I'm realizing that I've been in a summer season of lighter, travel focused posts, which actually has felt very liberating. I left Washington in summer. I'm back in fall. It rained a little on the ferry, with a beautiful sunset.
I'm wrapping up the travel posts this week, and then it's back to work, whatever that looks like!
On vacation, I didn't have any hot topics to write about, but I did have my journal, so I just made posts out of those entries. I typically come up with a topic first, research it, and edit it as I write it. This time I started with a bunch of notes that didn't know they were going to be a post, so the writing and editing were separate steps. So, I guess there's a craft lesson there!
I'm changing the relationship with the work I've been doing, positioning myself to have a more independent voice. The writing is going to be a huge part of that. I'm not sure what that's going to look like just yet.
And I haven't forgotten Spectrum Spotlight. It's just not ready to be born yet!
I think you’re touching on a part of the post that I just couldn’t squeeze in (maybe a separate post?) and that is figuring out when you’re in the right season, when you’re shifting OR even pushing yourself into the wrong season. I always pushed into branding and marketing (tending season) and thought i was just perpetually misperceived by people. But ultimately what i most needed was a really messy, wide open season of musing to get in touch with some voices inside me that had been silenced for too long.
Excited to see where musing might take you. It can be a wild season. 🙃
I thank you for bringing the idea of seasons to our attention, not as a prescription, but as a recognition that we will look at our writing from different angles at different times, and that that is a good thing!
I like the idea of seasons and never thought of writing in this way. For me, my writing definitely ebbs and flows with other things in my life. Right now, I’m in desperate need of having to prioritize and be more intentional with what’s important - like finishing my book! Thx for your insight here! 🙂
Thanks Amanda! You have a talent for seeing the whole process and helping people from getting bogged down. I also struggle with the Season of Musing – but you're right, I've found that letting things break is part of putting new insights together.
As a fun tangent, I couldn't help but see seasons in terms of surfing. After you wipe out, there's a period where you don't know which way is up or down (Musing), and you have to surrender to being tossed around for a bit, maybe reflect a little on what got you there. Then you clamber onto your board and dutifully paddle through the waves (Tending) to get in position to wait (Rest) and apply your skills (Craft).
The actual Craft part is just a moment in time, and you're so right – you need to just surrender to where you are at any given moment as part of the process, keep moving forward.
What a beautiful framework and perspective to have for writing, Amanda. It's comforting to identify the phases of writing with seasons, knowing that we move through them throughout our lives.
Thank you for an amazing article. It is truly brilliant. I resonate with every season and it seems it wouldn't only apply to writing but many other areas of life as well. It was helpful how you explained how and why we enter the Season of Musing, the ground beneath you is shifting! Oh yes, that has happened many times.
It was interesting to note that every writer you've worked with has always journaled. It makes sense of course. I recently got rid of a lifetime of journals! This act was not done without a great deal of thought and the actual act included some ritual because it felt like getting rid of a child! Now I am navigating a new way of being without them. It is my intention, of course, to get back to journaling but to do so in a different way. I have written about my why and how in an article (for now my Substack is my journal!).
Lastly, I appreciate the reminder to elevate my craft. Must do.
Thank you Amanda, I am bookmarking this article to return to many times.
Absolutely loving this, and so grateful for the time, thought and generosity you've put into sharing it - thank you! "I am here to tell you: whichever season you’re in is the season you’re supposed to be in" is something I definitely needed. Think I'm somewhere in the transition between musing and tending, but musing especially is something I find challenging (all those internalised capitalist messages that I'm not producing enough!) so this framework has really encouraged me to do some honest reflection about whether I might be trying to rush through the process because of my conflicted relationship with the necessity of musing - even though it's a part I truly love when I can give myself permission to embrace it!
I love this. There's so much here, so many excellent thoughts, shared so very well, thank you.
And a big yes to the journal thing, to be able to draw on notes and scribbles, sometimes many, many years down the line, is a crucial tool. To be able to process those notes and scribbles by the act of writing and reading, an even better one.
In my mind, this seasonal framework dovetails with the concept of Microseasons-- the nuanced changes happening in nature all around us, every day. I believe that our work, our emotions, our lives-- Human Experience-- is seasonal. We are always in motion. Especially so for artists of every sort!
I love the kindness and the clarity in this work-- Thank you, Amanda.
Hi Amanda! Just became a paid subscriber, and so glad to be able to avail myself of more of your magic. I believe I am in a Season of Tending, tending to a new novel, my fourth, just taking shape. Once I'm done working in the clay of creating this new world, the Season of Craft will be upon me, but right now, I need to tend to connecting with this burgeoning set of characters and their individual worlds. Perhaps it is both Craft and Tending and a fair amount of Musing? What I know is that I am not in these early stages of creating something going to be focusing on a sentence level on my writing. That could extinguish the magic of creating, for me. And yet I look forward to the sentence-level craft. I also want to become ever better at the craft of writing my Substack essays, as my newsletter is my first foray into publishing essays. Trying to hold both types of writing in my brain and creativity at once is a balancing act.
This is brilliant, Amanda. It suits me perfectly. I just came from a year-long dark night of the soul with my writing, then it morphed into what I see now as a Season of Musing. As I moved out of that, I began Tending, but reading this I realize I gave that season short shrift. I have just begun crafting, but now I will go back to tending—my ADHD self said “this is taking too long,” but I see how necessary it was to have taken much more time with it. I look so forward to this series. Thank you!
Thank you Amanda. I’m reminded of Brené Brown: ‘If you walk through the world looking for evidence that you don’t belong, you will find it’.
All the more so if any (or all) of our neuro flavour, skin colour, gender or ‘health’ are not the official ‘norm’.
This is fantastic and so compelling for my own writing journey. I love this.
I'm realizing that I've been in a summer season of lighter, travel focused posts, which actually has felt very liberating. I left Washington in summer. I'm back in fall. It rained a little on the ferry, with a beautiful sunset.
I'm wrapping up the travel posts this week, and then it's back to work, whatever that looks like!
Which season do you think you’re in right now? Sounds a bit like Craft?
It might be, but only accidentally!
On vacation, I didn't have any hot topics to write about, but I did have my journal, so I just made posts out of those entries. I typically come up with a topic first, research it, and edit it as I write it. This time I started with a bunch of notes that didn't know they were going to be a post, so the writing and editing were separate steps. So, I guess there's a craft lesson there!
I'm probably moving into a muse season.
I'm changing the relationship with the work I've been doing, positioning myself to have a more independent voice. The writing is going to be a huge part of that. I'm not sure what that's going to look like just yet.
And I haven't forgotten Spectrum Spotlight. It's just not ready to be born yet!
I think you’re touching on a part of the post that I just couldn’t squeeze in (maybe a separate post?) and that is figuring out when you’re in the right season, when you’re shifting OR even pushing yourself into the wrong season. I always pushed into branding and marketing (tending season) and thought i was just perpetually misperceived by people. But ultimately what i most needed was a really messy, wide open season of musing to get in touch with some voices inside me that had been silenced for too long.
Excited to see where musing might take you. It can be a wild season. 🙃
I thank you for bringing the idea of seasons to our attention, not as a prescription, but as a recognition that we will look at our writing from different angles at different times, and that that is a good thing!
I like the idea of seasons and never thought of writing in this way. For me, my writing definitely ebbs and flows with other things in my life. Right now, I’m in desperate need of having to prioritize and be more intentional with what’s important - like finishing my book! Thx for your insight here! 🙂
Thanks Amanda! You have a talent for seeing the whole process and helping people from getting bogged down. I also struggle with the Season of Musing – but you're right, I've found that letting things break is part of putting new insights together.
As a fun tangent, I couldn't help but see seasons in terms of surfing. After you wipe out, there's a period where you don't know which way is up or down (Musing), and you have to surrender to being tossed around for a bit, maybe reflect a little on what got you there. Then you clamber onto your board and dutifully paddle through the waves (Tending) to get in position to wait (Rest) and apply your skills (Craft).
The actual Craft part is just a moment in time, and you're so right – you need to just surrender to where you are at any given moment as part of the process, keep moving forward.
What a beautiful framework and perspective to have for writing, Amanda. It's comforting to identify the phases of writing with seasons, knowing that we move through them throughout our lives.
Thank you for an amazing article. It is truly brilliant. I resonate with every season and it seems it wouldn't only apply to writing but many other areas of life as well. It was helpful how you explained how and why we enter the Season of Musing, the ground beneath you is shifting! Oh yes, that has happened many times.
It was interesting to note that every writer you've worked with has always journaled. It makes sense of course. I recently got rid of a lifetime of journals! This act was not done without a great deal of thought and the actual act included some ritual because it felt like getting rid of a child! Now I am navigating a new way of being without them. It is my intention, of course, to get back to journaling but to do so in a different way. I have written about my why and how in an article (for now my Substack is my journal!).
Lastly, I appreciate the reminder to elevate my craft. Must do.
Thank you Amanda, I am bookmarking this article to return to many times.
Absolutely loving this, and so grateful for the time, thought and generosity you've put into sharing it - thank you! "I am here to tell you: whichever season you’re in is the season you’re supposed to be in" is something I definitely needed. Think I'm somewhere in the transition between musing and tending, but musing especially is something I find challenging (all those internalised capitalist messages that I'm not producing enough!) so this framework has really encouraged me to do some honest reflection about whether I might be trying to rush through the process because of my conflicted relationship with the necessity of musing - even though it's a part I truly love when I can give myself permission to embrace it!
In the spirit of E. Jean Carroll, I absolve you from needing to be productive! ☀️
I love this. There's so much here, so many excellent thoughts, shared so very well, thank you.
And a big yes to the journal thing, to be able to draw on notes and scribbles, sometimes many, many years down the line, is a crucial tool. To be able to process those notes and scribbles by the act of writing and reading, an even better one.
Thanks again!
In my mind, this seasonal framework dovetails with the concept of Microseasons-- the nuanced changes happening in nature all around us, every day. I believe that our work, our emotions, our lives-- Human Experience-- is seasonal. We are always in motion. Especially so for artists of every sort!
I love the kindness and the clarity in this work-- Thank you, Amanda.
Thank you for this beautifully articulated guide to the writing seasons Amanda!
Hi Amanda! Just became a paid subscriber, and so glad to be able to avail myself of more of your magic. I believe I am in a Season of Tending, tending to a new novel, my fourth, just taking shape. Once I'm done working in the clay of creating this new world, the Season of Craft will be upon me, but right now, I need to tend to connecting with this burgeoning set of characters and their individual worlds. Perhaps it is both Craft and Tending and a fair amount of Musing? What I know is that I am not in these early stages of creating something going to be focusing on a sentence level on my writing. That could extinguish the magic of creating, for me. And yet I look forward to the sentence-level craft. I also want to become ever better at the craft of writing my Substack essays, as my newsletter is my first foray into publishing essays. Trying to hold both types of writing in my brain and creativity at once is a balancing act.
This is brilliant, Amanda. It suits me perfectly. I just came from a year-long dark night of the soul with my writing, then it morphed into what I see now as a Season of Musing. As I moved out of that, I began Tending, but reading this I realize I gave that season short shrift. I have just begun crafting, but now I will go back to tending—my ADHD self said “this is taking too long,” but I see how necessary it was to have taken much more time with it. I look so forward to this series. Thank you!