Issue 24: Art in the Vacuum
New projects and magic elixirs
Hi friends! How are you feeling?
Me? I’m feeling great!
A couple of months ago, I started drinking water. Like, a half gallon or so a day. The summer here in North Carolina was hot. Really hot. I was consuming the water primarily to stay alive, but then I noticed the side effects. My body felt better. The aches and pains I experienced on a daily basis didn’t feel so achy or painy anymore. The headaches I battled on a constant basis essentially disappeared. My frequent heartburn was no longer frequent. I found myself forgetting to drink coffee during the day because I felt awake, alert, and not like I was on the verge of falling into a coma.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s something like, “Well, DUH, Wes! Water is good for you!”
Forgive me. I’m slow on the uptake. Now, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure I was dehydrated for the first 39 years of my life. So, here’s to not feeling like death every day.
Water. Get yourself some of this magic elixir immediately.
What Happened Last Issue?
I discussed a new project that has taken over my brain!
Issue 23: Kill Your Doppelgängers
In This Issue:
The Importance of Reaching Out
Favorite Books on Writing: Part I
Project Updates!
Send a Letter
I have a question for you.
What do you do when you encounter a piece of music, film, writing, or other art that moves you?
Most of us consume the art, perhaps tell a friend or partner our thoughts, and move on with life. That’s normal.
Art is often created in a vacuum. If you are the creative type yourself, you know this. We make art for ourselves, experience the satisfaction of having created something out of nothing, and—if we are the types who put that art out into the world—we await feedback from those who experience it.
But more often than not, that feedback never comes.
As someone who has put art out into the world for the past two decades—first as music, and then as writing—I can count the amount of feedback I’ve received on several hands. Getting that feedback requires time and effort on behalf of the person who experienced it. They have to write a letter, a review, an email. And time is precious. After all, those precious seconds it takes to write a couple sentences to tell someone how you felt could also be put into Netflix. A video game. Endless 15-second videos on Instagram. Picking your nose. Taking the time to drop a note just doesn’t happen.
One of my “New Year’s Resolutions” (which I came up with after 2023 was well underway) was to take the time to reach out to people whose art made me feel something and let them know. Just a couple of quick lines. Heck, the world of social media makes it so easy. Almost everyone has a handle or email or DM that’s publicly available.
I keep a list handy of things I enjoyed, and whenever I find myself with a few free minutes, I jot down my thoughts for that creator, and then send them off the next time my calendar is free. Musicians, writers, directors, whomever. The goal is not to create some deep relationship with them, but to provide a piece of feedback that may encourage them to keep on creating. You never know how someone is feeling, and a quick message can turn around a day, a month, a year, a career.
Case in point, I recently emailed writer Chris Colin about his article “We Never Close” in issue 25 of Alta Journal, because I was moved by the way he wove voice and style into his journalism. It felt fresh and exciting. I read it twice. Chris wrote me back a few days later and said my words turned his day around. Creatives are often having a day that could use some turning around. We’re an unsure, self-conscious, and nervous breed, after all.
I urge you to consider sharing those thoughts when you have them. If a book moved you to tears, or made you laugh, or you recommended the title to a friend, please please please take the time to drop the author a quick note and leave a review of the book on Amazon. If a video game challenged your way of thinking, provided an unforgettable narrative, or gave your pupils stunning visuals, drop a note to the developers, or the game’s narrative team, or the studio’s art director. If you came across a short film or documentary on YouTube that captured your imagination, or terrified you, tell the director those feelings.
It’s so important that we encourage those who create art. And that power is in your hands.
Favorite Books on Writing: Part I
I love the craft of writing. Over my lifetime it’s been interesting to see how my tastes have changed. In my youth I read a lot of long-form fantasy novels… your Tolkiens, your Jordans, etc. At that time I loved heavy description and flowery verse. But now, in 2023 as an older, crankier fellow, I find conciseness to be ever so sexy. When I see flowery prose I find myself yelling “get on with it, already!” I don’t need every blank filled in. Let my imagination participate.
However, I’m always looking to add to my own skill set. Further developing my voice across the comics, video games, and books I write has been a top priority. I read a lot of craft books in my free time. There’s no shortage out there. After all, just about everyone who experiences a successful career—whether it be a flash in the pan or a decades-long, bookshelf-length contribution—has written about writing. And all of these books, no matter how “good” or how “bad” we may think their authors are offer valuable insights on everything from story structure to character development, to writing routines or navigating the publishing industry. I enjoy reading these experiences and taking from them what I can.
If you’re in the process of launching your own writing career, or even in the middle of maintaining it, you might find something to love in these books. (If you have a favorite, drop a comment and recommend it!)
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
(Hah! You thought I was gonna start with King’s On Writing, didn’t you?)
I love this book. I’ve read it a bunch of times. Anne Lamott breaks the mold of what most of us view as a professional author. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. She doesn’t think she’s changing the world. She just does what she is compelled to do, which is write.
Lamott provides helpful tips and tricks to help remove the roadblocks we put in our own way as we tackle a manuscript, or short story, or film script, or article. She reminds readers that being perfect is not what writing is about. It’s about putting your words together and then polishing them into the best thing they can be.
I mentioned voice above? Lamott is a master. The style in which she wrote Bird By Bird is warm, friendly, conversational, sassy, and whip smart. She’s not concerned with telling readers HOW to write their story (which I find most craft books are). Lamott’s contribution comes chock full of friendly suggestions to HELP you write your story. If you need some inspiration and need to feel like being a writer is an attainable goal, you’ll come away from this book feeling exactly that.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”
Project Updates!
The Lowlanders Project
In my last issue, I talked about an idea I had that I really wanted to write. Naturally, the second I finished up another manuscript, I started plugging away on it. It’s a sickness, this writing thing. That’s what I love. The work. Some days I feel like a professional emailer, so the opportunity to take time to throw myself into this story was much-needed.
A funny thing happened, though. I originally notebooked an outline for this story a few years ago. The idea struck, I channeled it onto paper, but I wasn’t in a position to write it, as my daughter had just been born. But I did transcribe the idea from the notebook to a Google doc, and there it sat. Waiting. Or so I thought.
Shortly after I sent out the last newsletter, I opened up the outline doc and was astounded at what I saw there. It was more than the outline I remembered. In fact, there were 13,000 words already written. Two full chapters.
Now, want to hear something crazy? I have ZERO recollection of writing these words. Reading through the doc felt like experiencing these letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs for the very first time. They were crafted in my tone and voice, so I know I did in fact write them. I just have no memory of doing so. I can only assume they were completed in some sleep-deprived state wrapped around raising an infant.
Those words? The ones that were there in the file waiting to surprise me? They were terrible. I didn’t keep any of them. I had changed a major story point in my mind, almost none of what I wrote was applicable anymore. Deleting those words and starting over was absolutely freeing.
As I always do, when I write something of longer-than-normal nature, I tracked my word counts. I believe in momentum. Putting in a little bit every day keeps me excited about a project. Wait too long, and it’s hard to return to it. I like to see my progress visually. Since I do have a day job, I’m working on this manuscript when time permits—that means early in the morning before the kiddo wakes up, during lunch breaks, or by stealing 15 minutes here, or 30 minutes there when my family is occupied with other things. There are good writing days and bad writing days.
Three weeks in, and 20K words. Five chapters. I’m maintaining a good pace.
Molly’s Oddities
The Pitch for Molly’s Oddities (drawn by the wonderful Aleks Jovic) went out to more agents in recent days. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
I did receive my first two rejections on the project, which is fully expected. It’s a numbers game, after all. You’ll get dozens (or hundreds?) of Nos before you get that one Yes. And that Yes is all that matters.
I submitted the sample pages and manuscript to one agent whom I’ve sent many projects in the past—I like her style, and the thing she represents—and I was flattered to have received an actual non-form response this time out.
Dear Wes,
Thank you so much for your query. I read your pages with interest, but unfortunately your manuscript isn't the right fit for me. I'm going to pass, but I hope you'll keep me in mind should you find yourself with a new manuscript to query.
Stay well, and thank you again for sharing your work with me.
THE STATS AS THEY STAND:
Submissions: 12
Rejections: 2
The Incoming Storm
Last time, I mentioned that I’d completed and sent back my first round of edits on this young readers book for Penguin Random House. The following week, I got a few more notes… really simple things that needed an extra date here or a word of clarity there. This biggest change was that I took three very heady paragraphs and condensed them down to three easy to digest sentences. Writing is rewriting.
The manuscript was returned in a timely manner, and has been sent on to the copy editor for final perusal of factual information. According to my editor, I may not hear anything else about this book until it “shows up on my doorstep” in 2025.
Publishing works in mysterious ways.
But before I had a chance to overthink the entire experience of having written a nonfiction book for a major series with a major publisher, I was asked about my interest in writing another one. Which leads us to…
The Weirdness
I’m gearing up to start a new book for Penguin. Whereas my first foray into this world was writing about a geographical location, this time I’ll be writing about a person.
I should note, for both of these books I wasn’t offered a list of topics to choose from. They are all based on schedules, publication dates, and what topic is available at any given time.
However, when my editor told me the subject of this particular book—I was stupidly excited. It’s someone of which I am a big fan, so learning more about them and profiling them for younger readers will no doubt be an absolute blast.
I don’t have an official timeline yet, but my cursory research into this person has been So. Much. Fun.
I really do try to keep these newsletters short. I promise. But there’s so much exciting stuff happening. Thank you for tuning in.
Deuces!
I’m Wes Locher. I’ve been writing professionally for more than a decade. I write comic books, video games, fiction, and nonfiction. I write whatever seems fun, cool, and inspiring. I also love helping other writers to demystify the process of making a living through words. This is my newsletter.