The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.
Wow. This episode hit me hard — in the best way. I’ve been quietly wrestling with what I thought was just a creative funk, but hearing you and Emma so openly unpack your own struggles made me realize I’m not broken… I’m just human. The honesty, the humor, the tenderness you both bring to this conversation felt like a lifeline. Not because you had all the answers, but because you weren’t afraid to say you didn’t. That kind of vulnerability is rare, and deeply comforting.
Thank you for showing that even seasoned, badass writers hit walls — and that the way through isn’t always force, but sometimes grace, patience, and remembering the why. I’m walking away from this feeling lighter, and a little more hopeful. Grateful for this slice-of-life realness. Please don’t stop making episodes like this.
Thanks, Michi! It was an interesting episode to record, and one I got a lot of email about. I find that I'm tired of artifice. Now, I just let it all hang out. :)
Not giving the alchemy its due - maybe your impulse to not write for a while is to give you time to forget about the story, so you can then approach it as if someone else wrote it?
Emma's cooking metaphor about not having ground beef, but having ground pork, and leeks instead of onions.. oh my goodness, I can identify with that in a very literal way. I've been very frustrated with meal planning because I haven't always been able to reliably find ingredients in the store, and it's all very well and nice to have this recipe that sounds good and is "so easy," and it would be so easy if you could freakin' find the ingredients on time! But then by the time you find a fresh onion, your pork has gone bad or whatever, and the timing is all off. I feel very frustrated creatively in that way, too.
On a literal level, I ended up finding a website that lets you put in the ingredients you do have and brings up recipes. It's not perfect, but it sort of helps with that part.
So I see what you mean about an anti-solution. I had to go backwards. And I thought of this site because it used to be allrecipes, before they changed it. So I had to find something that mimicked what I knew and used before.
So talking about how you knew how to do it in your youth, maybe there is something about going back to your youth and bringing back the best of it, without losing your humility? (As I read your comment... is it writing beats? Did you use to know how to do that?)
I'm still going back and forth with the cooking thing, and trying to get the hang of it and get that flow. It's making some progress, though, I think? So the creative cooking, as well. :) Maybe the business brain and the creative brain as the two sides of this are the metaphor.
You have no idea how good this was to listen to for people who may be in the same boat. Simply voicing these concerns in such a calm and helpful way is immensely useful. Just hearing pros run through their processes and outline little tricks for overcoming the dips is great to hear and resonates more than you can imagine.
Thanks to all for the support group sesh. I'm sure it'll all work out in the end for you Johnny. And for all the stragglers tuning in, chin up and keep hammering those keys until something to be proud of magically pops up on the screen. Ok maybe not THAT easy and certainly not that easy to repeat again and again but getting that routine going through thick and thin is half the battle. Surely?
Reminds me of Anthony Hopkins when he would take all the TV roles he could just to keep working and practicing his craft. TV wasn't the big deal it is today and was secondary to movies but it kept him going until the movie deals picked up again.
Writing articles could be the in between thing while you wait for the creative juices to flow again. Long periods of down time are deadly. How do I know? I'm an expert. I almost perfected the down time thing. And yes it's been a struggle to get back in the saddle. Writers should never get off the horse so to speak. Unless you really want to do something else. But even then...
Thanks for saying this! I'd add to it that there's no shame in going back and considering reinventing something that you think you already have figured out. I've recently decided that I'm not a pantser like I thought I was. I flounder when I don't have Sean's "beats" to give me a rough sense of world and guidance, and I'm terrible at writing my own beats so I don't even try. Hmm ... maybe there's a realization there. And maybe after 15 years doing this, I should go back to zero and learn how to write beats.
Don’t believe you have not helped people. I know we less published authors have nothing to offer to help you but your problem gives us ideas about what we could do when we get there. Thanks.
Wow. This episode hit me hard — in the best way. I’ve been quietly wrestling with what I thought was just a creative funk, but hearing you and Emma so openly unpack your own struggles made me realize I’m not broken… I’m just human. The honesty, the humor, the tenderness you both bring to this conversation felt like a lifeline. Not because you had all the answers, but because you weren’t afraid to say you didn’t. That kind of vulnerability is rare, and deeply comforting.
Thank you for showing that even seasoned, badass writers hit walls — and that the way through isn’t always force, but sometimes grace, patience, and remembering the why. I’m walking away from this feeling lighter, and a little more hopeful. Grateful for this slice-of-life realness. Please don’t stop making episodes like this.
Thanks, Michi! It was an interesting episode to record, and one I got a lot of email about. I find that I'm tired of artifice. Now, I just let it all hang out. :)
Thank you for this! My thoughts as I listened:
Not giving the alchemy its due - maybe your impulse to not write for a while is to give you time to forget about the story, so you can then approach it as if someone else wrote it?
Emma's cooking metaphor about not having ground beef, but having ground pork, and leeks instead of onions.. oh my goodness, I can identify with that in a very literal way. I've been very frustrated with meal planning because I haven't always been able to reliably find ingredients in the store, and it's all very well and nice to have this recipe that sounds good and is "so easy," and it would be so easy if you could freakin' find the ingredients on time! But then by the time you find a fresh onion, your pork has gone bad or whatever, and the timing is all off. I feel very frustrated creatively in that way, too.
On a literal level, I ended up finding a website that lets you put in the ingredients you do have and brings up recipes. It's not perfect, but it sort of helps with that part.
So I see what you mean about an anti-solution. I had to go backwards. And I thought of this site because it used to be allrecipes, before they changed it. So I had to find something that mimicked what I knew and used before.
So talking about how you knew how to do it in your youth, maybe there is something about going back to your youth and bringing back the best of it, without losing your humility? (As I read your comment... is it writing beats? Did you use to know how to do that?)
I'm still going back and forth with the cooking thing, and trying to get the hang of it and get that flow. It's making some progress, though, I think? So the creative cooking, as well. :) Maybe the business brain and the creative brain as the two sides of this are the metaphor.
I'll be sure to update the podcast crew as I work though it!
You have no idea how good this was to listen to for people who may be in the same boat. Simply voicing these concerns in such a calm and helpful way is immensely useful. Just hearing pros run through their processes and outline little tricks for overcoming the dips is great to hear and resonates more than you can imagine.
Thanks to all for the support group sesh. I'm sure it'll all work out in the end for you Johnny. And for all the stragglers tuning in, chin up and keep hammering those keys until something to be proud of magically pops up on the screen. Ok maybe not THAT easy and certainly not that easy to repeat again and again but getting that routine going through thick and thin is half the battle. Surely?
Reminds me of Anthony Hopkins when he would take all the TV roles he could just to keep working and practicing his craft. TV wasn't the big deal it is today and was secondary to movies but it kept him going until the movie deals picked up again.
Writing articles could be the in between thing while you wait for the creative juices to flow again. Long periods of down time are deadly. How do I know? I'm an expert. I almost perfected the down time thing. And yes it's been a struggle to get back in the saddle. Writers should never get off the horse so to speak. Unless you really want to do something else. But even then...
Thanks for saying this! I'd add to it that there's no shame in going back and considering reinventing something that you think you already have figured out. I've recently decided that I'm not a pantser like I thought I was. I flounder when I don't have Sean's "beats" to give me a rough sense of world and guidance, and I'm terrible at writing my own beats so I don't even try. Hmm ... maybe there's a realization there. And maybe after 15 years doing this, I should go back to zero and learn how to write beats.
Don’t believe you have not helped people. I know we less published authors have nothing to offer to help you but your problem gives us ideas about what we could do when we get there. Thanks.
Thank you for this, Bill. I hear this sometimes, and it's always an amazing and humbling thing to be told.