It is so helpful to see a timeline like that. I don’t keep close track of when things happen—trying to change that!— so I’m always surprised when subs take forever and contracts take even longer. In some ways the amnesia may have been purposeful in the past because each stage felt overwhelming. Kudos for keeping track of those dates.
This newsletter is priceless and I’ll share it! Huge congrats to Laura (I already pre-ordered) and looking forward to your 2026 book, Caitlin!
Nice interview, the timestamps of events are insightful to keep track of key moments.
For writing, I picked-up the concept of body before mind. Always find a way to activite the body in some small ways (e.g., stretch, sunlight, walk) in the process of getting started. Scaling up slowly on easier tasks before jumping in on bigger pieces.
Having a virtual co-working group has also been very helpful for me to work more in sync with others. I am often working in the global community of the PhD Forum: https://www.thephdforum.com/study-room
1. Any idea will expand as you write and rewrite and see the clues you left for yourself
So true. They become big enough because we make them so
2. I took advantage of that time to sweep my brain clean with something else.
Love this, agreed. Go perpendicular to the idea at hand while waiting
3. My due date felt like the scheduled execution for my ambition
Ouch! I felt that way about becoming a parent. Also found it wasn't true. I create more and better work now than ever, now that I have a kid. Nice surprise!
I love this interview! Laura's book is in the mail, can't wait to read it! I have a tendency to "disqualify" myself from things because they seem too out of reach. I've found a combination of things have sustained my career: an external voice (feedback partner) telling me "this is good, you should submit to X thing," getting a response from a real editor (even when it's a rejection), and of course the pragmatic advice above. It all makes this huge scary dream of being a Published Author seem a lot more achievable.
This is an important conversation, because I think so often women writers rely on external voices almost TOO MUCH---that's how we were trained-- to please others. Then, we we are in the thick of it, being ignored, ghosted, rejected etc, it feels 1000x worse than it needs to. I think most of us couldn't keep going if we didn't have the internal voice telling us to keep going. We can't ignore that part of it! It is the thing that will keep you going through the dark nights of the soul.
1000%! It's taken a lot of work to trust my writerly intuition and believe my POV had merit. Eventually, after years of writing and honing my voice, my own confidence caught up and I rely less on the external response. Now I feel "good" (depending on the day) about where I'm at. I hope others can arrive at this clarity sooner than I did!
It is so helpful to see a timeline like that. I don’t keep close track of when things happen—trying to change that!— so I’m always surprised when subs take forever and contracts take even longer. In some ways the amnesia may have been purposeful in the past because each stage felt overwhelming. Kudos for keeping track of those dates.
This newsletter is priceless and I’ll share it! Huge congrats to Laura (I already pre-ordered) and looking forward to your 2026 book, Caitlin!
I went back through my old emails to get the dates, and even I was surprised by some of them! I knew it took forever but YEESH.
Thank you so much for preordering!! I hope you like it. I kind of think you will, based on my reading of TDL!
My long term goal is to not wind up as a boring and/or sick old person. I love to write and love how it keeps my mind engaged and always working.
100% agree. I think about this all the time.
Nice interview, the timestamps of events are insightful to keep track of key moments.
For writing, I picked-up the concept of body before mind. Always find a way to activite the body in some small ways (e.g., stretch, sunlight, walk) in the process of getting started. Scaling up slowly on easier tasks before jumping in on bigger pieces.
Having a virtual co-working group has also been very helpful for me to work more in sync with others. I am often working in the global community of the PhD Forum: https://www.thephdforum.com/study-room
Great interview!
1. Any idea will expand as you write and rewrite and see the clues you left for yourself
So true. They become big enough because we make them so
2. I took advantage of that time to sweep my brain clean with something else.
Love this, agreed. Go perpendicular to the idea at hand while waiting
3. My due date felt like the scheduled execution for my ambition
Ouch! I felt that way about becoming a parent. Also found it wasn't true. I create more and better work now than ever, now that I have a kid. Nice surprise!
SAME HERE. I find that I make better use of my time now that it is as limited as it is. Thank you for reading!!
I love this interview! Laura's book is in the mail, can't wait to read it! I have a tendency to "disqualify" myself from things because they seem too out of reach. I've found a combination of things have sustained my career: an external voice (feedback partner) telling me "this is good, you should submit to X thing," getting a response from a real editor (even when it's a rejection), and of course the pragmatic advice above. It all makes this huge scary dream of being a Published Author seem a lot more achievable.
This is an important conversation, because I think so often women writers rely on external voices almost TOO MUCH---that's how we were trained-- to please others. Then, we we are in the thick of it, being ignored, ghosted, rejected etc, it feels 1000x worse than it needs to. I think most of us couldn't keep going if we didn't have the internal voice telling us to keep going. We can't ignore that part of it! It is the thing that will keep you going through the dark nights of the soul.
And thank you so much for ordering TTYL!
1000%! It's taken a lot of work to trust my writerly intuition and believe my POV had merit. Eventually, after years of writing and honing my voice, my own confidence caught up and I rely less on the external response. Now I feel "good" (depending on the day) about where I'm at. I hope others can arrive at this clarity sooner than I did!
It takes how long it takes!!!