On puzzles and novel writing
and a special holiday offer!
****Read to the end for a special holiday offer!****
Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates! I could probably write a whole newsletter about Hanukkah and the many ways I have tried over the years to make it feel festive while fitting it into the margins of a world that most definitely does not stop for Hanukkah. Instead, I will tell you that I made latkes, which I haven’t done since before I got married—when I might have been trying to prove my Jewish bona fides to my then-boyfriend/now-husband Ken.
I followed Melissa Clark to the letter and they were perfect.
But while I do want to tell you about my latkes, I also want to tell you about the puzzle I got for my son Oliver, one he chose himself, a 1000-piecer with an image from the anime series One Piece.
I love puzzles, so I was pretty psyched! We started sorting through the pieces, and I realized it was a mosaic puzzle, meaning each piece is made up of several tiny images. When you look at it from a distance, it gives the illusion of being one color, but when you look closer, it looks like this:
I freaked out! This was going to be so hard! I’m a decent puzzler, but I’ve never done a puzzle this hard. What if we couldn’t finish it? I hate not finishing puzzles! What if Oliver got frustrated? What if I did? Why didn’t we choose something easier?
This sort of internal dialogue is actually pretty similar to how I feel about my new novel. It’s so big! It’s so hard! I don’t know how I will finish it, if I will finish it! It will take so long! It will take me years!
Oliver and I started turning over the pieces one by one because that is how you start a puzzle: You need to see what you are working with. I decided we should start with the edges, so we sorted those pieces first. I noticed right away that the tiny images on each piece were facing in a specific direction so you could easily tell which was the top edge, the bottom, left and right. By the end of the night, we’d put together the edges.
This sort of close attention to one small part of a larger thing is how I’ve decided to approach my novel for now. Opening that document each day is hard but when I do, I try to keep my focus on one small piece instead of freaking out about the whole thing. A tiny scene (scene-let?), a short conversation between two characters. I zero in on something specific, maybe an image or a setting or an exchange between two characters that tells me something about their relationship I didn’t know before. Whatever it is, I try to make one small connection before shutting down for the day.
Speaking of small bites, here’s another invitation to write with me!
Every Tuesday at 9AM ET, we get together on Zoom to make a small dent in our creative work. We write for 15-20 minutes, a few people share what they’ve written, we offer loving Gateless feedback that focuses on what’s working in each piece and then we’re off! Think of it as fitting a couple of puzzle pieces together.
And if you sign up now, you will be invited to a special extended 2-hour holiday BONUS SESSION on Dec 15th!
Come and write, reflect, explore, and most importantly, carve out some time for you and your work.
WHAT: Special BONUS Holiday Studio session
WHEN: Friday, Dec 15th from 11:00a - 1:00p ET
WHO: *Studio members ONLY*
Sign up and more info HERE! As always, reach out with questions!
How cool is this? I loved having my cover up on the grid at Taylor Swift as Books, Amy Long’s gorgeous Instagram account where she pairs book covers with Taylor photos. Amy has an amazing eye for color and shape and angle, as well as a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of Taylor Swift pics. A girl after my own heart clearly.
Speaking of covers, I loved chatting with Leslie Singer, the artist behind the beautiful image last year. If you missed the conversation, here it is!
****SPECIAL HOLIDAY OFFER****
YOU GUYS. I am so close to getting 1,000 reviews on Amazon, and I would love to get to that number before my book’s one-year anniversary, February 14. I have 955 reviews as of today and according to my very excellent math, that means I only need 45 more to get to 1,000. I believe in us!
If you would be so kind as to leave me a (5-star, natch) review and a line or two saying what you loved about the book (“A sexy campus novel. Loved it!”), I will send you a personalized note AND a signed book plate that you can place inside your copy!
Just send me a message (here, on Instagram, through smoke signals) letting me know you left a review (honor system!), your snail mail address and I will send a note and book plate to you tout de suite! And if you already wrote a review 1) bless your heart and 2) let me know, and I’ll send you one too! Thank youuuuuuu!
My paperback comes out Feb. 13! Same great book, nifty new package. If you’d like to preorder, be my absolute guest! Preorder HERE!
The novel as puzzle is so apt! And that makes sense to focus on one tiny piece of the novel at a time.
By the way, my husband loves to make latkes but I have fear of frying...
Happy Hanukkah! Hilariously, I mentally registered the picture of Monkey D. Luffy before I clocked the fact that it was appearing in a place that has absolutely nothing to do with my kids or their obsession with One Piece. How old is Oliver? My boys are 9 and 12, and yesterday I threw a One Piece-themed birthday party for the 9-year-old, who was Chopper for Halloween (his brother was Luffy). I have looked at soooo many pictures of Luffy in recent months that I almost didn’t notice him creeping into non-One Piece-centric territory. Worlds collide!