Hello and Happy April to each one of you! (Is Happy April a thing? If it’s not, I think it should be.) I’ve been struggling these last few weeks, for a variety of reasons related to life and loss and change and growth, so I’m trying to focus on what can be joyous in these early days of spring.
The new flowers pressing up through the dark winter soil to share their blooms and fragrance. The sunshine, and the way it glints off the ocean. How soft my cat Teddy’s fur is, and how much I love it when he sits on my lap. The sound of my son laughing and trash talking on his Xbox with his friends. The thought of my daughter coming home from university in a couple of weeks for the whole summer.
I’m calling this newsletter Remember, because I was reminded recently to focus on what I already know and have already learned. It can be so tempting to strive and yearn for the next thing - what we don’t possess yet - instead of slowing down and appreciating what we’ve already discovered.
I don’t know who could use this reminder along with me, but it’s OKAY TO RE-EVALUATE YOUR GOALS AND MAKE CHANGES. (All caps for emphasis because I’ve been stressed out over this.) When we set goals, we can amend them if we find they aren’t working like we hoped they would. That’s what’s going on for me right now. How about you?
One-Word Feeling Check-In
How are you feeling right now, in one word? I’m feeling pensive. I re-read this section from last month’s newsletter where I talked about dreaming into new ideas and possibilities that were pushing up into my heart, and I realise now that I didn’t give them enough time and space. As a result, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling sad and unmoored.
Thankfully, I decided to stop trying to force a writing project and allow myself to dream about what I really want to be writing and working towards right now. Part of the joy of being an indie author, with my own publishing company and imprint, is supposed to be pursuing my own sense of wonder when it comes to my writing and publishing projects.
Somehow, when I was goal setting last year for this year, I forgot about Ruby Finch Books’ tagline: intuitive courage. When we get lost, and can’t find our way, the answer to the problem is to slow down and re-evaluate. And then give ourselves permission to change course as needed. How are you feeling right now?
Book Corner
Every Easter I re-read Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers, as it’s one of those novels you can just sink into like a comfy pair of slippers. It alternates between the 1980s and WWII in Cornwall, England. I love it so much and I’ve been re-reading it for decades.
I’ve been on a tear through Freida McFadden’s books as they read so fast and are very hard to put down. I’m still waiting at the library for The Teacher, The Inmate, and The Locked Door but over the last month I read The Coworker, Never Lie, and The Housemaid’s Secret and I loved them all. Flipping POVs, twists and turns, and endings I never see coming.
But my favourite read this month was Kristin Hannah’s The Women. I adore her books. This one focuses on the Vietnam war era and the American women who served and then came home to scorn and invisibility. It’s beautifully written, stirring, and I felt bereft when I turned the final page.
The Soul Says
When I get stressed, I begin obsessing about minute details. I start focusing on what other people might be thinking about me or my work. It becomes easy for me to lose sight of the bigger picture.
I’m learning when this happens that I need to forego my daily to-do list and pull out my journal. I need to dream again. To remember why I love writing and teaching. To re-focus my intention and attention on what matters most to me. This is the cure for paralysis and panic that I’m not up to scratch or that my ideas and words are just more white noise out in the world, easy to ignore and overlook.
We have to believe in ourselves. We have to work at knowing that we are enough, and we are doing enough, and managing our expectations around being liked all the time. What matters is doing work that we are proud of. It really does help to remember who we are, and how far we have come, and to pay closer attention to the entire forest instead of the individual trees. How about you? What is your soul saying right now?
Ruby Finch Books Is Turning One!
On June 7th, Ruby Finch Books is celebrating our first anniversary as a small press and a company! This is a long-held dream for me and I’m very excited to celebrate.
I’m still cooking up some ideas, but I imagine there will be book giveaways, maybe some swag to give away, and more! Watch this space next month for more info on this milestone.
Author Nurture
The first session of my new monthly zoom series The Writing Well Author Nurture series with Alexandra Writers’ Centre in Calgary is Tuesday, April 9th and there’s still some space! Please come join us for some gentle self-care as we launch the series.
I’m also offering one-to-one Author Nurture for writers looking for some encouragement and care while they write. If you want to talk about your career goals, or build in some creative practices, or set up strategies for submitting work and dealing with rejection (and success!), please reach out and let’s chat. I’d love to know what the term “Author Nurture” means to you! For more info, please see my author site and Ruby Finch Books.
Upcoming In-Person/Online Class Schedule – 2024
The Writing Well Author Nurture Series Establish Your Unique Identity on Zoom: Tuesday, April 9 from 11 am – 12:30 pm PST
Write Your Memoir: Key Building Blocks – White Rock Library: Saturday, April 13 from 2 – 3:30 pm
Write Your Novel or Memoir – City of Langley Library: Saturday, April 27 from 1 – 2 pm
Sharing Life Memories – Kent Street Activity Centre in White Rock: Thursday, May 2 from 1 – 3 pm
Write Your Novel: Key Building Blocks – White Rock Library: Saturday, May 11 from 2 – 3:30 pm
The Writing Well Author Nurture Series Trust Your Intuition: Tuesday, May 14 from 11 am – 12:30 pm PST
Conversation Cafe – Kent Street Activity Centre in White Rock: Tuesday, June 11 from 1 – 3 pm
The Writing Well Author Nurture Series Create an Inspiring Writing Routine: Tuesday, June 11 from 11 am – 12:30 pm PST
Post Civ Update!
I’m deep into my production plan for the second book published by Ruby Finch Books, a post-apocalyptic speculative climate novel called Post Civ, and I’m getting really excited to share it with you! The book won’t be released until September 14th, but the cover is almost finished (and gorgeous!) and the interior design is happening this month. Both of these stages are really important ones.
With Jamesy Harper’s Big Break, there was so much I still didn’t know about independent publishing. In many ways, I rushed the process. Now, with one book published and out in the world and available in public libraries, I’ve learned a lot and that’s helping me with book #2. But it hinders me as well. I think I sort of froze up last month, and struggled to make decisions. Instead of seeing this as a grand adventure, I started worrying that it might not be good enough, which is usually code for “I’m not good enough.”
Thankfully, I built in enough time to step back and take a breath. To re-read some of the manuscript and remember why I wrote it and what I love so much about it. Then I could approach the cover and the book design with a lighter heart and a fresher set of eyes, choosing to focus on what I love about it instead of what I fear. This has helped me so much. And maybe by the next newsletter I’ll have a final cover ready to share with you!
TV Recs
We got BritBox for a month because we wanted to try the series MI-5, and found loads of gems there to try. British crime shows are comfort watches for me, and there are so many good ones to choose from.
We picked Payback because we love Ozark, and I enjoyed the twisty story and the Edinburgh setting. I’d heard about Staged, and I’m a big fan of both David Tennant and Michael Sheen, and it’s so meta and ridiculous and funny. We didn’t know anything about This Time with Alan Partridge, but I enjoy Steve Coogan’s brand of cringe comedy so we gave it a whirl and it made me laugh so hard I could barely breathe in several episodes.
Write Your Novel or Memoir Online Classes
If you want to join us in October for the next 20-week class, please reach out to julianne@rubyfinchbooks.com and we’ll chat. The class is half full right now, so don’t wait too long! The full schedule is on my website, along with the growing number of in-person creative writing classes I’m scheduling around the lower mainland and online. If you’ve always longed to write a novel or memoir, you are warmly invited to join us!
Just Teddy Now (Goodbye to Flower)
On March 17th, Flower stopped eating and drinking. He became weak and lethargic, barely able to lift his head. When we took him to the vet, thinking it was another round of pancreatitis that he’d made it through several times before, she said he seemed to be in kidney failure and wheezing with a bronchial infection, not to mention having dangerously low blood sugar as he’s been diabetic for the last two years.
Sobbing, I had to make a very difficult phone call to Ava in Victoria, as the vet was suggesting that this was the end of the road for Flower. Ava got him when she was only seven, as a tiny kitten, and he was her baby. She walked on the ferry right after I called, and thankfully we were all able to be together to say goodbye to our 13.5 year old boy. A lot of tears were shed. It’s so painful to say farewell to our beloved pets.
Goodbye, Flower. You were loved and you will be missed. Thank you for all of the love you shared with us, and now you’ll be reunited with your lovely sister Little Rose.
Libraries forever,
Julianne and Ruby Finch Books