The Job vs. the Side Hustle
Why a day gig is not a bad thing. Also, enter the GIVEAWAY to win a copy of Principles of (E)motion!
Principles of (E)motion is out in the world! Thank you to everyone who has read it, reviewed it, posted about it, shared their thoughts with me, shared it with a friend, requested it from the library. It’s the absolute best part of the writing life, to me, to know that my work is reaching readers.
It’s been a lot of ups and downs this past month. The thrill of a book release is always followed by a kind of crash. And last week I went back to work as a nurse after a temporary “sabbatical,” and that’s a whole new set of demands on my energy. So I’m too whomped to write much right at this moment. (Though I am loving my weird little baby work-in-progress—kind of a dreamy, literary-ish thing inspired by Hiyao Miyazaki and the southern Finnish archipelago.)
But I actually think, after getting re-acclimated, being back at a job-job is going to be good for my writing.
Working in small blocks of time keeps me from overthinking. I have written some very decent stuff in thirty minutes of downtime. Stuff I thought was probably awful at first, but when I read it later, I realized it had unstudied and fluid qualities that were missing from work I did when I had more time on my hands.
Interruptions keep the random access function of my brain active and the patterns of living language fresh in my head.
Working between and through interruptions, obligations and demands, in small chunks of time and in spite of preoccupation is hard at first, but I did it for many years before my sabbatical from nurse work, and over time it has made me stronger.
Now, for the most part, my creative life is a hardy thing. It is no “wee cowering timorous beastie” that must be gently coaxed out of hiding and will flee back under the bed at the slightest bump. My creative life will wake, shake its shaggy mane and get to work when I bid it. It will pause and wait when necessary, stamping its hooves. My creative life is not a rare, precious and endangered thing. It is a draft horse. Ready and able when I call on it. When I need it.
I know a lot of people squeeze the work of their heart into the time available around all the other obligations. I guess I’m just saying, that way of working has some adaptive qualities.
And I’m going back with a fundamental change in paradigm. When I started my sabbatical last year, nursing was my job and writing was my side hustle. Now writing is my job and nursing is my side hustle. Nothing about the day-to-day may be different, but everything about the inner world is.
One thing I know, I definitely want to do this book release thing again. It’s the most fun thing ever.
Upcoming Events
SUNDAY, February 18, 4:00PM at Main Point Books in Wayne, Pennsylvania. If you are somewhere west of Philadelphia, I hope you’ll come out and join me!
Thursday March 7, 6:00PM at Parentheses Books in Harrisonburg, Virginia. If you’re in the Shenandoah Valley, I’d love to see you at this lovely new bookstore to chat books and writing.
Audie Award Nomination
My amazing narrator, Marni Penning, is a finalist for Best Fiction Narrator of the year in the Audie Awards for her narration of Johanna Porter Is Not Sorry! The Audie Awards are like the Oscars of audiobooks. There will be a gala awards ceremony in Hollywood, and hell yes I am going! Marni deserves to win this award ten times over. She is so good. I was absolutely mesmerized by her narration of both my books. There’s just a little competition from Ethan Hawke and Meryl Streep. No big deal :)
***GIVEAWAY***
Reply to this newsletter and tell me something you’re looking forward to this spring. I will pick TWO respondents to win a signed and personalized copy of Principles of (E)motion. US shipping only, but if you live outside the US and are willing to pre-pay the shipping, I am happy to count your entry. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
What I’m Reading
I’ve started my friend A.H. Kim’s Relative Strangers which is such a fun and fresh adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. I’m still in the beginning and she has already peopled this book with vivid characters and a glorious Northern California coastal setting. I’ve been to the Mendocino coast, and I can feel the wind off the ocean in this book. It comes out in April, and I’m looking forward to being Ann’s conversation partner when she visits Bluebird & Co. in Crozet!
From the Craft Bookshelf
If you are a writer, you might enjoy my other Substack, Creative Work (Is Real Work). Approximately weekly opinion, commiseration, tools, tips, links of interest, and community.
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You are AMAZING. I can't wait to party with you in LA!!!!!