Inspiration and Other Things
Just typing "Inspiration" made me feel too woo-woo, sorry.
Imagine I’m snarling.
Dear Readers,
One thing about me is I am very uncomfortable in a number of scenarios, particularly ones that involve earnestness. Look, I love you, earnest folks, earnest friends, not earnest enemies but you probably saw that coming. But it is against every fiber of my Gen X being to meet your earnestness with my own; I am mentally applying dark lipstick from The Body Shop and listening to Whip-Smart.
Mainly I am comfortable with that (what a time to be alive that lug soles are back in and also I am an adult with a job that lets me buy all the lug soles I want unlike the first time in life I wanted shoes taller and heavier than I am) but I am prepping to write a new project and I’m feeling depleted. This is such a good time to seek inspiration, to consume art and to read craft books and to think about why I love the work I love. And I LOVE this, I love reading about a concept I never had words for before. I love thinking about storytelling from a new angle. I love considering revision in a manner I’d never thought about before.
Some of writing is the really fun bold magical work of sitting down and constructing a story from nothing except stuff in your head. And some of it is all the things that come before it so that there is, indeed, stuff in your head. It’s where I am now!
Soon (like, real soon, At Her Service comes out in just about one month!) I will be devoted to talking about my “new” book which actually felt new to me over a year ago, when I was in this exact situation with it, just me and a Word document I was putting all my inspiration and research into. For now though I am consuming entertainment and inspiration and research so I can see where it all leads me. At, like, an earnest-ish level. I’m doing fine!!
Speaking of At Her Service, I hope that if you’re in or near Los Angeles or St. Louis to see you at one of my events next month!
Below I’ve got advice from the very smart Erin La Rosa!
xoxoAmy
Get Your Ask On
Today we’ve got advice from Erin La Rosa, author of For Butter or Worse and Plot Twist.
I want to start writing a novel, but I'm so overwhelmed. How do I get going instead of waiting any longer?
ELR: I took a writing class once where the professor had us bring a big yellow legal pad, he'd set the timer for an hour, and then our instruction was to just write without stopping for a full hour. That was the most useful exercise I've ever done, because it shows you that while not EVERYTHING you write will be amazing, you CAN write. You just need to get the words on paper, and not being allowed to stop, even to correct something, forces you to see what you're capable of. Try it!
I finished my manuscript and it's time to start revising, but I have no idea how to get started.
ELR: I love and hate revising, because it's where my best writing happens, but also...isn't finishing a book ENOUGH? Dear reader, the thing that helps me, and might help you, is to set some daily goals. Rewrite 2 pages a day, and you'll have revised 14 in a week. Set something achievable and manageable with your schedule so you won't feel overwhelmed. It will eventually get done!
If you have any questions about writing, publishing, revising, genres, querying, being on submission, etc., reply to this email and ask! Your question may be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
At Her Service is coming in February!
(And it’s on NetGalley right now!)
If you preorder from Skylight Books, you will receive these EXCLUSIVE and ADORABLE stickers!
(I will also have stickers AT the Skylight event, as well as the Left Bank Book event!)
A sweetly sexy, thoroughly modern new novel about single life, social media, career goals, and making the bold move to grab your own happiness—and write your own love story.
Max Van Doren has a wish list, and a great career and a girlfriend are at the top. But despite being pretty good at her job as an assistant to one of Hollywood’s fastest rising talent agents, she has no idea how to move up the ladder. And when it comes to her love life, she’s stuck in perpetual lust for an adorably perfect bartender named Sadie. Her goals are clear—and Max has everything but the self-confidence to go for them. Even her mother seems to assume she’ll be crawling home to her childhood bedroom at some point . . .
When Max’s roommate, Chelsey—an irritatingly gorgeous and self-assured influencer in plus-size and queer spaces—offers to sponsor her for a new self-actualization app, Max gives in. If she can’t run her own life, maybe an algorithm guiding her choices will help? Suddenly Max is scoring big everywhere, and her dreams are achingly close to coming true. But when one of Chelsey’s posts reveals Sadie’s part in the app’s campaign, Max is poised for heartbreak on all fronts. Tired of the sponcon life with its fake friends and endless selfies, Max realizes that to have true influence, she’ll have to find the courage to make her own, totally authentic way in the world.
“Spalding brings her twentysomething protagonists to life in this romance that delivers on both the heroine’s self-actualization journey and her happily-ever-after. A must buy” —Library Journal
I hope you are having a nice day!