Hello there,

You know how people do super impressive things, that involve heaps of physical stamina? Well, in the absence of me doing anything remotely like that, I’m coining a new term: TRI-AQUATHON.

I did a tri-aquathon. Over the course of 3 days I swam in a swimming pool, plunged in the sea, and bobbed in a river, then said to my husband…there should be a name for this! (Tri-aquathon was his response, and now it’s a thing. I recommend it.)

I also sailed…

Comedy Craft / Story Fiending

I’ve shared different comedy focused books, and interviewed their authors on my Comedy Masterclass podcast. But this month a reader asked if I had any advice for writing books that would get him out of a writing slump: the kind of slump that sounds like…I don’t know if I can/should be a writer?

I am always going to be on the side of encouraging people to write, including myself. Or to do any other creative pursuit that connects us to ourselves, and makes us feel more alive.

How this connects to commercial outcomes is a whole other discussion.

But at its simplest, a writer is someone who writes.

And if you need encouragement to write, I recommend these two books.

If you want a taste, how about these 2 lovely quotes:

‘What do you think of the world? You, the prism, measure the light of the world; it burns through your mind to throw a different spectroscopic reading onto white paper than anyone else anywhere can throw.’ - Ray Bradbury

‘No writing is a waste of time – no creative work where the feelings, the imagination, the intelligence must work. With every sentence you write, you have learned something. It has done you good.’ - Brenda Ueland

The Flip

While both the Bradbury and the Ueland remind us of the joys and pleasures of writing, for sure there can be butt numbing, brain crunching hours involved too.

Dave Eggers has a fun way of expressing this (taken from this Washington Post article):

‘This kind of life is at odds with the romantic notions I once had, and most people have, of the writing life. We imagine more movement, somehow. We imagine it on horseback. Camelback? We imagine convertibles, windswept cliffs, lighthouses. We don't imagine - or I didn't imagine - quite so much sitting. I know it makes me sound pretty naive, that I would expect to be writing while, say, skiing. But still. The utterly sedentary nature of this task gets to me every day. It's getting to me right now.’

All the more reason to go out and enjoy a Quest of your choosing. (I did climb a lighthouse. I did not ride a camel.)

Stash: things I love

This was a rewatch. It came out in 2019, and I remembered it being warm and funny. Yep. Recommend it.

Also loving Morandi gel pens. I’m excellent at getting ink all over my fingers, then transferring it to my face. So far so good with these. Very fine nibs, but somehow they’re making me write a little neater?

Connecting the dots

Did you watch The Peanut Butter Falcon trailer?

It definitely has moments that make me want to see the whole scene, the whole film. It sparks curiosity, while also conveying something tangible: the overall tone of the film, and what to expect.

This links to one of my favourite writing tools: TRAILER MOMENTS. I think I absorbed the term from Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat, a long time ago, though how I use it has likely morphed.

What I do with this concept is make a fun list of ‘trailer moments’ for my novels. This list becomes a shorthand that encapsulate the whole: images, short visual snippets, moments of dialogue. Trailer moments that promise what’s to come, and would hopefully make someone want more.

I don’t just make the list in planning, I refer back to it when I lose the plot or lose enthusiasm for my work. Simple, quick, but effective. That and tea. Alllllll the tea….

I’m off to make a cup right now: two-parts assam, one-part earl grey, for a mild but shmizzly day.

Happy writing to you.

Until next time,

PS: Thanks for reading my Seriously Ridiculous letter. All feedback is welcome. You can hit reply and it will wing its way to me.

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