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Sunday Letter: 01.20.18

January 20, 2019 By Talya Tate Boerner

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Happy cold Sunday from Northwest Arkansas! Since I wrote to you last, I’ve mostly been editing my WIP. When the banker in me says WIP, I think of a current asset, a component of inventory. The writer in me knows WIP as my current manuscript. 100,000 words that occupy my every waking (and dreaming) moment.

It’s fun, the editing. And maddening.

I consider every part of writing a book the most important part.

The first draft? Without it, the book would never exist. Every draft after the first one makes the story stronger and more succinct. But the intimate, exhausting, exhilirating editing comes when the writer debates the nuance of every single word, considering whether there’s a better choice in a sea of words.

That’s where I am now. And I’m obsessed with it.

The Last Week of December

December 29, 2018 By Talya Tate Boerner

THE LAST WEEK IN DECEMBER provides a quiet pause before stepping into the new year. The gifts have been given and opened, and we’re back home after five days in Dallas. For me, it feels like a free week, time to mold like Play-doh, to shape however I like.

I use some of my time during this last week in December to review my prior year. I think about the high points and begin to plan for 2019. I compile a few statistics. Without looking back, it’s impossible to know where I am. And this process helps me let go of what’s not working and move forward.

Something I’ve learned as a creative—I have to be willing to take a long hard look at myself, cheer for myself, and push myself into uncomfortable territory… AND, it’s about my entire body of work. Every word, every sentence, every story creates the whole of what I’m trying to do—to be a better writer and speak to a larger audience.

Sunday Letter: 11.04.18

November 4, 2018 By Talya Tate Boerner

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Greetings from Overland Park, Kansas, a place I’ve not visited in twenty years, not since I had a different life. On Thursday, my friend Gail and I drove up for the Johnson County Writers Conference, a two-day event held at the Johnson County Public Library. If gold stars were handed out for writer conferences, I’d give this one five shiny ones. I leave inspired, encouraged, filled with so many ideas to implement, websites to visit, and word loops to study that I can barely concentrate on penning this Sunday Letter…

The thing about roads trips and writer conferences— the best ones shove me out of my routine and fling open my mind.

I didn’t realize how much creative shoving and flinging I needed.

But first…
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