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Apr 18, 2023Liked by Laura Stanfill

Thanks, Laura, for sharing your life and books. Having just resurrected, reworked and publicly read a few poems, i am considering a writing commitment in addition to my other art forms. And I am resisting putting pressure on myself and just sitting with considering whether I have a full bodied yes. I bought a new large journal yesterday FOR WRITING and it is sitting across the room right now reminding me I wrote my name in it and the date and wondering why I did that if I

am not going to …… blah blah blah. I think I will go paint for a bit and just see what wants to move after that. ☮️➕💜

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Once again, your humanity wins the day. I love what you said about being focused on those first weeks after publication and then sharing where you are a year later. The gifts that keep on giving. You give me heart here at the front end, a few months from launch. Thanks always for your wisdom and insights. Your "presence."

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I love reading your posts, Laura. I always find them insightful. And, you know, I'm almost 70 and have been writing since I was 35 and have yet to publish a book. But I'm okay with that. The insight of old age, I guess. I still hope someone will pick up the novel I'm working on, but really the joy is in the writing itself, and not just the day to day labor of hammering out words--also the thinking, the planning, the creation, the work gives meaning to my life. Not that it's not difficult. And I do doubt myself--I can now see that there was a reason my two book-length manuscripts went nowhere. But I find learning is part of the process, part of the art.

Also, for Oenobooks, my Substack newsletter--thank you for the recommendation-- I've given up on regular postings. I write a review/pairing only when I feel inspired, when a book moves me, such as your novel "Singing Lessons of the Stylish Canary". So delightful!

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