This Is How I Start Writing A New Book

it's organized chaos!

Friends,

I’m so excited to share the news—I’m writing a new book! I know I’ve hinted at this new project to you, but it’s been officially announced on Publisher’s Marketplace, so I wanted to officially share:

I’m writing a book on STORY, how they shape our personal lives, communities, and societies, and what we do with those stories as they age.

I’m so honored to work with Brazos again, the incredible team that helped bring Native and Living Resistance into the world. Telling you that I adore this team is an understatement, and I can’t wait to go on another publishing journey with them.

Being an author is a lot of things—it’s organized chaos for me, personally—it’s the marketing and publicity as the book comes out, it’s hours of editing, it’s locking myself in a hotel room for two days to re-read the whole thing before sending it in, and no, it’s nothing like they portray it to be in Hollywood.

For instance, let me set today’s scene for you: I am in a pair of sweatpants, in desperate need of a shower. My coffee is lukewarm and in five minutes I’ll be heading back downstairs to the microwave to heat it up again. There are tissues on my desk because I’ve got a runny nose, the window is propped open because it’s a little bit beautiful outside and I want the fresh air, and on my desk is at least fifteen books piled right next to me. My dog Blaze, a border-collie-English-shepherd mix, is sleeping at my feet, and my left arm is going a little bit numb because of the strange angle I’m typing at.

Things are not Hollywood glam, at least not today.

But on Fridays I go to a coffee shop to catch up on work, to read and to write, and on those days, I put on makeup and get dressed. I set out to be a public-facing writer, poised with my cup of hot coffee and my many thoughtful facial expressions that are meant to say I am deep in this project, but I’ll offer you a kind smile if we make eye contact so you know that I’m not a jerk, I’m just an introspective author who needs some light background noise to work.

(I’ll be right back with my hot coffee.)

Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash, Not me working

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

Being a public speaker, or even in the publicity season of a book launch, is a different part of the job—we’re expected to be on, watched closely, admired (or judged) for the way we dress and act and speak to audiences big and small.

But the writing part of the job is like a cocoon, and that’s really what I love about it. It’s me with these piles of books, these people’s minds that become part of my daily life. It’s me with my laptop and journal, me at my desk or my favorite chair in the living room, highlighting, taking notes, thinking, pausing, forming words and ideas that will make their way to a reader one day.

All of it is sacred, but I want to demystify the daily life of a writer.

On those days that I wake up and get dressed and present myself well to the world, I feel a buzz of energy that yes, I am a writer, dammit! but on those days that I’m just tired and still showing up to the work, I say, with a little more exasperation, I am a writer, dammit, and I’m here and this matters, too.

So let’s talk a little about my own organized chaos.

I’ve been that person who looked up “daily schedule of an author” and left that depressing place thirty minutes later realizing that the only way to figure out a daily routine as a writer is to know yourself really well.

I’m not a wake-up-and-write-from-6AM-to-noon kind of writer, and I never will be.

I have to ease my way in, work hard, take breaks, follow a flow and a cycle that gets me where I need to be, and yes, that includes the organized chaos in my own mind on a daily basis.

A few things that happen when I begin writing again:

1. Middle of the night book thoughts—around two or three in the morning, I’ll have something that slowly begins simmering inside my head, and if I don’t write it down, it will be gone forever.

2. Brain maps/visual guides—I always take some pieces of paper, tape them together, and map out the different chapters or sections of my book, hang it on a wall in my office, and use it as a space to brainstorm and work out different parts of the project

3. Mapping out the framework of the book—this is part of the visual guide, but before I can really, really start writing, I have to know where the stories I want to share about will fit, which takes a lot of sitting and working through the framework of the book, whether its within the actual document I am writing in or on that brain map on the wall.

4. Excavating my own experiences for what to share—when a book project gets turned on in my life, I begin excavating my own history, wondering if there are stories and experiences that might be important for this project, and I’m always surprised when those stories or experiences show up out of nowhere.

5. Reading, reading, reading!—one of the scariest things about being a writer who focuses on sort of spiritual and social commentary is that the books lists are endless, and if I happen to be writing a book ON STORYTELLING, I’m absolutely going to miss some incredible books, but it’s not possible to read every book on every subject, so we have to trust ourselves to read what we can, when we can, and learn from the wells of wisdom we’ve had space to dive into.

So, thank you for joining me on this journey, with the chaos and the unglamorous writing sessions. It’s all sacred, all of it. I can’t wait to share more with you along the way.

---

Speaking of the writing journey, I have an event coming up that you definitely need to know about! Check it out:

The Book-Writing Lab: A Panel Conversation + Q&A with Kaitlin Curtice, Osheta Moore, and Heidi Barr

I am so excited to partner with Writing the Wild to speak with two women I deeply admire, Osheta Moore and Heidi Barr, to talk all things book writing on Monday, February 12th:

In today's world, there are many ways to get our writing in front of an audience, but there's nothing quite like the feel of a book in your hands. What does it look like to write a book? What are some of the practical how-tos, like how to organize your time or your ideas? Do you have to find an agent? What about self-publishing, or working with a small indie press? How does the publication process unfold?

Join Osheta Moore, Kaitlin Curtice, and Heidi Barr for a conversation demystifying the process of writing a book. Learn from each of their unique experiences with writing books, then join in for a Q&A moderated by Krissy Kludt to have your questions answered.

COST:

$50

Monday, 2/12 10-11:30am PST/1-2:30pm EST

If you’d like to attend but may not be able to pay the full amount, please let us know and we can work something out.

Register here!!

Hope to see you there.

---

Thank you for being part of this community.

If you are interested in becoming a paid subscriber, please consider supporting me in that way, as we continue to explore liminality and sacredness in all aspects of our lives.

And if you have friends who might benefit from this space, who are aspirating poets or writers or creatives who want to be reminded of their sacredness, or any sort of theologian who wonders who and what The Sacred is, this space just might be for them, and I’d love for you to invite them to join us: