🚀The Dark Age: Exercise 3, Exploration
Hello, friends! In the last two Dark Age newsletters, I've shared exercises created by Nina LaCour, as samples of her Slow Novel Lab workshop. Today I'll...
That mote of dust in a sunbeam
Hello, my friends! A little while back I stumbled across a Reddit thread which suggested vacationers learn not to fall too much in love with their vacation...
🚀The Dark Age: Exercise 2, Image
Hello, friends! In the last Dark Age newsletter, I shared the first of three exercises created by Nina LaCour, as a sample of her Slow Novel Lab workshop....
The world is not rooting for you
Hello, friends! By the time this letter arrives, my period of resting and resetting will have ended, and I'll have begun a fresh new job. But I'm writing...
🚀The Dark Age: Exercise 1, Structure
Hi, friends! In last week's issue, I mentioned the Slow Novel Lab, a workshop I completed last year. Before starting the workshop, I sampled a writing task...
Burning the house down
Hello, friends! In the last public issue of this newsletter, I mentioned that the startup for which I’d worked was closing down, and that I was a bit...
🚀The Dark Age: Never quite good enough
Hello, friends! I'm writing this on Sunday, the 12th. Yesterday, within twenty miles of Hill House, a thirty-acre fire was reported. The most recent update...
Rest, reset, begin again
Hello, friends. I'm writing this on Saturday, September 4. It is gorgeous here this morning. Big golden sun throwing spears through the windows. All the...
🚀The Dark Age: Starved for touch
🚀The Dark Age: Starved for touch Hello, friends! The Dark Age has been going well lately. I've started writing a new part of the novel, one narrated by...
Reading for pleasure
Reading for pleasure Every book is a professor of something Hi, friends! Earlier this week, while chatting on the phone with my father, he mentioned that he...
🚀The Dark Age: Storytelling 101
🚀The Dark Age: Storytelling 101 Or, how to screw up the fundamentals Hello, friends! Thanks as always for supporting this newsletter with a paid...
The vehicle in which I live
The vehicle in which I live On spending one's life wearing a car-suit Hello, friends! (Bit of a content warning for this one; I talk a bit about bodies and...
🚀The Dark Age: A spaceship of one's own
🚀The Dark Age: A spaceship of one’s own A place to write, and many words to go Hello, friends! It’s always a happy discovery when the writing machine seems...
Low moments and difficult work
Low moments and difficult work Navigating the challenges and obstacles too few of us talk about Hello again, friends! Recently I started working on a new...
🚀The Dark Age: An excerpt of a work-in-progress
🚀The Dark Age: An excerpt of a work-in-progress Philip is supposed to be sleeping, but he isn’t Hello, friends! Today, a little excerpt of my work-in-...
When the road fails to flow under me
When the road fails to flow under me Road trips, memory lanes, and the music that fuels both Hello, friends! When our pandemic season began last year, I...
🚀The Dark Age: We all need a little structure
🚀The Dark Age: We all need a little structure Searching for the right way to put a story together Hi, friends! Writers often divide themselves into two...
Permission and practice
Permission and practice Some thoughts on the creative process, from smarter folks than me Hi, friend! I'm on vacation! Spending it at home working on The...
🚀The Dark Age: The search for stillness
🚀The Dark Age: The search for stillness Exploring our inherent need for space...without writing a pandemic novel Hello, friends! From the journal I began...
The gravity of the situation
The gravity of the situation Wherein Squish prefers movies that stress her the heck out Good morning! It's been raining at Hill House for the last few days....