Switching Gears

Greetings from the 12th floor. The spring and fall changes in seasons always do my head in for a week or two, so I’m fighting the urge to sleep 18 hours a day. Maybe I’ll have something pithy to say in November.

Until then, enjoy the autumn weather.

Also in this letter:

• Posts from September 2026

• WIP News

• Writing Advice

• A Parting Song

Monthly Posts
I wrapped up the Write with Me series this month, at least for now. I had some ideas for extending it, but this was a good stopping point. Maybe next year I’ll dive into part 2. In the meantime, I’ll be focused on editing my novel (see below) and maybe doing something besides writing 20 hours a week.

After exploring all the places inside you where stories are hiding, I talked about how you can get them onto the page with journaling, which I always hated and yet wish I’d practiced more. If you also hate journaling, have a seat and see if I can change your mind.

Finding Your Stories: Journaling
My Turn: Journaling
Write With Me: Conclusion, For Now

WIP News

I completed the first draft of my novel in progress, or fourth, depending on how I count. Fourth attempt, first across the finish line. I have virtual sticky notes in almost every chapter, with thoughts on edits. Most of them will require some minor changes to account for continuity holes, how and when I use my motifs, and other small fixes. A few will require stronger rewrites and shuffling. I have at least one scene where I want to change the setting and another where I want to swap out characters in a conversation. I’m looking forward to getting started. The draft took about a year and I’m hoping to wrap up this round of edits in a few months, ideally by the end of 2026. Then the manuscript goes to my reading group and I get to work on something else for a while.

Writing Advice
I follow about 30 blogs sharing writing advice and bookmark the good stuff. Here are some of the best posts from August:

• “Add Meaning and Impact to Your Stories with Stealth Context” - Tiffany Yates Martin

• “Get Out of the Gloom and Into the Driver’s Seat: 4 Instances Where POV Skills Can Level Up Your Writing” - LeahD De Forest, Writer’s Digest

• “Tips to Bookend Your Novel – Part 1” - C.S. Lakin

• “When Revision Gets Fun: The Gold Already Waiting in Your Pages” - Seth Harwood

• “How Repeating Character Emotion Weakens an Emotional Scene” - Susan Watts, Writers in the Storm

Help Me Build My Library
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A Parting Song
Just in time for Halloween, Alanis Morisette resurfaces with another cover version, this one Donovan’s “Season of the Witch,” which also serves as the official theme for the series Yaga (reimagining the Baba Yaga myth) starring Carrie-Anne Moss.

Not quiet as spooky dirty as Donovan’s original or as grindhouse as Joan Jett’s cover, but it’s always good to see something new from Alanis.

Listen on Spotify or watch the video below.