAM APPEARED in a desolate ravine near the border of California and Nevada, my waipo snapped up the necessary land rights and installed high chain-link fences to shut it in, barbed wire coiled across the top like arm hair. It was an inky stretch of liquid with a beginning and an end, a quarter mile long, and looked and smelled unpleasant enough in the sunlight that it was mistaken for some strange oil slick.
Read the story here
This story should be free online through May 7, after which it will go behind a paywall. So if you’re going to read it, the time is nigh! And I appreciate you ~
Pep talk
I finally sat down and got my drafting process down in detail. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. The quick summary—it’s chaos. Chaos with a spreadsheet. I’m paraphrasing, but someone close to me recently told me “I love you, but you’re unhinged for this.”
While I focus this post entirely on writing, I realize this is the exact process I end up following in design, art, and all other pursuits. Everything is murky until it’s not. In fact, at my dayjob my team and I have been talking a lot about trusting the process. I know not everyone here is a writer. I hope that if you squint, the details will still make sense.
I felt compelled to write this because the page is where I trust myself with abandon. I think without this place, I would have almost zero reliable places to relax or be entirely myself. I think we need to say this from time to time: that writing is fun, writing feels good, and things make more sense after engaging with the little letters on the screen. Too much is out there to say writing is pure suffering, publishing will wring you out to dry, and of course, you’re not a real writer unless you’re throwing down 30k words a month. No matter if you have to burn out to do it.
I still think your art should be a kind place, and that you should hear that this can fulfill you. I hope you hear it very often and you believe it. Even if writing is suffering right now, even is publishing is wringing you out to dry. Even if you’re burnt out and feeling bad about neglecting your work. I myself have been feeling very burnt out lately, and it was nice to contemplate how gleeful drafting is for me.
I hope you’ll make it over to my site to check it out. I wanted it to live somewhere a bit more permanent this time around.
I love geeking out about how people write books. There is nothing I admire than a black widow spider level outliner, even though that is about as far as my process as possible. Hit reply. Let me know how you draft your books!
Random
I bought a drop spindle to spin my own yarn from processed wool, and my rose bushes are absolutely thriving. I am officially some 11th century cottage lady living in like…idk, Normandy or something. I guess roses were still the wild variety back then and OH NO oh dear you don’t need me ranting about rose horticulture. So here are some photos of my spinning progress (improving fast!) and my Olivia Rose Austin and Julia Child roses.
xo Ash
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