I’m working on a project with the working title, Aftermath: Living After My Brother Died. He died more than 40 years ago. I’ve never written about his death much and never to my satisfaction. Now I’m trying again. I’m 13,000 words in (with 10s of thousands of words from earlier attempts lying in wait in my dropbox) and I think it’s missing something.
Aside from writing, I am also always making things. I have never really thought about this fact of myself. I have four children and six grandchildren and making things with them and for them has always been one of my life’s great pleasures. I could not list all of the things I have made if I tried. My favorite thing is to make things from other things. So it just dawned on me that Aftermath is incomplete until I include stuff I have made. I guess they could be considered illustrations. So stay tuned for that stuff.
I’m also going to use this space as a writer’s diary. I don’t mean that I’ll be keeping a record of my writing process, although I’ll include some of that, but of all the things that are happening around me that seem to have something to do with what I’m writing. I don’t know about other writers, but when I’m working on a project, I can feel like the whole world is working on the project with me. Or maybe that’s just a writer’s megalomania. It probably is.
I’m hoping that there are some people out there in Substackland who also love making things and can give me tips, ideas, a helping hand. Thank you in advance!
Making things (from other things) is such an important piece of who you are in the world!
Brilliant ideas here -- connecting your making to your writing. Using Substack to talk about the writing process. I look forward to following the process.