Author: Nicole Luttrell

I'm a speculative fiction writer. That means I write about dragons, ghosts and spaceships. Sometimes I write about the ghosts of dragons on spaceships.

Nine years of Paper Beats World

There are moments in our lives that we should pause for. Life is so incredibly fast, and it just feels like it’s getting faster every year. Holidays, anniversaries, birthdays. These are the times we want to slow down, and just see how far we’ve come. 

Today is one of those days for me. Because, as of today, I’ve been writing Paper Beats World for nine years. 

Yup, nine. I kind of can’t believe it either. 

So much has changed since then. As this is technically a blog, I hope you’ll let me indulge in some self reflection. I’ve changed careers, changed faiths, changed my last name. We’ve moved three times. 

The world has changed since I started PBW. A pandemic, a horrible president, a less horrible president, societal shifts for better and worse. And through all of this, I’ve been writing my little stories. 

It’s the only way I know to keep myself sane, really. Creating my little worlds in which things work out well, people make sense, bad guys get what they deserve and good guys win. 

Most of the time.

And through all of these changes, you’ve been here. More of you than I ever thought possible. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to get to talk to you every week. I hope that you find value in what I have to say. Or at least get a chuckle out of it. 

Since I’m assuming most of you are here for the stories, I wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect in the next year. While life changes and these plans might go awry, this is at least what I have planned right now. 

Woven, my first series about a boy who weaves visions and a girl who spins light, is out of print right now. I am planning a relaunch of the whole series in 2024, maybe starting in May. But I want to make sure I do it right this time. I’m blessed with a second change here, and I want to be sure to give the series the time and attention it deserves. And the covers it deserves. 

Station 86 fans, I have better news. I know it’s been a while, and I really want to thank you all for your patience. 

The next Station 86 story will begin in January. It’s significantly longer than any other Station 86 book has been so far. I sincerely hope that it’s worth your wait. 

Finally, we’re in the middle of the second season of AA. It’s a quirky little horror scifi podcast about found families, aliens, and monsters that go bump in the basements of grocery stores. Just in case you haven’t heard it yet. We are blessed to have some terrific voice actors, and it’s a really good time. 

Finally, what can you expect here on Paper Beats World? Well, in a word, you can expect more.

More book reviews, more writing advice, more prose poetry. I want to give you an opportunity to let me know in the comments what you’d like to see more of here. Do you want more poetry content, more political rants, more reviews? Do you have writing questions? Do you want to hear more about the business side, the creative side or the lifestyle side of writing? Let me know. 

Finally, to thank you all for sticking with me for nine years, I’m doing something a little extra special today. Right now, today only, (Today being August 30, 20230) all of my books available on Smashwords are free. 

This includes Twelve Little Christmas Stories, Quiet Apocalypse, and all four Station 86 books.

Thank you again for being here. And rest assured I have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

After all, I’m still too young to take up stamp collecting. 

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When and how to update your time management plan

Confession time again. Here’s a big one, folks. 

In the past few months, I have really been struggling with productivity. And I hate it. I hate not being where I want to be for the year. I should have already finished the book I’m writing. I should have done another draft of the nonfiction book. And there’s the book I wrote last year for Nanowrimo that I’d really like to be editing right now. Then, of course, there are all of my other responsibilities that are slacking. 

A recent change in my day job schedule forced me to sit down and look at how I’ve been spending my time. And I realized that I had to make some changes. 

Now, what do I mean by a time management plan? This is the way you schedule your time and the tasks you need to accomplish. 

My time management plan worked for a long time. These days, it’s not. So it’s time to make a new one. 

There are a lot of reasons why your time management plan might not be working for you anymore. So it’s a good idea to consider how you’re doing things every six months or so. Here are some reasons your time management plans might have to change. 

Your priorities will change

Life changes. You change. Your priorities are going to change. Maybe you’ll get a new job or promotion. Maybe you’ll be inspired by a new life path. Maybe your family grows. Maybe you feel like you’re being called to do a different kind of work. 

Whatever the reason, your goals are going to change. your priorities will change. And that’s good. 

Your obligations will change

Some changes to your life are ones you cause intentionally. Some changes are totally out of your control, but now you’ve got to deal with it. 

Maybe your family grew in a way you weren’t expecting. Or you have a loved one dealing with an illness. Maybe you yourself have fallen ill. 

There are any number of ways life can start asking more of you than it did before. Some are blessings. Some aren’t. All need to be taken into account. 

Your goals will change

When I started working on AA, my goals changed. My workload changed. When I decided to drop everything last year and write a completely standalone novel for Nanowrimo, my goals changed. When I realized I had three novels and a podcast season sitting unfinished on my desk, my goals changed again. (To finishing them!) 

When I realized that I was miserable most of the time, as I did recently, my goals changed as well. 

As your goals change, what you do to meet those goals will have to change. 

Your energy level will change

This is the one that’s really been getting me. I just don’t seem to have the energy I used to. I don’t have the patience I used to. Part of that’s getting older, I’m sure. Part of it’s being angry at the world and majority of politicians. 

But this, honestly, has been what’s dragging me down. And I’m sorry to say, it’ll probably happen to all of us eventually. And while that sucks, it’s just part of getting older. 

When you’re rethinking your time management style, it’s important to be realistic. Consider not just how many hours you have in the day, but when your good hours are going to be. 

Here’s what I did when I realized I wanted to redo my time management. 

Step one: Pull out a planner or a virtual planner. Start by filling out out all of the requirement on your time that you can’t change. For most of us, this starts with our day jobs. School and work obligations are usually not something we control. So that goes in first.

Next, consider when you need to rest and commit time to self care. You need to sleep. You need time to cook meals and make sure you have clean clothes. You need time to play, to have completely unstructured time. Even if it’s just taking thirty minutes during a day off work and not planning anything for that time, that is so important. 

Now you have a better idea of how much time you have to focus on your passion projects. And yes, even after all this time, writing is still my passion. So, when are you going to work on your passion? 

I take an hour of writing time in the morning before work. This is pure creating time, not time spent on social media or other business writing work. 

I spend the evenings with my husband and pets, caring for our home and each other. 

So, when does the writing business work happen? Well, I’m blessed with two days off a week, so I spend one day working on that. Social media graphics, marketing, submitting, all those good things. I do try to get some writing done that day, but I try to keep everything at no more than five hours. 

The final day of the week is spent taking care of my home, spending time doing fun things with my family and running errands. 

This is all a lot slower than it used to be. I need time to write for pleasure and therapy. I need time to read for pleasure too. Hell, I’m a witch. I need time to contemplate the moon. I need to take my dog to get his nails clipped and stop for coffee after. In short, I need to plan my life so that I have time to live it. And when I take some time to update my time management, I allow myself to keep living well. 

Don’t forget, I just updated my Preptober Planner for the new year! Check it out now on my Ko-fi shop.

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Preptober Planner 2023

A few months ago, I was talking with a writer friend of mine. Camp Nano was coming up, and so our discussion turned to the big event in November. Eventually the discussion came to the Preptober Planner that I created last year. She mentioned something about the character creation page.

Those of you who bought last years Preptober Planner might remember that there wasn’t a character creation page included. Which of course got me thinking. Why wasn’t there a character creation page? Or a world building page? 

Since I overdo things, this line of questions made me rethink my entire outlook on Preptober. And thus, the planner as well. 

I am thrilled to announce today the new and improved 2023 Preptober Planner. And with it, a completely new Preptober game plan that will go into more detail than ever before. 

I’ll also be doing some extra posts in October, to walk you through the new program week by week. As I intend to start a new Station 86 novel this November, we’ll all be working through it together. 

Yes, this will be book six. Yes, book five will be launching soon. Thank you all for your patience. I’m hoping the space between book five and book six won’t be as bloody long. 

The path to success is planning. Writing a novel takes a lot of planning. Let’s do it together. 

Click here to get your copy of the 2023 Preptober Planner

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Protect your local library

I’m going to assume something about you now. If you’re reading this, I bet you enjoy stories. At least I hope so. My whole life’s work is dedicated to stories. So I can’t imagine you’re reading a post on my blog if you don’t as well like stories. 

Because I can assume you like stories, I bet you have some terrific memories of a library. Maybe a school library, or the local library in your hometown. I certainly do. One of the good things about living in my hometown is that I’ve been able to visit the same library for most of my life. My entire life is peppered with days of reading and writing in the quiet spaces tucked into this lovely building. Surrounded by the scent of old books, in the company of other people who are close but not speaking with me. Whatever has happened in my life, I’ve had this refuge to escape to.

In elementary school, my favorite day was always library day. I loved the time spent there, and getting to leave with two whole books that I’d picked out myself. I picked out books that mattered to me. I discovered Avalon, the Salem Witch Trials and a love of all things spooky. 

Libraries, in short, are great. The world is quiet there. 

That might not be the case for long if we don’t do something. More on that later. 

As a child I found libraries to be a source of stories and peace. As an adult, I rely on my local library for so many reasons. I like to go write there so I can’t hear the dishes in the kitchen. I print things there, at a much better price than anywhere else in town. I often ask the librarians for advice. For instance, when I co-hosted a young adult book podcast called Byte Sized Horror, I got a lot of the ideas for books to include by talking with the librarian in the kids section. Then, of course, there’s the fact that most of the books I read come from the library. Books are expensive. I can’t afford to buy as many as I want to read. In short, I don’t know if I could do what I do without my library. 

In one visit to the library, I can get work done, print out a draft to red pen and pick up a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book to relax with. 

So, I told you all that to tell you this. Libraries are in trouble right now. And so are our librarians. 

Just in case you haven’t heard yet, librarians have been under attack during the recent influx of ghoulish book bans. 

Please understand that I am not being dramatic. I am not using a metaphor. I mean that librarians have been physically threatened because their libraries refused to remove books that some people didn’t like. 

Some books have been the target of censorship attacks for years. These are book I consider to be required reading, like Maus, The Diary of Ann Frank, The Color Purple, and To Kill a Mockingbird. But things have gotten so bad in some places (Cough cough, Florida, cough, cough) that they’ve just given a list of books that are allowed because it’s shorter. 

I’d like to point out that I don’t think any book should be banned. And that includes in school libraries. I’ll be generous and suggest maybe some books should require parental approval, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go. 

Books are one way that we can experience the world through the eyes of people who haven’t lived the kinds of lives we lived. For someone like me, who grew up in a little town with almost no diversity, it might be the only bloody way aside from television. And we all know how sanitized tv is. I sure wasn’t learning anything the experience of being black in America by watching Family Matters, though it was a fun show. I learned some of what that feels like from Maya Angelou, who I love. It’s not enough to really understand, but it’s a better start. It got me asking the right questions.

This is, I think, what those who seek to ban books want to avoid. They don’t want their children asking questions. Are black people treated badly in America? Is it okay for two girls to like each other? Is there maybe something terribly wrong with how Native tribes have been treated? Is there maybe nothing wrong at all with transgender people? These are questions that make, well, a certain kind of person very uncomfortable. 

Good. We should be a little uncomfortable. That’s how we know what we need to fix. 

But I’ve told you all that to tell you this. Public librarians are being attacked. They’re being threatened. They’re being physically attacked. And I will not stand for it. 

Now, fortunately my library hasn’t been under attack yet. And I hope to keep it that way. I will be writing to politicians, asking for protections for our libraries and against censorship. I will be voting for politicians who follow through with those protections. But I’ll also be watching. So far, there hasn’t been any protests or performances that censors plan at my library. I’m ready to counter protest. I’m ready to be counted, and stand up for my librarians. 

Are you? 

AA season two is out now, new episodes every Tuesday. You can listen to the first two episodes now on Haunted MTL.

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AA season two launches today

Today is the day! After weeks (years) of waiting, the season two of AA is now available on Haunted MTL!

Click here to listen now!

I can’t wait for you to experience the second season of a podcast that goes so above and beyond what I thought I could ever accomplish. It’s a story about a lost woman who finds a place among a community that’s not her own, but becomes her own. It’s about people who feel like they have to hid in plain sight.

It’s also about a town that’s full of dark and dangerous things. Creatures dwell in grocery store basements. Shadows follow children home. And woods full of monsters move to places they shouldn’t have been.

I also want to take some time here to thank all of the amazing talented actors who participated in bringing AA to life. Their voice acting is exceptional. I cannot thank them enough for the time they took to bring these characters to life.

Please let me know on Instagram, Thredd and Mastadon what you think of the second season of AA. I’m so excited to share this story that means so much of me with all of you.

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The four notebooks that control my life

It’s no surprise to anyone who follows me on Instagram that I’m a bit planner obsessed. I’ve talked before about my love of bullet journals, and Notion. Being highly organized is the only way I can keep up with all my projects and responsibilities, and still keep my plants, pets and darling husband alive. 

It’s been a while since I’ve done an updated walk through of the planners I use. At this point, there are four books that I consider essential. So I thought I’d go through them with you today. 

This is the system that works for me, and it works for me in part because I like planners. I like having all four of these. Honestly, you could probably get your system down to two books. And I will discuss how as well. But for me, this works too well to tinker with it. 

My planner

Let’s start with a good yearly planner. I personally use the Magic of I astrology planner because, well, I’m a witch. I like the planetary information is right there for me to see, and I love that the 12 Sabbats are included with the rest of the holidays. This isn’t a sponsored post, and I’m honestly not even trying to sell you on this specific planner.

The point is that this planner works for me and the way I live my life. There’s lots of space on each day for me to write out everything I need. The pages are thick and take everything but Sharpies without ghosting. And I like that there’s a menstrual cycle tracker built in. 

(As a side note for people who menstrate, you should not be using any sort of period tracker app if you live in America. That information can be accessed and used against you in a court of law. I don’t think I need to go into any more detail as to why.)

Here’s a list of the things I keep track of in my yearly planner.

My work schedule for my day job.

Contest and writing deadlines.

Birthdays and holidays, like a normal person.

Launch dates for tv shows, podcasts, books and other content I review.

Scheduling days off and self care events.

Doctor and vet appointments.

Finally, I write a list of gratitude into the remaining space each day. It’s part of my morning routine, and has been for some time. Starting out each day by reflecting on the good things that happened the day before has helped me through some truly dark times. 

Now some people can, and do, keep all of these things in their bullet journal. But I really like the ability to plan in detail for a full year. I also like the extra room for gratitude journaling. If I had to, I could put those in a bullet journal, though. It would likely mean I go through journals faster, but it could be done. 

My bullet journal

If I had to just have one planner, do away with all others, this would be the one. 

A lot has been said about bullet journaling, both here and on the internet in general. I’m a huge fan of this system. I like that it can be anything I need it to be. It’s held book notes, launch plans, cleaning schedules, plant care notes, holiday plans. Literally anything that can be organized can fit in a bullet journal. 

Personally, I keep the following pages in my bullet journal right now. 

Year at a glance calendar.

A reading log.

Grocery list.

Quarterly, monthly and daily to do lists.

Mood tracker

Habit tracker

Social media tracker

Monthly business tracker

My daily tarot pulls

Monthly memory pages

A list of shows and movies we want to watch

If you want to learn more about bullet journaling, honestly there’s no end to the resources you can find online. 

My sketchbook

This is something I used to keep in my bullet journal. But honestly, I had to move it to its own book. And every creative should have a sketchbook.

This is a book I use for outlining and planning creative content. I write notes on reviews, my morning pages, freewriting, outlining chapters, brainstorming, random thoughts, a haiku about that bird I saw. This is a notebook I reach for several times through my day, and it should be. Any sort of creative project I do starts in this sketchbook. As such, it’s a mess. But a good mess.

Every creative should have a sketchbook. And everybody’s sketchbook is going to look totally different. And that’s beautiful. 

My money bullet journal

This is a recent addition to my collection. Yes, I do keep an entire separate bullet journal for money. Because money is complicated and I’m learning. This isn’t something I’ve done in the past, and it’s not something I’m likely to do forever. But right now, as I’m learning more about money and trying to handle it better, I need this extra space. 

In my money bullet journal I keep the following pages.

My monthly budget

My debt payoff plan

My savings plan

A list of minor debts I need to pay off, aside from the big ones

A list of big ticket purchases I want to save for

A page for weekly money checkins

Yearly, quarterly and monthly money goals

A list of things I want to save for eventually

A page to celebrate money wins

A page to keep track of my bill due dates each month.

Notes from the financial books I’m reading

A net worth tracker by month

Finally, a holiday money tracker since I’m starting to make Christmas and Yule gifts this month. 

If you want me to do a full post about how and why I’m using a money bullet journal, let me know in the comments.

So that’s it for my notebooks. Now, it’s your turn. What notebooks and planners do you use? Are you partial to a pre-purchased planner, or a bullet journal fanatic? Let us know in the comments. 

Don’t forget, Season two of AA premiers next Tuesday the 15th with the first two episodes. And you can binge the whole first season now on Haunted MTL. 

And you can check out my Ko-fi shop for writing planners and exclusive short stories. 

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Is my writing getting any better?

Writing is an art. For me, and I imagine for you if you’re reading this, writing is a passion. Writing is also how I pay (some of) the bills. And, like any passion/art/obsession, we want to be good at it. Hell, I want to be the best writer. I want to be a better writer now than I was a year ago, and an even better writer a year from now. But that leads me to a miserable question.

How do I tell if my writing is getting any better? For that matter, how do I tell if my writing is any good at all? 

Writing is subjective.

Writing is not like speaking a second language, baking bread or running. You cannot measure improvement in how many full sentences you can speak, the texture or flavor of the end product, or how far you can sprint before you run out of breath. Writing, like any art, is subjective. You can learn everything about the MICE quotient. You can understand the structure of the hero’s journey. You can read Save The Cat seventeen times over, and who’s to say you’re a better writer? And a fan base isn’t a good measurement. Some amazing writers are putting work out to an audience of zero, while some truly awful drek is hitting Amazon best seller lists. 

So if you’re doing all the things, how can you tell if you’re getting better? Well, again keep in mind that everything is subjective. But here are some ways you can spot improvement in your writing. 

How do you feel when you’re writing?

If you’ve been writing a while, you start to get a feel for when it’s good. When the words are coming alive on the page, instead of laying flat and dead. This is something that cannot be taught any other way but practice. In the words of Stephen King, you’ve got to read a lot and write a lot. 

Oh darn. 

Freewriting will help with this. You start to get familiar with the shape of your words outside of the structure of a story. It allows you to notice your word usage without judgement. Your sentence structure, naming habits, all the things that make up your style. Freewriting is how you figure out if that’s working.

How does your writing feel when you come back to it?

Anytime you write something, it’s best to let it sit for a time before editing or publishing.

Nothing should go out without some editing!

But the distance from the piece allows you to read it as though you didn’t write it. And this is a great time to consider how you’re doing. 

Over time, you learn where your weak points are. I’m bad at writing fight scenes, and physical descriptions. I also have this bad habit of writing dialog in one specific way that’s fine if I don’t overdo it. But I then, of course, overdo it. 

Over time, I find that I’m doing these things less and less. Instead I find new fun things to do that irritate me, but that’s part of growth! 

Reading your own writing as though it’s someone else’s will give you a better understanding of how you’re doing as a writer. 

What kind of feedback are you getting from your beta readers?

I want you to read that question very, very carefully. I did not ask you to consider the feedback of people on the internet. I did not ask you to consider the feedback of your favorite auntie. I want you to think about what your fellow working writers are telling you. 

And even then, keep in mind that art is subjective. 

All that being said, consider the feedback you’re getting. Are you getting the same comments every time? Or, are you getting new comments? 

This is how you know you’re growing as a writer. Not because your fellow writers say your work is perfect. But because you learn from the feedback and fix that part of your writing. 

Now, all of that being said, I do have one word of caution for you. Don’t worry too much about whether your writing is getting better. 

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to get better. But don’t stress over it. If you’re reading and writing, you’re going to get better. In this way, writing is like learning a language, baking bread or running. If you commit to doing it, and you practice, you can’t help but get better. 

If you’d like to support Paper Beats World, you can do so on Ko-fi

AA season two is coming on August 15th. If you love aliens stuck on Earth, found families, and monsters that go bump in coffee shops, you can catch up on season one now on Haunted MTL.

 

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When Morning Pages feel useless

You’ve heard, I’m sure, of morning pages. It’s a habit started, as far as I can tell, from a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I don’t know anything about this person or this book. But I do know that morning pages, the act of writing three freewriting pages right when you get up is a good habit to have. And it’s one that I’ve been working hard to develop. 

This isn’t to say it’s always easy. I’ve had a hell of a time getting this habit in place. See, I have this problem where if I don’t see a direct, tangible benefit to something, I don’t do it. So these three pages in the morning were a struggle for me because they didn’t give me a clear reward. If I write three pages of blog posts, I can then share them with you all. If I write three pages in a novel or short story, then I’m three pages closer to a finished document.

Hell, if I spend the same amount of time on dishes, I would then have clean dishes. 

Now, some of you might say that writing is its own reward. As a professional writer, I should just take the time to write for writing’s sake.

Okay, but that doesn’t help motivate me. It just makes me feel like I’m somehow failing as an artist. It also kind of ignores the fact that I’ve produced nine novels, two seasons of a horror/sci-fi podcast and nine years of writing advice content. Say what you will about me, but clearly, I enjoy writing. 

And I wouldn’t still be doing Morning Pages if they weren’t giving me something. I’ve written some lovely prose poetry during those times. I come across good blog post ideas or story breakthroughs. There are lots of mornings when I walk away from those pages with something good I can then share with the world.

And most mornings, that doesn’t happen at all. But there are still real, tangible reasons to come to the page every morning for Morning Pages. Even if all you write about is how bored you are or how pissed off you are at your manager at work. Here are my reasons. 

It still builds the habit

Yesterday all I wrote about during my morning pages was a weird dream I had. The day before I just bitched about money worries. But I still came to the page this morning. I still didn’t write anything clever or sharable. 

Seems like I could skip a day. But honestly, that’s a terrible idea. Because even if you’re not doing much of anything, you’re still building that habit. 

Every morning that you come to the page, you are training yourself to come there again. We’ve all heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I don’t know if it’s true or not. But I do know that every day you create that habit, you make it stronger. So show up to keep the habit going, because it’s going to make it easier as you go along. 

It gives you room to write garbage

You can use the Morning Pages to get your bad writing out. We all know there’s just a certain amount of bad writing we all need to do. If we can let these Morning Pages be that bad writing, then it’s out of your system. 

I’m lying, of course. You don’t have to write badly to get better. It’s just very possible that you’re going to write badly. And if you can let yourself do that, then you’ll eventually start writing well.

It gives you a space to do some shadow work

Shadow work is kind of a witchy thing, but don’t let it scare you. It’s just spicy therapy. Shadow work is facing the parts of yourself that you don’t like, and working through them. 

Most of the time, I do shadow work on purpose. I’ll get a piece of paper, light a candle and draw a circle for protection. This can also be seen as giving myself specific cues to let my brain know that now is when we are going to safely unpack big emotions. When I’m done writing about these things, I like to burn the paper to release the energy. If you like, this is a way to symbolically tell myself that now we are done exploring these emotions for now and I don’t have to carry them with me for the rest of my day. 

Sometimes, though, I wake up with something digging at me. Money worries, bad dream hangovers, fights. Or you know, just the fact that people are starving and dying of preventable illnesses and the whole world is literally on fire. 

Some mornings start bad, is what I’m saying.

When that happens, Morning Pages give me the chance to get all that anger or sadness out in sort of an unplanned shadow session. Once that pain and anger are out, the day becomes easier. Or at least, possible. The day becomes possible.

Your writing might surprise you

Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that you do not know what’s going to come out of your morning pages until you sit down and write them. Maybe this will be a boring morning when you write about the fly on the windowsill or how much you don’t want to go to work or how you’re worried that the washing machine is making that weird sound again. 

But maybe this morning you write a cool poem. Or you get an idea for a short story or blog post. Maybe you’ll figure out the solution to something that’s been bothering you about your WIP.

If you’re doing morning pages right, you’re not going to know what’s coming until it comes.

So please, if you’re not doing Morning Pages, consider them. And if you are but it feels pointless, keep going. I promise you, it’s not pointless. No writing is ever wasted. 

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what you see here, please consider checking out our Ko-fi shop.

And check out AA, season two. Coming August 15th on Haunted MTL. (Season one is available now.)

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A writer’s home

Over the course of my adult life, I’ve built a writer’s house. Not on purpose, mind you. I spent years trying not to build one. Sweeping and organizing and worrying over dishes piling in the sink. I worried about the state of the carpet, the state of the bathtub. I was taught as a child, as a girl in a fundamentalist religion, that the home was an expression of myself. That if my home wasn’t clean, I was a failure. 

Fighting against yourself never works though. And now I’ve given up doing that, and I live in a writer’s home. 

A writer’s home will always be a little messy. There will always be a story to write, or read, and that takes precedence over dusting and organizing. The windows won’t sparkle. The floor will often be in need of sweeping, and sometimes it will get it. The keyword in a writer’s home is often spills. Books are spilling off shelves. Even the most modern among us can’t get go of our physical books, even if e-books are delightfully convenient things. Coffee and tea spills can be spotted on couches and counters. 

A writer’s home will often have some sort of craft supplies. While we express ourselves through our words, some things have to be worked out visually. I’ve never met a writer that wasn’t also a painter, or a scrapbooker. A knitter, a still life drawer, a bullet journal fanatic. Stickers, paintbrushes, and paper scraps usually fall out of drawers. They were organized when they went in, no one’s really sure how the current state came to be. Cameras, and all of their accessories, cover dresser tops. And of course, even if we write everything on our beloved computers, there are always pens and notebooks around. 

A writer’s home will also have some things one might not expect, and might be hard to explain. Decorative swords hanging on the walls, for instance. Posters and fan art from our favorite characters or worlds. Replicas of axes, phasers and wands. Tiny models of starships. Whole Lego worlds, built and put on display. Writers are often people who’ve held onto their inner child, and are fond of letting them out to play. 

A writer’s house is often full of music. We feel music, and some of us need it to get through our days. Music to keep us company while we do any drudgery sort of chore. Carefully crafted playlists for our all-important Writing Time. Above all else, a writer loves a song that tells a story. 

There are always good places to sit down, or lay down, in a writer’s home. When the best activity someone can think of is to rest somewhere comfortable with a book, and usually a snack, then there will be cushion-filled nooks in almost every room. Any room that it can be gotten away with. Pillows stacked on a windowsill. Sofas with blankets across the back shoved close to the window. Beds with plenty of pillows so that the writer can sit up in bed and read. And of course, a spot for writing with a comfortable desk chair. 

Then another spot, often a kitchen table, in case the desk is too much pressure that day. 

A writer’s home is usually shared. If not by a human companion, then by a furry one. Or a feathered or scaly one. Some loyal companion that’s always down for a nap in a sunny spot while the writer does what they do so often. Someone to remind us that it’s important to rest as well. Someone to insist that we do go outside sometimes, at least for a few minutes. Someone to remind us that the world outside our stories isn’t all coldness and sorrow. That sometimes it’s a wagging tale, a purring chest. 

A writer’s home isn’t one often seen by people outside of it. We’re sensitive creatures, and we know that our homes don’t live up to the standards of other people. So if you’re invited into a writer’s home, be kind. Be gentle. You’ll be rewarded with a comfortable place to rest, a good snack, and something lovely to read. 

Thanks for letting me be a little more lyrical than usual today. I love my home and wanted to offer it a pose poem out of gratitude. Sometimes I need to feel less informative and more artistic. After all, we’re all artists here, right? If you want to see more of this pose poetry, let me know. I never get tired of writing it. 

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A bittersweet day

If you’ve been around this site for any amount of time, then you know what today is. Today is what I consider to be my writing anniversary. It’s the anniversary of the day I came up with Devon, the boy who weaves visions, and Woven was born.

Woven was my first series, four books in all. The first one, Broken Patterns, was released in 2016. The final book, Falling from Grace, came out in 2020.

Normally, this would be where I’d post a link to the books. But as you might recall, earlier this year my publishing company dropped all of my books. 

Part of me wanted to just not mark this day at all. It’s hard not to feel like shit about this. My series was published, and now it’s not. That’s six years of work, from the first character creation to the last book publication. And now it’s out of print. 

For now. Check back with me next year. 

But it also felt disingenuous to ignore this anniversary. It felt ungrateful, too. If you’ll recall, I prayed for this story. I prayed and cast an offering of bread to the birds in my little town square. I prayed that this story would work. And, it did. 

Woven launched my writing career. If it hadn’t been published, I might never have written Station 86. I certainly never would have written AA. Having that first series published did more for my confidence as a writer than anything else. 

A writing career is rarely going to be a straight line or an upward climb. There are going to be unexpected setbacks that have nothing to do with your talent or perseverance. If the last decade of my life has taught me anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as having something on lock. Take a look in the mirror. The person looking back at you is the one and only thing can you can control.

This is true in all walks of life. But even more so when your career is based on the tastes of other people. 

I know that sounds bleak. And yeah, it kind of is. Being a creative is hard. You can work as hard as you can, pour yourself into your work and it still sometimes won’t be enough. 

This is why it’s so important to remember why you’re writing. 

Do you know why you’re writing? Take some time and think about it. You’ll probably come up with several answers. Here are mine. 

I enjoy writing.

I want to share my writing with people.

I need to write to get my thoughts straight. 

The world is on fire, and I’m not a fighter. I’m not a politician or a doctor or a teacher. If I’m going to make any difference in this world, it’s going to be by writing. If I can write I can maybe change people’s minds or inspire them to act. If I can’t do that, I can at least chronicle what I’m seeing. And if I can’t do that, I can at least write a story that might comfort someone during a dark time. 

Does that mean I don’t want to build a writing career? Hell no. I want to write full-time. I want to hit the best sellers’ lists and win awards. I want to travel all around America in a van and sell my books at little indie bookstores. I want to do a travelogue on Instagram and post pictures of me and Oliver eating ice cream in every state except Florida. I want to be able to commit all of my time to writing stories and exploring this world. 

But if I can’t do that, I’m at least going to write every day and share my little stories. Because in the end, that’s why I write. That’s why I’ll always write. No matter what 

Hopefully by this time next year, Woven will be in publication again. But whether it is or not, I’ll be here. And I hope you’ll be here with me. 

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