Delivery and acceptance
I finally wrote a good book
It’s a big announcement day here at The Lizzie Wade I-swear-we’re-going-back-to-Weekly: I finished my book! Or at least, the writing and revising portion of it. It’s off to copy edit and production, and I’m off to, all too soon, begging for blurbs and hawking pre-orders. But not quite yet! Right now, it’s time for all the socializing and errands I ignored for the last three months and, in between, some unexpectedly long naps.
As I’ve periodically thought about what I might say about my writing process and how I did as much as creative work as possible in the last three months (again) without losing my mind (mostly), I haven’t been able to come up with anything that felt interesting, or relatable, or helpful. Don’t let your post-COVID vestibular problems go undiagnosed for multiple years? Yeah, ok, sure. If you need to know that, you already do (or you’re not able to know it yet). What more did I have to say?
And then, in the last few weeks, as the final draft was simultaneously ramping up and winding down, I suddenly realized I have so much to say: about schedules, productivity, energy, writing, the subconscious. About how the ways we think we should work are not only wrong, but actively holding us back from bringing our best ideas out into the world. About how the status quo counts on our best ideas remaining unrecognized and unexpressed, because once they’re out there they can—and should—really fuck shit up.
The way I wrote the final draft was by ruthless respecting my own rhythms, intuitions, and physical and cognitive needs, even when they ran counter to what I thought I “should” be doing—and especially when I couldn’t even articulate what I was doing. The next several newsletters will be about trying to figure out what I did, why it worked, and how I can maintain the most useful parts as I (hopefully) transition back to a much more reasonable, sustainable work schedule. I got lost, and I ended up somewhere great, and now I’m back. I hope I’ve returned bearing directions. Let’s find out—starting next week, after a few more naps.