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Anne Lamott, Stories as Gifts, and Kissing Today Goodbye

So…true confession. This blog is about the only writing I’m doing at the mo’. Despite spending most of the year trying to draft three chapters of a holiday novella for my agent, I have accepted that I am good and stuck. I must find a new starting place. Step 1 is (re)learning how to write without considering the publishing process. Part of what’s been getting in my way is that I can’t get past my first chapter without thinking about how my book might be received, perceived, or misconstrued. My urge to write hasn’t stalled, I just keep going in circles like a canoe with one paddle.

Instead trying to beat my muse into submission, I’ve finally cracked into my writing craft book TBR (to be read list). The first title I’ve finished was Bird by Bird (1994) by Anne Lamott. She’s an author and essayist known for her poignance, humor, and being one of the few non-embarrassing Christians in public life. (She’s been around for decades now, so that is REALLY saying something.)

I really enjoyed Anne’s takes on the writing and publishing life. There were three suggestions she made in the book that I am trying to incorporate in my writing life, right away:

  1. Writing daily in “1-inch picture frames”
  2. Writing as little as two sentences just to develop the discipline of writing every day
  3. Starting writing projects as gifts to separate writing from the publishing outcome

The last suggestion is the reason this blog post exists. Getting published regrettably comes with the knowledge that I may never get published again. I had ask myself

“Do I have stories left that I need to tell, even if they never circulate further than a writing group, or my family, or good natured people in my life who might be amused by a novel as a birthday present?”

The answer from my soul was an instant and resounding yes. (My soul is actually belting “God I’m a writer, a writer writes,” like a literary Cassie from A Chorus Line.)

THERE’S SO MUCH I WANT TO WRITE! More books but also plays, and even adventures in nonfiction. But if my brain stumbles down the road of publishing possibilities, my voice quickly goes off the rails. But I think taking Anne Lamott’s gift projects idea has me excited to write. So here are my list for books I’d like to write for people in my life, strangers, and ideas. Could this also just be a way to write all my ideas in a public forum that as some form of accountability for myself? Who can say? Anyway, here’s my TBWBM (To Be Written By ME. This isn’t booktok so I will explain my initialisms)

  1. For my daughter: Middle-grade cozy fantasy novel(s) inspired the stories I’ve been making up for my daughter since she was 3. She is now 9 and these stories are still my go-to when she has trouble sleeping.
  2. For Justine Ndiba and Samira Mighty: A novel inspired by the early seasons of Love Island and Mansfield Park…but with therapy
  3. For My Fellow Black Lady/My Own Ambition: A DC novel as short-stories chronicling the lives of Black lady feds in the style of the astounding Girl, Woman, Other
  4. For Xennials: A series of essays explaining growing up between the AIDS crisis and 9/11
  5. For the local community theatre: A cozy mystery play set after the 1950s
  6. For Black Kids in Drama Club: a play about the unexpected side Black love interest/sidekick to a POC teenage superhero
  7. For fat Black teenage girls: A New Adult why-choose romance centered around a plus-size figure skater, her classmate who reluctantly works at the skate shop, and her closeted best friend with Olympic dreams
  8. For my earliest readers: A pair of novellas called Back to Bennet House and Beyond Bennet House That center on Jamie and Tessa respectively from my debut novel The Bennet Women
  9. For my wallet/my agent/myself: A cozy romantic Christmas novella with a sprinkle of magic.

I will write them all one day! I’m vowing this in public the way Sufjan Stevens pledged to write 50 songs about all 50 states. I don’t know how far I’ll get, but maybe just I’ll create something spectacular along the way—that someone will then turn into a musical.