Coming in November: World Tour Stories
It's a new writing project where you tell me what you want me to write about.
Sometime in December, shortly after Minnie died, I remember telling myself that 2024 might not be the year that I finish my memoir. Yet.
The yet is the most important part of that sentence.
It’s time to focus on launching Dispatched Divorcée. Put all my creative energy into that. With permission to come back to look at my goals in June. Maybe in June I’ll have more space to get back to my book. But not yet.
It was the right decision at the time. I put all my energy into launching my business.
During this time, I also figured out how to apply for and get permanent residency in Switzerland as a US citizen with no job with a company, who is independently employed and about to launch her business (aka, has no income).1
So, juggling finishing a memoir about my divorce, building a business about divorce, and deciding to make a home in the place where I ran off to after my divorce — is too much. <smiley winky face>
All this said, I miss writing. I miss working on the book. I feel like I know so much more about the world and what I want to tell in the book now than a year or two ago when I started this project.
Seriously, I’m coming up on year four and I’ve been working on this book project. One of the biggest things that all the books about writing books talk about is how long it takes to write a book. Especially memoirs. About traumatic events.
But not me. I’m going to be one of those quick ones. Who sets out to write her book and finishes in two years or something. Gets it out there.
The punchline here is that I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to finish my book—it’s going to be finished when it’s ready to get finished.
I used to admire fiction writers; their jobs are so easy. They just get to imagine everything that happens in their book. Their book automatically can follow a narrative arc.
Meanwhile, I’m over here trying to morph my life into an arch and finish with some optimistic, inspiring conclusion.
It’s there. I’m sure it’s there. But it’s also kinda weird to choose some part of my life to be the climax of the story, when I don’t feel like I’ve gotten there yet.
See?
See what kind of magic I have to do?
With words. About my own life.
And the longer I live (hahahaa), meaning in the last outline of my book, it was set to end in October 2020 in the real-life timeline. I didn’t (and don’t) want my book to cross over to my current relationship and have that be the end of my story. I don’t want people to read my book and think that love is what comes at the end of the story. (No. That’s what got me into the divorce in the first place.)
So the more I live, the more I learn, the more I intentionally design the life that I want to live, I feel like I’m creating more chapters in my story.
It’s a weird feeling.
I don’t quite know what I need to do to figure this out. And that’s ok. From an out-of-body perspective, I enjoy seeing my book as a living thing and that it has some agency or say in it’s development lifecycle.
So, in lieu of that process, I want to start writing again. To play with my voice. Maybe write chapters that will be in the next book or compendium or something. Who knows. I wanna write.
Remember the World Tour Stories?
I owe you stories from my world tour this year. More than what you’ve already read:
In the spring, I asked you to vote on which stories you wanted to hear first.
(If you’re new here or didn’t vote, voting is still open!)
It’s time I tell those stories.
This November, I’m committing to writing one new story from this list per week and publishing it here. This will be my National Novel Writing project for this year. But, like, instead of getting down word count, I’m going for semi-polished output. And, really, something to get me writing again but without the pressure of working on my manuscript.
So, if you haven’t taken the survey, please do so now :) I need help decide which stories to tell first :)
At the moment, here are the top four contenders for this series:
How to sneak into Delta’s SkyTeam Lounge at JFK
The conversation I had with a stranger who has been the first person to ask me to get in touch with my ex-husband (in 7+ years)
Being "that girl" who sat in the center of the crowded, reservation-only Chelsea Hotel Bar working on her book
What it's like to feel like I'm living chapters that need to be written in my book
I’m really excited to get back to writing :)
Want to be accountability buddies?
Speaking of — would you like to be accountability buddies if you’re doing a creative project in November as part of NaNoWriMo or something else?
Having a writing buddy was the only way I made it through NaNoBloMo in 2010 and 2011. I’m envisioning something lowkey, like a WhatsApp group. We text with updates and cheer each other on; check-in. Bring a little writing community into the project?
Are you interested in joining me?
If so, let me know by whichever way you usually get in touch with me2; I’ll organize from there.
Here’s hoping that I’m able to keep up with this. (hah!)
I always forget how much time and energy it takes to “figure out how to live” in a foreign country where you don’t know the language. Like learning French, it took me quitting my full-time job to have the space for learning and even then I did it kicking and screaming. (Read in a whiney voice: Learning as an adult is really hard! then stamp your feet.)
How to get in touch with me: leave a comment on this post; reply to this post as an email; send a DM on Instagram; text me (…only if you have my number!). I don’t respond to carrier pigeons though.