Hello all,
Welcome to the 39th edition of Women Writing! Guess what? This book coach got a book coach. Last week, I contacted
, a fellow Book Coaches Canada and Author Accelerator book coach for a discovery call. I’ve been researching and planning my next historical novel for quite a long time (too long, really), and realized I needed some structure and accountability. As soon as we decided that this book was a good fit and we wanted to work together, something magical happened. I immediately got to work on finishing my incomplete Blueprint and sent it off to her for a look and started working on my Inside Outline, completing a first draft of one of the dual timelines. Of course, all that thinking and researching and gathering ideas over the past year was a necessary part of the process, but having a book coach means I’ll get the kind of feedback and support that I offer other writers. I have deadlines to meet (I’m very task orientated). My book coach will read and comment thoughtfully on my work (who doesn’t want feedback). We’ll have thoughtful discussions about my choices along the way (the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I’m ready for all of it). Hiring a book coach has made me prioritize my own writing again. I’m back on my schedule in a much more concrete way. I can’t wait for our first official Zoom call later this month and to get a steady stream of words on the page this summer.I hope you are inspired by this week’s featured author, Claire Ross Dunn. I certainly am.
About the author…
Claire Ross Dunn is a Toronto-based writer, story editor and producer. Her novel At Last Count (Invisible Publishing) was a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2022, a Toronto Star summer reads pick, a Zoomer Magazine CanLit book club pick, and a 49th Shelf Editors’ Pick. Claire has written several movies for streaming, including Love at Look Lodge (Hallmark), Cupids on Beacon Street (City TV) and the story for Ice Wine Christmas (Lifetime). She was Executive Producer and a writer for ZARQA on CBC Gem and Supervising Producer for Nickelodeon’s Make It Pop. Other TV writing credits include Little Mosque on the Prairie, Degrassi: The Next Generation for which Claire earned The Alliance for Children and Television Award for Excellence, and Wingin’ It, earning Claire a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Writing in a Children’s/Youth Program. Claire has received Canada Media Fund funding to develop At Last Count into a TV drama.
“I think we women can help each other. Support each other. Get through the imperfect situations, and then, when we’re in charge, create the work environment we know can be far better. It’s not a badge of honour to prioritize working to the exclusion of all else. We know we can get it done and allow room for the rest of life to exist, too. We can make better work environments happen. And the more we do, the more it will become the norm.”
On a writing routine …
I write every day. I know I should take a break, but when people ask what I like to do for a break, the answer is, write. A day that doesn’t have writing at the top of it makes me grumpy. My husband knows this, and my kids know this, too. I appreciate that support.
My rule is, writing before noon. Writing after that too, if the day allows, but if I haven’t written by noon, the day is shot. First thing in the morning, the day is new, my brain is rested (unless I’ve had a case of the 4 am frets), and my censor has not yet woken up, so the getting is good.
Since 2022, I’ve belonged to a free online writing group called PJ Writing, run by writer/editor/workshop leader/publisher Sue Reynolds. Writers write together in silence, over Zoom, for one hour, 7:30-8:30 am, Monday to Friday. Sue started the group because she wanted to offer a writing space to the writers she normally saw during in-person workshops and classes, something that obviously wasn’t happening during the pandemic.
I was dealing with a lot of anxiety about the release of my first novel, At Last Count (published via the wonderful Invisible Publishing)—which by the way makes no logical sense, because I’d already made it through the gate—I was getting published! But I sought the counsel of one of At Last Count’s editors, Nathan Whitlock, and he said Claire, the best advice I ever received about getting over the anxiety of publishing your first book is to quickly get to writing your second book. I had a writer friend who was part of PJ Writing, Dolly Reisman, and she encouraged me to join. So now that’s part of my morning routine.
But even before PJ Writing, I’ve always started my writing early, before the house wakes up and the demands of the day set in. After noon, the rest of the day is admin, grant applications, meetings, etc. I squeeze a few more moments out of the afternoon to dip back into thinking about writing if I can.
Sometimes mid-afternoon I go for a fast walk up and down a nearby hill which I call the Hill That Solves Writing Problems. It’s magical like that. You just need to assign yourself the writing problem, and then walk. Inevitably, there’s a tiny idea or shift that occurs. I often dictate those ideas to myself, and return to my office just an inch—and if I’m lucky, a mile—further ahead than I was before.
On writing spaces …
Pre-COVID, I used to go out every morning, without fail, to the local McDonald’s or Tim Horton’s, to write. I liked the general hubbub of those places. It’s low pressure. I’d sit with the seniors, and the Greek guys and their betting papers, and the nannies and their charges, and write my face off every morning. I did this even when the kids were young—my husband, Kirk, took on getting the kids breakfast and ready to get out the door, and I’d often show up for the walk to school. But COVID put a crimp in that decades-long practice. Now I write on the third floor of our house in a shared office with Kirk. Beside my horrifically messy desk is a shelf with the following: a giant pile of used journals which require going through, because I know ideas are trapped in them; a years-old Christmas card with a Quentin Blake drawing of a stooped gentleman doing research in the London Library; a sketch of Shakespeare and Company in Paris torn off the front of a notebook; a 3-D printed bright pink “f%^ktopus” with 8 middle fingers raised to remind me to not get too concerned when people don’t approve of what I’m doing; and an Etsy pop-up card of an old-timey typewriter that says “Claire, you are fantastic. F&8k the haters. Xo Liz.” These last two items were both purchased on Etsy and sent to me by my friend and filmmaker Liz Whitmere to remind me that we’re everyday renegades, we artists. Not everyone is going to understand our chosen path, or be easy to work with. And that’s okay. We just need to keep going.
On writing communities …
Yes, it’s that PJ Writing I mentioned, which I do every morning, Monday-Friday, 7:30-8:30 am. Such an excellent community—not only do we write together, we share writer opportunities, attend each other’s launches, and buy each other’s books. I’m actually running an off-shoot group of PJ Writing, an Indie Publishing Support Group, which we run once a month for all the PJ Writers who are curious about indie publishing in any fashion. It’s empowering to be in the trenches together, asking questions in a safe environment, figuring it out, laughing about the stresses and normalizing our confusion, frustration, not knowing. Sue also offers many other workshops, and she’s a member of Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA), which has a particular style of feedback that is gentle, supportive and strengths-based, so I’ve had a chance to learn about that, too, which has been enriching. As far as professional development goes, I’m a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, (TWUC). They did an extraordinary job of pivoting to free online webinars during COVID, and continue to offer those frequent webinars now. I learn an incredible amount from these opportunities and they make me feel like I’m part of a writing community.
On challenges …
My children are grown up and so I don’t have the same pressures I did when they were little: getting them dressed and ready for school, helping with homework, sooo much driving to extra-curriculars, etc. I remember writing TV scripts from the soccer field parking lot, or in the wee hours of the morning so I could get them done before my family woke up or the long day at a TV studio began. Those days are pretty much gone. Now my biggest obstacle is overwhelm and changes in the industry. I have a lot of projects on the go, because you never know what will go next—this is one of the perils of a freelance life. I try to reduce the number, but I frequently don’t feel in control of them in a way that would allow me to focus on just one or two at a time. There are lots of deadlines not of my own making, for funding, publication, appearances, opportunities—and I have to meet those deadlines or miss a way to get a project out into the world. And so admin creeps into writing time, crowds my brain, makes me panic about getting it all done. I can be incredibly prolific when I shut off, even temporarily, those external voices and pressures—so that’s always the goal. Getting back to a place where I can think.
![Book Cover At Last Count Book Cover At Last Count](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe58a5db0-da21-40d5-bbdb-f55bec20c5ac_1500x2400.jpeg)
On the best writing advice …
That advice from Nathan Whitlock—the best way to get over the anxiety of publishing your first book is to quickly get started on a second—ranks right up there. At Last Count was published in June, 2022; he gave me that advice in April—two months before publication. I picked a project (my next book, called Lost In France), joined PJ Writing, and dedicated one hour a morning to writing it I finished the first rough draft in a year. It took me 15 years to get At Last Count into bookstores (don’t get me started), so one year was a significant improvement.
The two other pieces of advice that I remind myself of on a regular basis:
From Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird (my favourite book on the craft of writing) “E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you.” A great thing to remember when facing overwhelm.
From author/entrepreneur/teacher Seth Godin: “Real artists ship.” Meaning—if you are a working writer, write, make it the very best it can be in that moment, and then send it somewhere. To your agent, a publisher, your local community theatre, a writing contest, wherever. But don’t just muck about in your living room, never letting your writing out into the world. Sure, it might not be perfect. In fact, it’s almost guaranteed to be flawed. That’s okay. You’ll get notes. You’ll think about the notes. You might need to walk up and down The Hill That Solves Writing Problems once or twice. And then you’ll do another draft.
On the worst writing advice …
“Not. Like. This.” That was the supremely unhelpful piece of advice I once got from a producer in the margin of a TV episode outline. On the same show, come to think of it, another producer once wrote in the margin, NO!!! Yes, that was three exclamation marks, and the NO, in capital letters, was underlined three times. In both instances, I was crushed. And ashamed. And therefore, bereft of ideas. It took a lot to get my act together and try to come up with the next draft. I made it through, but it was not pretty.
At the time, there was an oft short-form piece of feedback used in TV circles, which was “DB”—do better. It would get jotted in the margin next to a story beat or a joke. DB. For me, this falls in the same bucket as those first two pieces of feedback. It’s just unnecessarily curt and disrespects the writer. When I got to the place where I was giving feedback on scripts, I turned it into a question, like, are there any alts? Can we play around with this moment? Or even: I’m not sure about this, can we discuss? Yes, this takes 10 seconds longer to write. But it lays the groundwork for a conversation and builds a relationship.
I spend half my career giving feedback to other people’s writing and trying not to give feedback like that. Sometimes I don’t do a great job—fatigue, frustration, overwhelm, intense work pressure are all contributing factors—but I try. And when I do give bad feedback, I know instantly. It’s like that rule in the Four Agreements—be impeccable with your word. You know when you’ve done poorly. In those instances, I try to apologize as soon as possible, reset, and try again. Giving great feedback is putting the writer first, and also the project. It’s not about the feedback giver.
On advice from personal experiences …
We’re juggling a lot of factors in our lives that affect our chances of success. In fact, we’re juggling a lot to even just getting the writing done, never mind getting it out the door. There is family and work and deadlines and grocery shopping and all the expectations we’ve stored up in our heads about being good. I’ve faced chauvinism in TV especially, and at the time, I was too afraid of losing my job to call it out. I think we women can help each other. Support each other. Get through the imperfect situations, and then, when we’re in charge, create the work environment we know can be far better. It’s not a badge of honour to prioritize working to the exclusion of all else. We know we can get it done and allow room for the rest of life to exist, too. We can make better work environments happen. And the more we do, the more it will become the norm.
On a recent publication …
I most recently published my first novel, At Last Count, through Invisible Publishing. It’s available everywhere, including in audiobook format. I’m currently working on developing At Last Count into a TV drama, working on a new upmarket women’s lit/romance book series called Lost in France, and preparing to tour a new play that I co-wrote with my husband, Kirk Dunn, called Spycraft.
Claire’s online spaces …
Spring Into Memoir
If you’re in the Greater Sudbury area, join
and me at the South End Library on Thursday, June 7 from 6:30-7:45 PM for a FREE memoir writing workshop.Learn about the foundations of memoir, the different types of memoir, and how to begin your story. Don't forget to bring a notebook or laptop for our guided writing prompts.
👉Register at https://bit.ly/Spring-Into-Memoir
If you have any questions, please contact us at rekindlecreativity@gmail.com.
Happy writing!
Women Writing is a weekly newsletter featuring women who are doing the difficult work of writing. If you enjoyed reading the newsletter, please share it with a fellow writer. Let’s inspire each other!
Liisa Kovala is an Author Accelerator certified book coach. She is the author of Sisu’s Winter War (Latitude 46, 2022) and Surviving Stutthof: My Father’s Memories Behind the Death Gate (Latitude 46, 2017). Her short stories and creative non-fiction have been published in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines. Liisa is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, Canadian Authors Association, and past-president of Sudbury Writers’ Guild. Visit liisakovala.com.