On Deleting Everything & Starting Over!
Plus more events, a capsized boat full of book reviewers, and more...
I have a couple of new writing projects I’ve been working on in the new year—everyone who signed in to the virtual book launch at Penguin Bookshop heard about one of them . . . but there’s another super-secret project I’ve been wrestling with since last December.
It was fully researched and outlined and I’d rewritten the first couple of chapters about thirty times—and every time I went back into the Word doc, I liked it less and less. Which was a bummer, because I loved the concept . . . but the more I worked on it, the less “alive” it felt. It got to the point where I didn’t know what to do, and I wasn’t having any fun trying to make it work. And when you’re not having any fun writing a book, it’s probably not going to be any fun to read, either.
So a couple weeks ago, I deleted everything.
I trashed the Word files, my folders full of notes, my outline and my bulletin board—and I started with a blank page. I kept the same basic question that made me want to start writing this project in the first place, but instead of rewriting another version of what I’d already been struggling with for months, I decided to truly start fresh.
And to try to surprise myself.
I’ve never been one of those writers who deletes everything and rewrites from the beginning. I rewrite and revise as I go and have been accused of being a “fastidious drafter” 😂
But writing (especially with the intent to publish) is a process of letting go.
You learn to collaborate and share creative control with editors and agents and copy-editors and art directors. And once a book is out in the world, people read and react to your stories in ways you’d never expected! So I’ve been learning to let go of my projects over the past few years, and to let my books have lives of their own.
But this is the first time I’ve really and truly tried letting go while I’m drafting—scrapping everything more than three months into a new project—and it’s been such a surprisingly good experience that I wanted to share it here.
I don’t usually talk too much about books before they’re finished, but for anyone out there who’s struggling with a project, it turns out that the real struggle—for me, at least—was realizing (and accepting) that I was trying way too hard to save a good idea that wasn’t working instead of starting fresh with something new and exciting.
That’s a lot more fun to write :)
This is the part of the newsletter where I share a couple of new event listings (come say “hi!”) & then get back into it . . .
Rachel and I will be talking - in person! - at Zelienople Library on April 2nd!
This is a ticketed fundraiser for the library, so if you’re planning on attending: don’t forget to RSVP. Events with Rachel—my wife and literary agent, and the author of the forthcoming YA thriller Night Swimming—are always my favorite . . . so if you’re in the area, this is going to be a fun one!
I’ll also be at Riverstone Books in Pittsburgh on Saturday, May 7th at 3 pm!
This free event is both in-person and virtual, so if you’re not in Pittsburgh and you want to attend online: you can do that, too :)
Speaking of events, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who signed in to my virtual book launch with the excellent Caroline Carlson at Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley!
You can still purchase signed / personalized books from Penguin—if you’re ordering online, just mention that in the comments at check out and I’ll stop by and sign ‘em for ya. I stopped in to sign and personalize books the other day and it was so much fun that I’d love another reason to stop by and do it all over again :)
I was recently thinking about why I don’t like organizing events.
Someone had reached out to the Littsburgh email address — Littsburgh is the literary community site I co-founded with Rachel in 2015 — and was asking about some co-sponsored events, and my reaction to organizing events is always stress- and fear-based.
Which is funny, because when I worked in-house in publishing, I actually helped organize and promote kind of a lot of events — from Lorca in New York, “the largest-ever festival in North America celebrating the work of acclaimed Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca” to the very cool FSG Originals Series, which paired musicians like John Darnielle / The Mountain Goats with authors.
So I was thinking about why I dig my heels in the sand whenever I end up in a position to actually organize something these days . . . when I remembered an event that I’d completely forgotten about.
At first I wasn’t even sure it was real.
A bunch of book reviewers and booksellers in a capsized boat in the Hudson River during an off-site author event at Book Expo America—it sounds so much like a light literary farce that I thought I had to have made it up, or that I’d read it in some forgotten novel.
I wasn’t personally involved in organizing or promoting this particular event—thankfully!—but when I posted about it on Twitter, a bunch of old co-workers remembered it extremely well and sent me this write-up about it in the New York Times:
I’m sharing this here because I can’t believe I forgot about it; because the highlighted “historical immersion” line is amazing; and because—when it comes to book publicity—I think sinking a boat full of booksellers and reviewers in the Hudson is probably the best possible answer to “what’s the worst that can happen?”
Teachers and librarian friends, I’m currently scheduling zooms and school visits!
You can find free teacher resources / activity sheets / novel studies / coloring books and more on my website — and if you want to set something up, you can always just respond to this email :)
If you’re curious to see where I’m Zooming from, this stack of books is my most recent set-up :)
Thank you again to everyone who’s reading and recommending and library borrowing and leaving reviews for Snow Struck!
Every little thing you can do to help spread the word in these first few months of publication can be exponentially helpful in terms of getting the book out there—so I really, truly, and forever appreciate it!
Until next time,
Your friend,
