Remember the point of it all...

Plus, some gift ideas – and discount codes – for the writer in your life.

HELLO! My book came out three weeks ago, and I’ve been out and about promoting it like my life depends on it, which has been wonderful, strange, meaningful, tiring, cosy and nerve-wracking.

Photo: Jess Littlewood

The weird thing is that although you have incredibly nice encounters with people who are supporting the book, and buying the book, and some who’ve already read and enjoyed it, you come home without much sense of how the book is really doing. Unless you’re an outlier whose book becomes an exceptional hit, I’m not sure an author ever really gets an objective answer to whether their book has worked out or not, if there is such a thing. Word of mouth takes time – can almost go on infinitely – and it’s all so nebulous and scattered. I suppose publishers know, but probably not for a long time, and a book’s fortunes can change over the years because of factors that no one could ever predict or control.

All of this has reminded me of what so many authors have told me over the years: that the satisfaction of the writing process itself is the bit you have to hang onto, even though it’s just you, in your living room, wearing the same jumper that you’ve had on for the past fortnight, tapping away dutifully and occasionally taking a break to eat some yoghurt.

I listened earlier this week to a conversation between

Elizabeth Gilbert

and Mike Birbiglia, who both make fascinating work around creativity, but come at it from different angles (Gilbert is the author of Big Magic; Birbiglia makes the podcast Working It Out) – which made for a very inspiring discussion. I loved it when Gilbert said this:

The same thing that got me through seven years of rejection letters is the same thing that got me through the massive success of Eat, Pray, Love; is the same thing that got me through a book being cancelled; is the same thing that gets me to my desk every morning. There’s a through line that goes through all of that, which is: I really love doing this. And I really love this line in the Bhagavad Gita, 5000-year-old wisdom, that says, ‘You’re entitled to the labour, but you’re not entitled to the fruit of the labour.’ And I feel like that’s the wisest possible way to work.

Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert for the reminder! Here’s the conversation in full, on Apple Podcasts (you can also find it on other podcast platforms).

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The sixth season of my In Writing podcast comes to a close soon, and I have to say, I think it’s been an excellent one. Recent guests have included the novelist Tom Crewe (who spoke with moving honesty about pre-publication anxiety, as well as giving a great argument for sex scenes in fiction); legendary British cartoonist and graphic novelist Posy Simmonds; Nathan Silver, who made the wonderful Jason Schwartzman/Carol Kane comedy Between the Temples, and is fascinating about the role of improv in screenwriting; the novelist Yomi Adegoke, who delivers a reality check to the publishing industry on the impact of 2020’s hurriedly commissioned anti-racism books; and the very funny biographer Craig Brown, who has some surprising thoughts about literary prizes. There’s also a bonus episode where Sathnam Sanghera interviews me, and accuses me of procrastinating on writing one book by writing another instead:

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This season of the podcast – and this edition of the newsletter – are sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative, who run writing courses online and in London. Brilliantly, they offer gift vouchers from £40 upwards, which would make a very lovely Christmas present, maybe for somebody who talks about wanting to write but needs a loving nudge.

Here are some of their courses, which include video lectures and exercises from unbelievable names like Tessa Hadley, Marian Keyes, David Nicholls and Erin Kelly. They have a 30-day writing bootcamp starting in January, and courses covering every stage of writing a novel, as well as lots of genre classes. I took their Character Development – The Deep Dive course a few years ago and found it so helpful.

You can buy a gift voucher here. Also, if you fancy booking yourself onto a four or six-week online course, as a much deserved self-gift, you can use the code INWRITING20 to get £20 off.

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Tell you what else would make a lovely Christmas present? My book!

It’s called In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation. Buy it from Granta and you’ll get a signed copy at a 20% discount – just enter the promo code Substack20, valid until the end of January. If you would like me to dedicate your copy, you can email the name for the dedication to lelmer@granta.com (please factor in a little wait for delivery, as I have to go into the office to do the dedication!).

What a good-looking spine

I am still pinching myself that this actually happened, but somehow we got a copy to (queen) Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, and she read it and came back with this blurb:

What a rich and charming stew of meditations on writing – process, craft, courage – by some of my favorite writers ever. This book will be useful and comforting to anyone who is writing, wanting to write – or stuck!

So there you go. Don’t take my word for it. Take Anne Lamott’s word for it.

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Signing off now with lots of love – and if you’re writing this week, remember: that’s the best bit!