I love your thoughts, Beth, about arriving at a book structure. After writing snippets and notebooks, "sometimes years," there does come a day "when all the pieces suddenly fit together and the overall picture becomes clear."
Being at the bulging notebooks stage of my next book, I take special comfort from the "sometimes years" part! This does not happen quickly. I'm doing pretty well at being patient—some days better than others. And I take note of each of the realizations that seems like "this is it!" only to find in a few days or weeks that it doesn't carry the weight after all, as the real spine of a book needs to.
For me a crucial piece of working my way toward the structure of my next book is reflecting in a deep way, over and over, on who I am. Questions like, What is my deepest contribution? How does my writing touch/overlap with my writing buddies, but ultimately depart from each of them? It's the difference part that seems to be leading me forward this time. The clearer I can get on what is uniquely mine to offer, the more the outlines of the book start to materialize out of the fog.
Do you (or anyone else) find that understanding your unique voice or message is part of coming to your book structure?
Thank you Beth and Amanda. The section about shaping a book is timely as I move into the second draft of my WIP. It felt like you were talking directly to me. I loved the vivid description of having your eyeballs rinsed, yes that’s it exactly!
Each answer was a beautiful crafted story in its own right. Your desciption of the process of writing a book sounds like my experience of just writing a Substack post! Thank you Beth and Amanda.
What an amazing story in itself, Beth. All I can say is thank goodness you didn’t become an accountant. I escaped a soulless existence of ‘delivering shareholder value’ just over 10 years ago. Now to find the courage to truly call myself a writer!
I LOVE this SOOOO much! These two quotes truly resonate with me:
1- "There are many reasons to love this work, but one of my favourites is that it shows my daughters we can take what is in our heads and hearts and then turn it into physical books in our hands, food on our table, and an interesting life."
2- "Sometimes I just linger in the space left behind by the poem, watch the sun rise, and exhale ink onto the page."
I really needed this today as look at a mass of notes and am humbled by how I will organize them to make meaning.
Always a delight to read Your insights Beth! Every time your words inspire me to put down words/ideas/stories of my own. I hope you will host a writing retreat someday! Or we can just have a pajama party and read in silence all night long :)
I am seeing an exquisite raindrop hanging suspended from a branch, in the sunlight, heavy, about to burst. And when it does, the words will spill and land, scattering wide and far, reaching many hearts.
What an incredible piece - you are a huge inspiration! The doubt will try and creep in but I will continue writing, no matter what, following the trail of magic to see where it will lead me.
I know what you mean about the book feeling like it was always there, almost as if it is waiting to be written. I’m currently writing my debut novel and I really have an intuition that each word already knows its place, I just have to keep on going and allow things to fall into place!
I also love the idea of lighting a candle and reading a poem before writing, so thank you for all your words of wisdom.
"Sometimes I just linger in the space left behind by the poem, watch the sun rise, and exhale ink onto the page." ❤️ This is a wonderful inspiration for me as a poet myself to create my poems for my readers! Thank you, dear Beth!
Thank you, Beth and Amanda. What a lovely way to start my day. Beth your stories were so vibrant and your journey is lighting something up inside me. I’ll be 38 this year and have just started tapping into my inner kid who loves writing so much. Ive always loved reading and writing, but I’ve never cultivated my creative skills or my interests in the way I have over the last 6 months or so - it’s exciting & your stories here feel so resonant.
I love how you followed your interest of all things Japanese, even when it wasn’t (isn’t) a common path! My kids and I are obsessed with Miyazaki’s movies and Japan is definitely on my bucket list - such a beautiful place! Looking forward to getting one of your books from my local library. 🩷🩷
This was absolutely lovely! My heart was in my throat as you explained giving up your "safe" job and choosing to study Japanese - even though I know everything worked out, I am such a creature of habit that I was nervous for you!!
Thank you, Amanda and Beth! Such a rich and moving interview.
Beth, I love the way you pay homage to your mother and her influence on you. Every mention of her at different moments of your life feels so important; she sounds like a remarkable woman.
Beth, you are a great storyteller, which is a role I have aspired to all my life. Long before I aspired to be a writer.
Thank you for all of these stories. They were the visceral, human touch I needed this morning.
I love your thoughts, Beth, about arriving at a book structure. After writing snippets and notebooks, "sometimes years," there does come a day "when all the pieces suddenly fit together and the overall picture becomes clear."
Being at the bulging notebooks stage of my next book, I take special comfort from the "sometimes years" part! This does not happen quickly. I'm doing pretty well at being patient—some days better than others. And I take note of each of the realizations that seems like "this is it!" only to find in a few days or weeks that it doesn't carry the weight after all, as the real spine of a book needs to.
For me a crucial piece of working my way toward the structure of my next book is reflecting in a deep way, over and over, on who I am. Questions like, What is my deepest contribution? How does my writing touch/overlap with my writing buddies, but ultimately depart from each of them? It's the difference part that seems to be leading me forward this time. The clearer I can get on what is uniquely mine to offer, the more the outlines of the book start to materialize out of the fog.
Do you (or anyone else) find that understanding your unique voice or message is part of coming to your book structure?
Thank you Beth and Amanda. The section about shaping a book is timely as I move into the second draft of my WIP. It felt like you were talking directly to me. I loved the vivid description of having your eyeballs rinsed, yes that’s it exactly!
Each answer was a beautiful crafted story in its own right. Your desciption of the process of writing a book sounds like my experience of just writing a Substack post! Thank you Beth and Amanda.
What an amazing story in itself, Beth. All I can say is thank goodness you didn’t become an accountant. I escaped a soulless existence of ‘delivering shareholder value’ just over 10 years ago. Now to find the courage to truly call myself a writer!
I LOVE this SOOOO much! These two quotes truly resonate with me:
1- "There are many reasons to love this work, but one of my favourites is that it shows my daughters we can take what is in our heads and hearts and then turn it into physical books in our hands, food on our table, and an interesting life."
2- "Sometimes I just linger in the space left behind by the poem, watch the sun rise, and exhale ink onto the page."
I really needed this today as look at a mass of notes and am humbled by how I will organize them to make meaning.
Thank you!
Always a delight to read Your insights Beth! Every time your words inspire me to put down words/ideas/stories of my own. I hope you will host a writing retreat someday! Or we can just have a pajama party and read in silence all night long :)
I am seeing an exquisite raindrop hanging suspended from a branch, in the sunlight, heavy, about to burst. And when it does, the words will spill and land, scattering wide and far, reaching many hearts.
What an incredible piece - you are a huge inspiration! The doubt will try and creep in but I will continue writing, no matter what, following the trail of magic to see where it will lead me.
I know what you mean about the book feeling like it was always there, almost as if it is waiting to be written. I’m currently writing my debut novel and I really have an intuition that each word already knows its place, I just have to keep on going and allow things to fall into place!
I also love the idea of lighting a candle and reading a poem before writing, so thank you for all your words of wisdom.
"Sometimes I just linger in the space left behind by the poem, watch the sun rise, and exhale ink onto the page." ❤️ This is a wonderful inspiration for me as a poet myself to create my poems for my readers! Thank you, dear Beth!
Thank you, Beth and Amanda. What a lovely way to start my day. Beth your stories were so vibrant and your journey is lighting something up inside me. I’ll be 38 this year and have just started tapping into my inner kid who loves writing so much. Ive always loved reading and writing, but I’ve never cultivated my creative skills or my interests in the way I have over the last 6 months or so - it’s exciting & your stories here feel so resonant.
I love how you followed your interest of all things Japanese, even when it wasn’t (isn’t) a common path! My kids and I are obsessed with Miyazaki’s movies and Japan is definitely on my bucket list - such a beautiful place! Looking forward to getting one of your books from my local library. 🩷🩷
This was absolutely lovely! My heart was in my throat as you explained giving up your "safe" job and choosing to study Japanese - even though I know everything worked out, I am such a creature of habit that I was nervous for you!!
Thank you, Amanda and Beth! Such a rich and moving interview.
Beth, I love the way you pay homage to your mother and her influence on you. Every mention of her at different moments of your life feels so important; she sounds like a remarkable woman.