Author: Always with a Book

Musings & Meanderings: You know…you really should…plus imposter syndrome, what rejections teach, Amy Shearn on her new epistolary novel, DEAR EDNA SLOANE, shopping local (for books!), art + architecture

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ You know, you really should… Recently, my husband said, “We need to get you some new life experiences, so you can stop writing about _________.” I was shocked. Appalled. _________ was who I was, what I stood for as a woman, mother, writer. Plus, I have plenty of ‘life experiences.’ Granted, not all of them were as traumatic as _______. This comment made me think about a lot of things: Am I nothing as a writer if I don’t write about ______? Must writers have capital T trauma to write? What about lower-case t trauma? What defines ‘trauma,’ anyway? What is ‘life experience?’ What is at our ‘core?’ How do our obsessions feed into our trauma, life experiences, and core? Are they the one and the same? Different? In what ways? No one wants to read about rainbows and unicorns, people with impossibly white teeth and …

Musings & Meanderings D.J. Green, the geologist writer talks about finding home and yoga-as-muse in NO MORE EMPTY SPACES, plus me feeling old –slang, Richard Marx, how to support local arts, book bans, and more

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ …In and Out… Changing it Up As a mother to late-teenaged daughters, I am starting to feel old, dated, out-of-touch. They have slang that I don’t get or use correctly. Slay! Mid. Ate. Shirts that barely seem legitimate. Vintage Nikes from…1993?! I got to thinking about Spring and how it’s a natural progression of growth, newness, vitality. How maybe it’s better to think of Spring as a time to kick-start your year, not January. Here’s a list of what’s In and what’s out: In: Out: That’s so lit! Action Item: The arts need our support, friends. Can you find something in your local area to support something artsy? It could be as simple as going into a new bookstore and purchasing something (it doesn’t have to be a book!). Post about it on social media. Attend a free gallery or opening. If you can donate (even a …

Musings & Meanderings: Quarter-Year Check-In, Writing Advice, Julia Malye’s new historical fiction PELICAN GIRLS, about Baleine Brides & survival, how she would be a visual artist if not a writer; do’s & don’ts of writerly self-promotion, how to write for Modern Love, more

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Is it spring yet?! You know, you really should… Welp, here we are, a quarter of the way into 2024, or at least we will be at the end of the month. I know how January can be, everything is shiny and new and you have GOALS, you’re pumped, and ready to GO and then that March thing happens. Your momentum sways. You think maybe you’re a big bozo for thinking you can do this writing thing. Yep. Been there. Might be there now. It’s part of the creative curse. Here’s some pep talks to keep you going, from some of the best. “Try as hard as you can not to compare yourself with other writers and their success. We are all on our own journeys, and I believe in supporting one another. Any distraction is time away from writing and focusing on your goals. The …

Musings & Meanderings: Robin Oliveria turns her daughter’s room into an office, reads her work out loud while pacing the foyer of her home, and says all writers need life experience and determination, plus her new historical fiction A WILD & HEAVENLY PLACE–oh, and my tips on starting a new writing project

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Where to Start? Writing Through Trauma I’m approaching a new project. That sounds exciting, but daunting, too. Where to start? How to start? What genre? Does anyone care? Do I?! And then there’s the trauma involved in writing. Wait?! What? How is writing traumatic? It’s not very physical. It’s not that hard, you just sit and think and type (or write by hand), so traumatic?! Writing is so, so challenging, on many levels (emotional, physical, mental). Let’s call it not ‘work,’ but labor. If you’re about to start out with this time-consuming, often draining labor, then I get it, I’m here for you. A few things to consider: Reflect on your intentions. This might mean journaling or staring into space or talking or walking. You want to approach the project with clarity and purpose. Identify your writing blocks. I don’t know if I believe in writing blocks …

Musings & Meanderings: Determining your obsessions and what’s a chronic conflict, anyway? Plus, Kate Brody on her debut thriller, RABBIT HOLE; top reads of 2023, writing a historical novel, distance in memoir, poetry, art & architecture

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Fresh & New Brand-new Year…blank slate…what are your obsessions? I recently had the opportunity to learn and write alongside the fabulous Nami Mun and Eula Biss, real-life writer friends and creative writing instructors. One focuses on fiction, the other nonfiction, one is kind of wacky, the other more serious, both are brilliant. Together, they balanced one another perfectly. That’s really what I think this is about: balance. And also: obsession. How does obsession work in your writing–or creative pursuit–does it?! It should! Here’s an exercise I gleaned from Nami, which I am going to attempt to share with you. Six questions. Go ahead, number your papers one through six, just like you’re still in grade school. Got your list? Now, the fun part. You might immediately see the patterns that emerge, maybe not. Maybe you can circle some keywords in that list and create a new …

Musings & Meanderings: Jami Nakamura Lin prefers longhand horizontal writing in large unlined notebooks (same!), plus checking-in on your writing goals, wrapping up 2023, book recs, honing your craft, more

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ December…a flurry of activity Checking in…how’s your work/creativity/writing going? Let’s pretend for a moment we’re checking in on each other. Here’s what I would ask you: How’s your work going? How many words do you have right now? (Go check. Any number of words is good.) What do you want to accomplish by the end of the year? And when do you want to be done with this project? Do you have a timeline? No?! Why not? Let’s get all the boring stuff out of the way. (Seriously, the boring stuff is what needs to get hammered out because without that, it won’t get done). Now how do you feel about what you’re writing? Do you love it, are you excited about it? Are you passionate about it? Good. Remember that feeling because I guarantee you will need tap into that feeling sometime in the future. …

Musings & Meanderings: Susan Blumberg-Kason talks to me about her new book, BERNARDINE’S SHANGAI SALON, how she wrote near her kids, how dedications get ‘lost,’ and the literary scenes of 1930s; plus reviving a manuscript, curating a writing community, a family ravaged by mental illness in Meg Kissinger’s memoir, more

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Hello…November! Do you have a writing community? If you’re a writer, you likely have a love-hate relationship with the craft. And that’s totally normal! Awhile back. A loooong while back, I was struggling with the decision to muster on with this…uh…calling? Vocation? I bumped into a writing friend in the parking lot of the grocery store and he said, “Are you writing?” We had been in a writing group that had since disbanded. “Uh, no.” I said. He gave me that rolled lip nod and hands-in-pocket stance. “Why?” Did I really have to go into all of that, in the parking lot, while a brisk breeze whipped leaves at my feet? I shrugged, said it was good seeing him. “You’re not off the hook!” he called after me. “Get with your butt to a writing group. Get with your peeps.” I’m with my peeps. That was …

Musings & Meanderings: Butcher Block or Actual Writing Studio? Celine Keating on advice to her younger writing self, her new novel THE STARK BEAUTY OF LAST THINGS; plus reflecting on your writing year, book recommendations, text + image

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Welcome November! Are you taking stock? The end of the year is fast approaching. I don’t know about you, but I always get a little reflective, even melancholic this time of year. At least here in the Midwest, the trees have mostly gone bare, the sky remains a skull gray, and well, it’s bleak. As I write this, a strange brew of leaves and rain/sleet slap against the windows. Are you ready to take stock as a writer? Have you thought about where you were in January and where you are now? What does ‘success’ look and feel like to you? You might be a numbers person (I am not), but let’s say you are. You can measure yourself by how many publications you got this year versus last. Did it go up or down? Does that matter? What if the actual publications went down but …

Musings & Meanderings: Clearing the clutter, being receptive, Kristine Langley Mahler talks about home, being haunted, parenting, and more in A CALENDAR IS A SNAKESKIN, plus poetry as mediation, image + smell

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Welcome October! ~Fall Reset~ Are you making space? What does that even mean? A clear-out, a re-set? Must it be physical? Can ‘making space’ also mean psychological or emotional? What about electronic? Recently, I cleared out my closet, my in-box (a whopping 22K emails deleted from various folders), and also my purse. It felt amazing. Relieving. Lighter. No one really sees the inside of my electronic in-box. No one but me will glimpse my closet or even my purse. It’s not that I’m a hoarder or excessively messy. What I’m getting at is: none of it’s visible. But it’s heavy. It could be self-imposed to-do lists, clothes that don’t fit or are ill-suited for the season, articles you’ve been meaning to read (you won’t or you would have by now). What’s the point in carrying around old receipts in your bag? Dirty Kleenex? A crumbly granola …

Musings & Meanderings: How can we create if we never rest? Balancing the creative life, plus Debbie Chein Morris on her WE USED TO DANCE about her disabled twin; the psychology of memoir, the arc of songs, the poetics of family archiving

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Hello, Fall! Rest & Rejuvenate When we think about rest, we may not be thinking about creation. How can anything get made, produced, while you’re resting? I’ve been thinking about this a lot. If I’m constantly in that flight-or-flight mode of creation, then I am not allowing new ideas to percolate. Or even form. We’ve often been taught that it’s worthless to ‘rest.’ Being active and productive is so much more virtuous. I agree in some regards. Full disclosure: it’s hard for me to rest. I like to do, it feels good, I feel accomplished. I’m considering carving out a time each day/week/month to simply gather information. This might be a ‘sit spot,’ each day for fifteen minutes. Maybe I just watch the birds or the chipmunk scurry about my patio. That’s something I can easily do in a small increment of time. Or, maybe I’ll …