photo by Petra Machanova

It’s a chalky-sky morning here in the Pacific Northwest. It started raining last Thursday and there have been deluges and downpours and drizzles. This is a pause before more rain returns tonight. I’m still practically swooning in gratitude. Because rain washes away pollen.

Let me set the table here: Over the years I’ve become allergic to trees. And I live in Oregon, not exactly a barren landscape. This means spring with all it’s budding glories brings on a multitude of miseries and symptoms. When pollen levels spike I’m also susceptible to migraines. Then, I was also exposed to a lot of mold–another migraine-inducing allergy.

This meant I’ve had migraines on and off for more than a month as I sipped ginger tea, made regular doctor calls on myself, and sometimes hid in a  darkened room-slash-pillow fort.  Listening to podcasts. If I notice the incoming signs as soon as they strike–I’m a bit prone to denial– I can fend off the worst symptoms.  But I’m happy to report, the worst is behind me, I’ve got rose bushes about to bloom, and I’m working away on complicated manuscripts written by talented authors. And slipping in work on my own book.

Now to slip in more. Because I’m falling behind and lately I’ve also been hearing from distressed writers in the same boat. And if it were an actual boat icy, frightening water would be surging in faster than we can bail it out with a six-ounce cup. Or something along those lines…

Yesterday I was in a cafe writing with a friend. We met last week and I bailed because a migraine had been worming its way into my head as I drove into Portland. Talk about cognitively deficient.  This writer friend–let’s call her E–is mostly retired and had several careers, her latest one involving the criminal justice system. Without giving away too much, her schedule didn’t allow her much time, brain space, or freedom to write. But she has kept at it over the years.

We sat a smallish table that had annoyingly wobbly legs and nearby tables had the same affliction. Enticing and homey-chocolaty smells were emanating from the kitchen, the rain was lobbing down, and the delightful lime-cream-pink-pine colors of spring were waving amid the storm. Dogwoods and magnolias being the biggest show-offs.

Lately I’ve been thinking about general advice I’d give to writers these days when the world is so, so complicated. Especially to writers who believe they’re not producing enough.  Yesterday I asked E for her best advice to writers, and her reply was simply “write.” She added, “and don’t stop to edit as you go along or I’d be rewriting the same paragraph I wrote ten years ago.” Not bad.

Tribal

I added, “and hang with your tribe.” And wasn’t expecting these words to come out of my mouth, though I’ve written about this topic before.   I mentioned writers should naturally hang out in person and cheer each other on. E knows this from a longtime writer’s group she’s particiapted in and from the groups I’ve worked with. One big benefit is other writers will have a stake in what you’re creating.

The next step is to get to know authors we enjoy reading. Especially authors we want to emulate.

We used to be in a book group together that met monthly and often I’d tell the group about the author’s background. How James McBride grew up in a housing project similar to the one he wrote about in Deacon King Kong so we could trust the authenticity of his story world. I’ve been researching author’s lives since I was a kid because a. I’m always curious about the lives of good writers. b. I research constantly. As in not a day goes by. c. Their backstories often hold the key to why they write what they write. d. This information adds to my reading pleasure.

Mostly writers should study successful authors because we can always glean techniques, habits, and insights  that just might make a difference  in your own practice. Maybe his or her quirky way of seeing the world is in sync with yours and you start noticing how the author slips those preceptions onto the page. Or you could  simply find enormous comfort that writers are as quirky as you. Or also have ADHD. Or find writing maddeningly difficult. Maybe you can learn a few tricks like writing in one font and then switching to another when editing. {That’s one of my tricks–works great.} Or how historical writers track down primarysources as they research. Why authors collect old maps.  Or read their story outloud. Or create a wall-size storyboard.

Because adopting even small habits can change your life. Have you recognized this too? And realized we need to keep tweaking our habits at different life stages? I used to get up at about five to write. But this schedule worked better when I was younger. As were my body parts. You’re likely also adjusting your writing schedule and outlook over the years.

You can find jewels when you read interviews, Instagram posts, blogs and their how-to articles. You can study your favorite novelist’s opening lines. Do they suggest the dramatic question at the heart of the story?  If you live near major bookstores or art series, get out and attend book signings and ask authors questions you’ve been longing to get clarified.  You can attend conferences and listen to the keynote speakers and attend workshops and lectures.

Published writers are generous.

These days you can also join readers via national and international book groups or book clubs. Oprah Winfrey started this trend and her book club continues today. Turns out a number of celebrities now have their own book clubs including Reese Witherspoon and Jenna Bush Hagar. Here’s a list of current celebrity book titles. Naturally there are scores of online book groups and reviews. The advantage to writers joining these groups or reading reviews is that you can learn how readers respond to characters and dramatic events.

I just read Winfrey’s latest title Long Island by Colm Toibin before she chose it because it was on my most-anticpated book list of 2024. I cannot stop thinking about the characters and Toibin’s choices and am waiting to talk about it with others.  {Write me if you have.} In this sequel we rejoin Eilis Lacey the protagonist of Brooklyn, published in 2009.

Eilis is now married to Tony Fiorelli and the mother of two living on Long Island surrounded by the bosterous and closeknit Fiorelli family. Long Island has one of the best inciting incidents I’ve ever read, embedded with moral delimmas and igniting fierce conflicts and heartaches. It will encourage you to risk planting a bombshell on the first page. And Eilis is a truly enigmatic protagonist so as you read along you’re trying to decipher her every thought or clue. You might want to read it to dissect the subtext.

Might I also suggest the film verion of Brooklyn? It’s stunning and Saoirse Ronan is spectacular depicting Eilis. I watched it after I read Long Island and am now planning to reread the novel. If there was ever a novelist who deserves to be studied, it’s Toibin.

Which brings me to Emily Henry and her latest book, Funny Story that I finished reading also. It’s the May selection for the Barnes and Noble Book Club.  I’m relatively new to reading women’s fiction, but find it especially helpful for the times I need to leave town but I cannot escape.  Or when I’ve been working a lot and my client’s plots present tricky puzzles to solve. Henry is one of the strongest writers in this field. Her books are called romance-adjacent, but I don’t care how they’re categorized. Or that the book covers are weirdly girly and garish and neonish. Come to think of it, I actually do mind that this cover art trend continues as if we’re reliving the 1960s.

Mostly I read them because they’re fun and feature some of the best dialogue being written today.

When I read Henry’s books, besides sometimes laughing out loud, I’m pulled immediately into the worlds she’s created, the layers she’s developed.  The emotional truths that are explored. How backstories are meted out. I appreciate when I can simply read for fun and dial down my editor’s brain for awhile because I trust her and her editors.

Funny Story also starts off with a bang, although the inciting incident has already happened and the two main characters are adrift and dazed in painful aftermath. Here are the opening lines: Some people are natural storytellers. They know how to set the scene, find the right angle, when to pause for dramatic effect or breeze past inconveinient details.

I wouldn’t have become a librarian if I didn’t love stories, but I’ve never been great a telling my own. 

So there’s a tease going on here, but it’s actually opening doors and readers soon learn the circumstances and how Daphne and Miles have just become roomates and couldn’t be more unalike.

After I finished the story, appreciated the epilogue, and  read her acknowledgments–don’t you?–I flipped to the back inside cover with her photo and bio. And realized I’d never studied her photo before. She looks like she came straight from the pages of her books–attractive and hip and fun.  Her bio is growing because she’s written bestsellers, as in over 4 million copies sold since she switched to writing women’s fiction in 2020, and three of her five books  are being turned into movies. Obvioulsy impressive.

Penguin Pubishing is calling Funny Story “a shimmering, joyful new novel about opposites with the wrong thing in common.” All true.  In Henry’s stories the romance is the vehicle–as it should be–to force the main characters –excuse me for being a bit crude–to face their own crap. Which in turn creates a character arc.

I believe facing our own shortcomings and demons is how our dreams become real. So, best to read about fictional people floundering and eventually righting themselves. Fiction doesn’t need to provide life’s roadmaps, but there’s nothing like allowing our worries to fade. At least until the last page and the needed catharsis arrives.

Which is where the shimmering and joyful comes in. I’m all for chuckling and enjoying banter while characters flounder and cope with heartbreak. And Henry’s books make me want to whip out zingers, one-liners, and generally up my wittiness.  Because things can get stale. Bccause when I’m writing a you-need-to-fix-this memo to a client or trying to hire a contractor or getting needled by an acupuncturist, or worrying about people I care about, shimmering ain’t happening. I know you know this.

Now let’s trek back to our tribal needs, shall we? Henry lives in a suburb in Ohio–she likes a practical lifestyle and is married to a nice man. According to her, nice men are devilshly difficult to depict in fiction. She’s so right about that one.

Here’s an article in Writer’s Digest about her writing process with some helpful advice in her last comments. You might want to check out this article too, about a typical writing day.

Writers like Henry have  valuable lessons for writers. As I’ve mentioned the story feels real. Not an easy accomplishment. Characters are intricately developed. The chemistry between her characters always, always works. The crucible is rock solid. The pacing is propulsive. She uses painful and realistic backstories that interfere with the protagonist’s  and antagonist’s ability to cope with the main conflict.  She includes a fun group of cohorts and lessons in belonging. And the pain of feeling like an outsider. You’ll meet men you wish you’d met in your twenties. And secrets unraveling as the story goes along.

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart