Color-coded folders
On Saturday I went for a walk in Prospect Park with my friend Clare, who just returned from Sewanee and wow, Sewanee sounds magical.
Clare and I talked about writing, the business of writing, living, the business of living, politics. At one point, I said to her that I worry I’ve been away from my glass house novel for too long, that I won’t be able to find my way back. As if admitting this fear out loud unlocked something, I had a revelation about the book later that afternoon, an idea that I think will take me back into it. I am happy, and more than a little relieved, to know it’s waiting for me still.
This week in writing
It was one of those weeks when the tedious admin side of writing is actually helpful. (Most weeks for me, honestly, but again, my moon is in Virgo.)
This week I moved all the essays I was working on in Ulysses back to Scrivener. I’ve been experimenting with Ulysses since the end of May and there were a lot of things I liked about it, but ultimately it’s not for me. My dealbreaker was that you can’t take it full screen without going into focus mode (thereby hiding your “Library” of “sheets”), or at least I couldn’t figure out how to do so. My writing process involves constant jumping in and out of texts and also a good bit of swiping between full-screen apps and my desktop. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you this until I suddenly couldn’t do it, but there you go.
The process of moving everything back to Scrivener allowed me to clean up and organize. I sorted my essays into color-coded folders:
On Submission (green)
In Revision (yellow)
Drafting (white)
Ideas (lightbulb icon)
I have one essay on submission and six in revision. (Two of the pieces in revision are excerpts from the book!)
I then spent a couple of days deciding which magazines are the best fit for the essays that are almost done. I will probably do a big submission push at the end of August or beginning of September. Until then I’m tinkering, taking space, rereading. I may send one or two pieces to friends to get a second opinion.
This week in reading
I finished Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments and Lucas Mann’s Attachments. (Attachment appearing in both titles is not a coincidence — they’re both about parent/child relationships.) Then I started Sloane Crosley’s Grief is for People and Jami Attenberg’s I Came All This Way to Meet You and Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles. So many good books!
Speaking of good books, there is now a Bookshop.org storefront for the Morning Writing Club featuring books of both members and guests and I told myself I’d just order one book from it but immediately ordered three. If you’re looking for your next read, you can’t go wrong with these lists.
Love to you all. ✨