Sometimes you’ve got to let something go to get to the good stuff
Fosterverse Weekly #29
Hey Writers!
When I started writing my newsletter over four years ago, I published an original piece nearly every week for the better part of the first three years. You’d think with that many words flowing out of me I’d have a well of writing ideas behind it that was overflowing too.
But ideas are fleeting. Unless you capture them somewhere, they tend to leave almost as quickly as they come. This is why I always say that the best notetaking device you can use is whatever’s closest to you when inspiration strikes.
There’s another problem with ideas, though: they become stale. And to complicate matters, it’s as if they have those confusing “best if used by” dates stamped on them in invisible ink. You never know exactly when they’ll go from feeling like crispy tortilla chips straight out of a freshly opened bag to feeling like tough triangles that taste like cardboard.
Most of my pieces tend to start with a title idea. Something pops in my head randomly, and I jot it down somewhere.
Lately, those writing ideas have struggled to gain enough inertia to make it to full-fledged published pieces. I’ve found myself forcing the issue and trying to massage and twist the material to work with the title ideas I liked. Eventually, it starts to feel more like a chore to—attempt to—write about them. And so I let them go for the time being. Maybe they’re meant for some other writer to grapple with in their own unique way instead. Ideas have a way of doing that.
As Rick Rubin wrote in his book (which I highly recommend for anyone doing creative work) The Creative Act:
“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
I trust that my best work will emerge if I keep showing up to the page. Because it always has in the past.
How do you manage your flow of ideas?
📅 Events
Writing @ Work Circle with Dylan Tweney
Tuesday, November 19th at 11am ET
Signature Writing Circle with Dan Hunt
Thursday, November 21st at 2:30pm ET
Building Bridges to Better American Health Care with Amanda Sue Azadian
Friday, November 22nd at 12pm ET
Simple + Consistent with Joel Christiansen
Friday, November 22nd at 5:30pm ET
Morning Page Momentum with Amanda Sue Azadian
Monday, November 25th at 8am ET
Simple + Consistent with Joel Christiansen
Friday, November 29th at 5:30pm ET
(See the full calendar of upcoming Foster Writing Circles here.)
⚡️ Published
the 77th run by Minnow Park
hello, i love you, won’t you pick up your phone??? by Alex Dobrenko`
I got my heart broken by Juliette Chevalier
Relationship and the moreishness of Desire by Nicholas Goodey
My Extraordinary October by Jen Vermet
crying in the coworking space that is our lives by Alex Dobrenko`
Healing Lights by Andrei Atanasov
Who is the real Gordon Switz? by Alicia Bonner
The Greatest Opening Passages in Literature by Edward Garrahy
An Update and A Sermon by David Kiferbaum
Finding Your Flow: What’s Your Stopping Point? by Caitlin Faas
This resonates deeply. I have so many draft posts that are just a title that I think I will return to but on return I find the moment has passed and trying to write becomes forced. I’m beginning to realize that the moment is now. Stopping everything I’m doing to at least get a rough draft down on paper or in my notes app. Easier said than done as a new mother, and that’s ok. Sometimes you really do have to let things go.
I have so many pieces of paper with amazing ideas on them (at least I knew they were amazing at the time) but going back later often leaves me tilting my head and wondering, what the heck was this about?