A few weeks ago, early on the morning of my 30th birthday, I went for a solo hike to do a little reflection on the aptly name Looking Glass Rock. I thought (and talked) to myself a lot on the hike: about this milestone birthday, about the past, very tumultuous, year, about my writing, and my aspirations—about where I've been, and where I'm going. It was really great, honestly—I had some tough talks with myself, a minor epiphany, decided on the next novel I'd like to write, and added two birds to my life list.
(I'm 30 now, so I'm getting into birding.)
(Just kidding. I've been into birding for years because I'm a soft nature boy man.)
(I digress.)
Anyway—all of this reflecting made me realize that I'm well overdue to provide some life updates. Here are the important bits:
As I mentioned, I had my 30th birthday at the end of last month! Both the day itself and the surrounding celebrations were wonderful. Love and gratitude to everyone who made it special.
Almost a year ago I told y'all that after an unsuccessful attempt to get into a Creative Writing MFA program last year, I would be reapplying this year. I did that! But, unfortunately, I recently found out that I was unsuccessful again. Don't worry: this is decisively, definitively okay. Would it have been nice to get paid to write and improve my writing for a few years? Well, yeah. But, fortunately, pursuing writing is not at all dependent on a degree, and there are lots of avenues that remain open to me. I just have a better idea of where to focus my attention now.
Me not getting into any programs, and us not having jobs pulling us to a new location, means that Sarah and I will be staying in Asheville for the foreseeable future. That's really nice, honestly—it's beautiful here, and we've met a lot of lovely people. Plus, you know—having some stability is neat.
Aaaaand that's about it, for now. I mean, there are other things going on in my life too. Obviously. Well—mostly just writing things, and there's a separate section for that. Go read that next!
💌 Newsletter Updates
Before diving into my writing updates, I should provide a couple notes on the May newsletters: First, due to some upcoming travel (and Sarah's birthday!), I'll be sending Coffee Chats out on the 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month (5/10 & 5/24) instead of on our normal schedule. Second, both of those newsletters will be shorter than usual while I hunker down and go goblin mode on Draft 3. If any of that's an issue for you, feel free to write me a strongly worded letter explaining why.
Also—many apologies for just completely missing the last newsletter. It was, at least, because I've been extra preoccupied with the novel. I appreciate y'all understanding!
☕ Project Curses
With feedback from my wonderful beta readers reviewed, organized, and annotated, work on the third draft of Project Curses is officially underway! This should move a little faster than the second draft, which entailed a full front-to-back rewriteof the manuscript, but will still require quite a bit of effort—hence the hunkering down next month. My goal is to have the bulk of the revision completed by early June. I've got a good start, but lots left to do!
Novel Progress Bar
% revised
♟️ Project Rift
Project Rift is on pause while both my co-author I focus on our primary projects. "Pause" sounds more definitive than it is—we'll both be spending time with the manuscript when we can. It'll just be a slower pace for a bit!
📚 Reading
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer | Robin Wall Kimmerer became one of my all-time favorite authors after I read Braiding Sweetgrass a few years ago—her ability to teach both scientific and indigenous ways of knowing is an inspiration—and that was without reading this earlier book of hers. My impression, after reading both, is that RWK walked with Gathering Moss walked so that she could run with Braiding Sweetgrass. That's not to say this is a lesser book—but literally that it's slower, more focused on a single topic, and grows on you as you read it. I loved it, in that slower way.
"There is an ancient conversation going on between mosses and rocks, poetry to be sure. About light and shadow and the drift of continents. This is what has been called the 'dialectic of moss on stone—an interface of immensity and minuteness, of past and present, softness and hardness, stillness and vibrancy, yin and yang.' The material and the spiritual live together here."
Crying Laughing Loving Lying by Labi Siffre| We've been looking for this record for awhile and finally picked it up on Record Store Day! Siffre's music is subtle but powerful, gentle and deep. Though this album was recorded in 1972, it's had a resurgence after tracks were used in recent media, including 2023's The Holdovers and last year's Sentimental Value—both of which we also loved. Highly recommend giving the whole album a listen!
🍿 Watching
Hoppers | I went into this new animated film mostly blind—all I knew was that it had something to do with animals, robots, and the environment (which, to be fair, was more than enough to sell me on it). Hoppers is not a high-concept, easy to pitch film. It's accessible to all ages, sure, but it has a lot going on: the struggles and beauty of intergenerational communication, consciousness transference, the interconnection of ecosystems with land and people, the rights of nature, critiques of unchecked urban development, and more. It does a lot, and says a lot, and does so incredibly well, despite being hard to explain succinctly. I really, really recommend seeing it when you can.
In the frame: The view from my birthday hike on Looking Glass Rock.
For today's Show & Tell, we're doing a little etymology.
Long time readers will know that I have a particular affinity* for Gary Snyder's poem "On Top", which gives us this wonderful mental image of the mind as compost—this notion that what we see and feel and think and read and watch and listen to gets piled up, breaks down, and creates new ideas. I think this is a great metaphor for how we humans think about and process the world, in general, but that it's particularly useful when thinking about writing and storytelling. In fact, it's how I generate most of my ideas for stories—I literally have a note called "The Compost Pile" where I stick anything that interests me, and which I comb through periodically to see if any new ideas are sprouting.
What I didn't realize, until recently—though it seems obvious, now—is that the relationship between these concepts runs deeper than I'd thought. Compost and composition share the same Latin root: Componere, which literally means, "to place together." Componere gives us a lot of other great words too—I'm sure you can think of a few—but the connection between these two that are so close to my heart made me really happy. I love putting things together, whether its food scraps or thought scraps in compost, or words and ideas through composition.
Anyway—that's all for today. Just a little food for though (heh heh).
Sending love your way—see you in May!
*Okay, yes, I recognize that I wrote about it literally last month. Let me live.
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