ways to start
do it now & don't try to make it good
Hi, all. I am limping my way to the end of my fourth (!) pandemic semester, but I’m happy to be back here with you all. How is your writing going?
I want to talk a little today about ways to start—perhaps especially how to get back to writing, or how to get back to a particular big project when you’ve been away for a little while. I suspect I’m not the only one out there for whom writing has had to take a back seat to other work, the kind with immediate and pressing deadlines. (I hear from my students if I haven’t graded their papers, but my book draft has not yet gained sentience to pester me. Though I did have a stress dream the other night about book marketing, so that’s something.)
If you’re in this same spot—trying to get back to your writing in the midst of a busy life—here are a few ways to start:
Don’t wait. Don’t wait until you have time, or until everything lines up and you have unbroken hours or days to work. Don’t wait until after this one busy week, or until you’ve finished one big other project. If you wait, you’ll still be waiting weeks or months or a year from now. There is no such thing as the right time. There is only the time we have right now.
Start small. I’ve been stuck on a big project because it’s so big and because I just want to be done with it. But it’s really hard to finish a whole essay or book proposal or poetry manuscript all in one sitting. If it feels hard to start, start with something smaller. Sometimes all you need to do is just pick one small thing.
If you’re feeling uninspired or disconnected from your writing life, mine your old notebooks and drafts. One of the gifts of being away from your writing for a bit is that when you return, it often feels new and strange again in a way that can be invigorating. Who wrote this odd phrase? I’ve often thought, looking back at an old notebook and staring at my own handwriting. Skim back through your digital or print drafts and pluck out a few pieces that interest you. I think this actually works best if you’re looking for phrases or a brief scene, rather than a whole draft. Find a small weird thing and see where your brain takes you.
Don’t make it good. Not at first, anyway. I’ve written before about how freeing Elizabeth Gilbert’s pronouncement, in her book Big Magic, that “Done is better than good” has been for me. Obsessing about whether you’ll be able to make something perfect is the best way to ensure you’ll never start.
notes and reading suggestions
I have two new books (!!) coming out in the spring, and I’m so excited to share them both with you. They’re both available for pre-order now.
Pocket Universe
You can read the official jacket copy at that link, but here’s my pitch: it’s about primates and space and violence and birth and how early motherhood makes the whole world more wondrous and more terrifying. I started writing it right after my first son was born and new motherhood tore open everything I’d believed about myself. You can read a sampling of poems from the book online: Your Best Post-Baby Body, Dark Matter, Golden Hour. If you like tenderness and radical candor about the joys and traumas of babies and early motherhood, I think you’ll love this book. Pre-ordering it—via LSU’s website, or at Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite local bookstore—would mean the world to me. (And I’m working on some really fun giveaways for pre-orders, so keep an eye out for that!)
The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood
This anthology, which I co-edited with poet Emily Pérez, includes poems, essays, and writing prompts about the joys and heartache of mothering. The book features a Foreword by Camille T. Dungy, an Afterword by Carmen Giménez Smith, and poems and essays by too many great poems to name, but I’ll give you a few here: Maggie Smith, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Victoria Chang, Erika Meitner, Khadijah Queen, and many more. The writing in the book depicts a really wide range of mothering experiences, including single parenting, adoptive and foster parenting, stepparenting, and more. So many motherhood anthologies are very white and very sweet, and I’m really proud of the rich and truly diverse perspectives we’ve gathered in our book.
You can pre-order it now through UGA’s website for 45% off with code 08HLDY. (That sale is good through December 20!) We included prompts as a way to invite readers into writing. If you have a poetry-reader or writer in your life, I think it would make a really lovely gift along with a notebook and a pen and a promise to leave the recipient alone long enough to do some writing.
We’re working on some great readings and workshops for the spring, and I’ll share them with you right here! (And if you have a suggestion of a podcast/reading series/book club/newsletter that you think would be a good fit for either book, I’d love to hear from you.)
I’d love to hear from you. You can always reply to this email, comment below, or find me on twitter (@nancy_reddy) and instagram (@nancy.o.reddy).