This Place on Earth Calls to Me // Land as Spiritual Conduit
Just as a quick reminder: I’ve written a novel. When you’ve written a book and actually completed it–like done all the work of editing and fixing errors and getting the story right or the lesson down or the truth conveyed–you finally get to casually drop that fact around: Yeah, so I wrote a book. Hey, I finished my novel. I actually wrote a book. I’VE WRITTEN A BOOK. I find myself mentioning that fact to, I don’t know, the guy who scans my card at the Y everyday or the barista waiting for my credit card receipt to print so I can sign.
Why do I do these things?
I feel strongly that I should stop my loose lips from revealing this oh-so-awesome achievement because of the response it always always always (always) encourages: “A novel! What is it about?” Part of me wants to respond like this: “Um, helllllooooo, I just wrote an epic, awesome novel, isn’t that enough for you people…now I have to EXPLAIN it, too? Just read it!” Oh wait, it isn’t published, yet. Blast!
But now I can answer that recurring question about what my novel is about by answering this question: What place on earth are you the most spiritually connected to? Read More
Something Scary // The Truth About My Pain
I’ve received a challenge: write the truth. My brain’s first reaction to the suggestion was: “Um, yeah, no one wants to hear my truth.” My stomach’s first reaction was to throw-up in my mouth a little. My heart’s first reaction was, “FINally, I’ve been waiting.” Not that what I have been writing on this blog isn’t the truth, but mostly every post and subject has been pretty safe–some updates on my creative writing and publishing my novel; some posts about modeling shoots and interviews; a few about professional copywriting. All good things! All things about which I enjoy writing. But what if…I started sharing what is really going on? What if I opened up about my spiritual life that spins up and plummets down for myriad reasons? What if I did something scary to me: shared the truth instead of only showing the side of me that has life and love and pain all buttoned up and figured out and fixed right?
7 Ways to Say No
I love saying yes. I love being asked to do some awesome project or task or job because it lets me know the asker thinks I’m fit and capable for the work. That feels great. It is like unsolicited back pats or like a virtual coronation ceremony. And here’s what I discovered…I can feel all those things and NOT do the work simply by saying…wait for it…: No.
Are you catching on? Part of what I’m really saying yes to is the compliments, the affirmation. Instead, when I say “no” it means I want to be saying “yes” to something else–something I’m passionate about (even if it means a nap). Read More
Srsly With the Email Subject Lines
I love what I do. I love language, I love discussing word usage and origins and debating the Oxford Comma (I’m against it, in case you’re wondering).
Much of my work time is invested in communications of the virtual variety. That’s right: emails. How wild and different the world was before email. I sometimes think back to when my parents were working and how sometimes my dad would drive 30 miles into the city for a meeting that was canceled at the last minute. This is all pre-mobile phones, pre-internet, pre-email. I don’t know how all of that shook out back in the 80’s but maybe you were just like, “Oh well, guess I’ll just write a letter in my spare time.”
Honestly it sounds kinda nice: no email?
It reminds me of a professor I had in graduate school who gently and quietly refused to get a computer or receive an email address when that was all the rage. He would type me messages on little slips of paper he had stored in a little box next to his typewriter (which was not plugged in, by the way). Can I just say he was MY FAVORITE professor because of those little benign yet practically haiku-like notes he’d type and stick in my box that sounded something like: “Claire, your story feels polished. Page 12 has more notes. Thanks, JK.”
ANYways, back to your email subject lines. Here are the top 7 worst email subject lines or grievances I have…and how to make them great: Read More
Claire DeBerg // Writer 