Dammit, this is a revelation, and eerily appeared just when I was castigating myself for not wearing my writing hairshirt to the laptop every single morning! Thank you Shannan.
You can count on this, if your purpose is to make money, you will exhaust yourself chasing it. If your purpose is to do the thing you enjoy doing, you will enjoy bountiful abundance.
I agree with this so much. I sit on a book for years before finally writing it, and then when it happens it it just takes over my mind. I dreamed up one book in 2003. I wrote it between 2013 and 2016. Another book I started in 2009. It didn't come out until 2021. During these years breakups, marriage and divorce happened to me. They seasoned me and added to my compost pile (freaking perfect analogy). So yeah, I write when the words call and when they call there's plenty to excavate. But the truth is I can go months without writing anything at all. I don't journal. I just be. Also, thank you for calling out the 'gurus' who push people to shit out words every day. That's not how it works. Words are like cats, they come to you when they're ready.
This is gorgeous. I love the way you trust the long arc of a book... letting life season it, letting time do what it does. And yes, exactly: the words show up when they want to. Cats is the perfect comparison.
This is my writing style. Never force it, you’ll end up with subpar work you’ll be sad you produced. I’m constantly saving little notes of random facts, sentences or words that I know would be great in an essay or story. My favorite thing in the world is to see them appear months later in a unified form. The compost analogy is so good. Let. It. Rot!
God yes, the joy of seeing an old note suddenly click into place months later — that’s the magic. All those scraps turning into something whole. And absolutely: let it rot. That’s where the good stuff comes from anyway.
YES to all of what you wrote! Same goes for music composition and many other art forms. Works for me. I haven't had the same schedule day to day for decades, and with so much variability in work and family life I couldn't possibly write every day or at the same time. But everyday I do go outside, observe, listen, use all my senses, read, and sometimes take notes to use whenever I do have writing time. I think of it as collecting material for a collage, but composting is good too!
Like many of the comments below, I too needed-- needed!! to see, to read your wisdom and joy today.
Starting to be a comfort to just know there are people like you, Shannan, and your followers.
The only way to write a 'Soul-speaking' story or poem is to find my way back IN... to true self. ... instead of deleting emails from all the writer/publisher workshops 'out there.'
This is so kind, Janet... thank you! And yes, finding your way back in, back to yourself, feels like the only real place the work can come from. I’m glad this met you today.
I agree and disagree? I write everyday, not out of some myth of productivity, certainly not because I'm trying to serve capitalism, and I think also not because of anxiety, but because it works for me. At least at this point it does. I come from a background of being an athlete, and that's a thing where consistency owns standout performances if you want to improve.
But yeah, I certainly don't expect that to work for everyone and wouldn't advocate for it. It just works for my practice.
I completely agree with the compost analogy, that's a good one. If I overdo it one day I'm lacking the next.
This makes total sense — I love how clear you are about what works for you without trying to make it a rule for anyone else. And yeah, the “overdo it one day, empty the next” thing is real.
Printing this and hanging it on my wall! This is exactly what i needed to read after my latest guilt-inducing endeavor (two weeks spent feverishly hammering at a piece of writing that burned inside me to then turn around and feel unable to write for a month). I feel like there is much to be said (and you say so yourself) about making your rot out of observation and reading, thinking, rather than distraction (doomscrolling et al). Once I manage to chuck my phone across the room and pick up Beloved again I shall be unstoppable in my rotting.
ahhh I want to be “unstoppable in my rotting” too sometimes haha. And yeah, that cycle of burning through one piece and then going quiet for a month is so normal it should be its own genre.
So, lately I've taken a different tack— which IS to write every day (not the 5AM kind!). What I've found? There are "things" colliding with "dreams" (or other things!) all the fucking time—as long as I am vaguely committed to noticing (which is what I think a poet is — a noticing being). I've found a freedom in this. Instead of writing being the precious little creature I must coddle with silence and a well sharpened Black Wing, I've found I can sit anywhere and let the poem sweep over me. It's been a little bit magical.
Oh, as as someone who keeps a literal compost heap, I love the metaphor!
Love this, truly. The way you describe things colliding with dreams — that’s exactly how I "see" it. And honestly, there’s something lovely about writing wherever you land instead of treating it like a fragile ritual. Also love that you have a real compost at home, Karan really wants one!!
Dammit, this is a revelation, and eerily appeared just when I was castigating myself for not wearing my writing hairshirt to the laptop every single morning! Thank you Shannan.
haha I'm glad it helped Jay! 💙
You can count on this, if your purpose is to make money, you will exhaust yourself chasing it. If your purpose is to do the thing you enjoy doing, you will enjoy bountiful abundance.
amen to that Joe!
This is so real. Creativity needs down time to coalesce
love the word coalesce and yes!
I agree with this so much. I sit on a book for years before finally writing it, and then when it happens it it just takes over my mind. I dreamed up one book in 2003. I wrote it between 2013 and 2016. Another book I started in 2009. It didn't come out until 2021. During these years breakups, marriage and divorce happened to me. They seasoned me and added to my compost pile (freaking perfect analogy). So yeah, I write when the words call and when they call there's plenty to excavate. But the truth is I can go months without writing anything at all. I don't journal. I just be. Also, thank you for calling out the 'gurus' who push people to shit out words every day. That's not how it works. Words are like cats, they come to you when they're ready.
This is gorgeous. I love the way you trust the long arc of a book... letting life season it, letting time do what it does. And yes, exactly: the words show up when they want to. Cats is the perfect comparison.
This is my writing style. Never force it, you’ll end up with subpar work you’ll be sad you produced. I’m constantly saving little notes of random facts, sentences or words that I know would be great in an essay or story. My favorite thing in the world is to see them appear months later in a unified form. The compost analogy is so good. Let. It. Rot!
God yes, the joy of seeing an old note suddenly click into place months later — that’s the magic. All those scraps turning into something whole. And absolutely: let it rot. That’s where the good stuff comes from anyway.
Bravo: I needed this. Thank you.
So did I!!!
I'm glad you liked it, Elizabeth!
Thank you for reading, William 💙
thank you so much i can’t even tell u how bad i needed this rn
so happy it was of help rhea! 💙
The only way to find the words and wring out the rot, is to muck about quite a bit and get lost in your thoughts.
absolutely, Derek!
One of your best, Shannon!
Thank you! 💙
YES to all of what you wrote! Same goes for music composition and many other art forms. Works for me. I haven't had the same schedule day to day for decades, and with so much variability in work and family life I couldn't possibly write every day or at the same time. But everyday I do go outside, observe, listen, use all my senses, read, and sometimes take notes to use whenever I do have writing time. I think of it as collecting material for a collage, but composting is good too!
Thank you Meg! & the way you move through your days already feels like writing to me. Collage, compost, whatever we call it — it’s gorgeous.
Same. I need periods of time where I do nothing.
I did force myself to write daily for a while and I got so mentally tired I couldn't come up with even one sentence.
Yes this happened to me also!
Like many of the comments below, I too needed-- needed!! to see, to read your wisdom and joy today.
Starting to be a comfort to just know there are people like you, Shannan, and your followers.
The only way to write a 'Soul-speaking' story or poem is to find my way back IN... to true self. ... instead of deleting emails from all the writer/publisher workshops 'out there.'
This is so kind, Janet... thank you! And yes, finding your way back in, back to yourself, feels like the only real place the work can come from. I’m glad this met you today.
I agree and disagree? I write everyday, not out of some myth of productivity, certainly not because I'm trying to serve capitalism, and I think also not because of anxiety, but because it works for me. At least at this point it does. I come from a background of being an athlete, and that's a thing where consistency owns standout performances if you want to improve.
But yeah, I certainly don't expect that to work for everyone and wouldn't advocate for it. It just works for my practice.
I completely agree with the compost analogy, that's a good one. If I overdo it one day I'm lacking the next.
This makes total sense — I love how clear you are about what works for you without trying to make it a rule for anyone else. And yeah, the “overdo it one day, empty the next” thing is real.
❤️ this! The composting metaphor is such an accurate description of my creative process!
happy you liked it Ryn! 💙
Printing this and hanging it on my wall! This is exactly what i needed to read after my latest guilt-inducing endeavor (two weeks spent feverishly hammering at a piece of writing that burned inside me to then turn around and feel unable to write for a month). I feel like there is much to be said (and you say so yourself) about making your rot out of observation and reading, thinking, rather than distraction (doomscrolling et al). Once I manage to chuck my phone across the room and pick up Beloved again I shall be unstoppable in my rotting.
ahhh I want to be “unstoppable in my rotting” too sometimes haha. And yeah, that cycle of burning through one piece and then going quiet for a month is so normal it should be its own genre.
So, lately I've taken a different tack— which IS to write every day (not the 5AM kind!). What I've found? There are "things" colliding with "dreams" (or other things!) all the fucking time—as long as I am vaguely committed to noticing (which is what I think a poet is — a noticing being). I've found a freedom in this. Instead of writing being the precious little creature I must coddle with silence and a well sharpened Black Wing, I've found I can sit anywhere and let the poem sweep over me. It's been a little bit magical.
Oh, as as someone who keeps a literal compost heap, I love the metaphor!
Love this, truly. The way you describe things colliding with dreams — that’s exactly how I "see" it. And honestly, there’s something lovely about writing wherever you land instead of treating it like a fragile ritual. Also love that you have a real compost at home, Karan really wants one!!
For me it’s the difference between force and allowing. It’s don’t push the river. It flows by itself.
yes!!