#19: Three things that got me thinking
Days offline + writerly motivations (STILL!) + receiving gifts
1. Getting offline
I’ve been largely offline in the past few days (not by choice). I feel silly stating the obvious, but this has effortlessly freed time and energy to do stuff I needed:
😴 Day 1: Sleep. Nap, even!
💛 Day 2: One deep talk with my beloved
💌 Day 3: Writing this newsletter without getting sidetracked
Also, nothing bad happened.
2. Getting unstuck
In a guest post for Substack’s writer-to-writer advice column, Lance writer Anna Codrea-Rado offers a tip to re-focus when we’re unsure which direction to take next. She suggests asking ourselves: “Even if no one read me, what would I write about?”
I understand Codrea-Rado encourages us to follow our heartfelt interests and to write without second-guessing our audience—not literally like the World Wide Web is our personal diary.
“For me, the answer lies in getting back to why I write in the first place. I believe that the writing subjects we’re drawn to aren’t random. Richard Bach, the American writer said, ‘We teach best what we most need to learn.’ And I think the same is true for writing—I write best about the things I need to work out for myself.”
Yes: when I write about genuine, personal questions, the writing process feels richer and the end result more relatable, which I guess is one currency of success?
It’s a work in progress for me, finding that fine line between personal writing and journalistic distance, to air just enough of my thought process without boring you (and myself) and going all me me me.
(See! This is getting meta: I’m proving Codrea-Rado right by writing about what I need to work out as a writer.)
3. Getting gifts 🎁
How freaking lovely is it to receive a thoughtful gift? To discover a book that someone felt compelled to share with you? To see your kids playing with a toy that a friend or family member lovingly picked and/or handed down?
This newsletter is all about celebrating and expressing our own desires, but (possibly stating the obvious again) I’ve felt joy this Christmas letting other people surprise me and figure out what some of those desires might be.