Welcome to the New Year

Happy New Year! Bonne année! Here's what's going on with my book lately.

Happy New Year!

Here in Lausanne, there’s a tradition to greet people with Happy New Year, or Bonne année! when you see them for the first time after the new year. Even the marquee on the public buses wish us bonne année!

My book has a mind of its own. I alluded to that when I shared Minnie’s passing, and it’s still true. I havne’t quite dug into it yet because most of my energy is going into:

1. Being apprehensive about diving back in, and

2. Not wanting to rip apart the first half of the third draft¹ of the manuscript that I’ve been working on for the past year.

What I would like to do is keep going. Keep what I’ve written as it is and figure out what my book wants to become as I write it.

But you know what’s hard? Doing that.

You know what’s easy? Revising chapter outlines and sketching a whole new book. Because it’s just shifting words around in cells and tables, like a collage. A collage of my life.

While I’m avoiding cracking the whip on myself and forcing creativity, I am working with the material differently.

Last week, I submitted a chapter to a nonfiction writing contest. I have no idea what my chances are, but I did it! And that’s what matters the most.

The deadline gave me a reason to look at Chapter 1 through the new “what’s my book about” lens.

See, I wrote this version of Chapter 1 in July 2022. Then did a full edit in June 2023 while trying not to get seasick on a ferry from Athens to Paros, so I could get feedback during the Write Flow retreat.² Then, I edited it again in September 2023 when I submitted it as a sample writing for a writing residency (which I did not get) and another edit this past week (technically December 2023).

I’ve lost track of how many edits it’s gone through, but that’s not the point. The point is that each time I play with Chapter 1, it gets better.

And that feels really good.

(It’s important to note, dear reader who might not be a writer, that no first-time author thinks that they are writing will get better in subsequent rewrites; we all believe that it’s going to be perfect the first time we spit it out.)³

After being too hard on myself and not feeling worthy of writing a memoir about my divorce and all the really hard, critical talk that goes with it, it’s nice to work with what I wrote and see how I’m making it better.

Instead of feeling like I’ve been “working on this” project for three years now, I feel like I’ve been learning how to write this project for the past three years.

It feels so good to have this mindset shift.

Friends, it feels good. Really good. Even if I feel like I’m not making linear progress, I am.

How to enjoy the process of writing

Speaking of letting my book breathe,

Amy Shearn

wrote an essay about this exact topic (well, a version of it), from Writing is About Making Choices:

Let’s say you do commit to the book. What’s the worst possible outcome? Maybe you spend many years and expend much blood, sweat, and tears writing it. You will miss some television shows everyone else sees. You might lose some morning hours to sleeping, or some weekend hours to leisure activities. Let’s say that book never gets published. Let’s say you never even finish it. What then? Was that time wasted? 

It seems to me that the worst thing that might happen is that you end up spending a lot of time and focus trying to do something well. Working hard at something that interests you, that you care about, that perhaps gives you moments of pleasure. And that’s really not so terrible. In fact, it’s still kind of good. Writing has rewards beyond the finished product.

What’s more – you’ll definitely never write the book if you don’t write the book.

I’m taking that to mean that my book will become the book it’s supposed to mean because I am writing it. Whether it takes me 4 more weeks or 4 more months to get there.

Role of italics in story

I’m rethinking my use of italics after reading what author

Rebecca Makkai

had. to say about it, simply:

Don’t do it. Put the italics down and step away.

Italics slow the reader down. There’s a reason books and signs are not printed in italics, despite how pretty they are. They also tend to signal something that can be skipped. A long poem about elf history, for instance, or some boring background info.

She makes a compelling case. (You can read it here under the question: Can I write like this?) And it’s haunting me. I’m curious, do you have an opinion on whether to italicize or not to italicize?

Okay, okay, so now is the update you’ve been waiting for. Because this is a newsletter about my road to being an author 😇

1. Editing the chapter about when Minnie broke my ex-husband’s hand - dropping on Sunday to paying subscribers. (Read it with your morning coffee!)

2. Finalizing an application for a writing residency in the spring🤞🤞 (Again, why not?)

3. Lots of creative energy is going into my business of a similar name, Dispatched Divorcée. Last year was soft launch. This year is about testing and revealing what I’ve been working on. I love thinking of it that way. I’m hoping that’ll keep my perfectionist satisfied so I can stop getting in my own way…let’s see how it goes. 😏

That’s all for now, my friends.

Until next time,

💛 Thank you for reading!!

🤔💭 Did something in here get you thinking too or do you want to tell me what’s been making you feel good these days (or want support about what’s not making you feel good?), you can reach out to me however you prefer:

• Email me at laurahowe@substack.com

• Follow and DM me on Instagram

• Leave a comment below

1. The first half of my book is 36 chapters, 88,000 words or 309 double-spaced, A4 printer pages. Yes, it’s loooooonnnnggg. Too long. (First memoirs should clock closer to 115,000 words).

My book is not done yet, so relax…you all know that I love telling long, roundabout stories. See with every edit, my manuscript gets tighter, parts go into a folder called “outtakes” that’ll either collect virtual dust, be reworked and published here, or be pitched to another publication.

And if I don’t write it as an epic masterpiece, how else am I going to cut <25% of it when I sign an agent and another 25% when a publishing house buys it? Hmmm? 🙃

2. I owe you a full report on.

3. To which I say hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhhahahaha to.