Work in Progress

a fledgling series

Apr 11, 2025

a woman sitting at a desk with a typewriter — Photo by Museums of History New South Wales on Unsplash // Maybe I should start doing my hair and putting on lipstick to write — maybe that's the secret.

A not-so-secret secret about me is that I am writing a novel. Truth be told, I am more than a little bit hesitant to admit to this fact, though I think I’m in good company. While I have collected absolutely no objective data to support the following theory, I would make a conservative estimate that approximately 68.75698% of writers on Substack are, like me, working in some capacity on some type of book. Personally, I love reading or listening to writers wax on about their process, progress, craft, and feelings about big writing projects. I realize this is not everyone’s cup of tea — certainly, this category of content can tend toward the navel-gazey. But I enjoy learning about the many different ways people do this very hard thing of writing books.

I also appreciate (some, not too stringent) accountability measures when it comes to creative work, and find those with an external component to be the most effective. In that vein, I have been mulling over the idea of doing a series of dispatches on the Sisyphean and unreasonable venture that is novel-writing. Nothing too analytical or lengthy, just a few casual observations and progress updates along the way. I’m thinking biweekly (the one that means every other week, not twice a week — ah, English) or even monthly. This feels like something that is in the communal, literary-minded, and experimental spirit of this space, and it also feels like it could be fun — a refreshing break from crafted fiction and personal essays and novel-writing. So I’ve decided to go for it, with the caveat that if I find it isn’t working, I will just…stop writing it. (The series, not the novel. I’m finishing this one, damn it!1)

What can you expect from this series? A brief update with a total word count, a few things that are working, a couple recent roadblocks. Possibly a photo of my writing partner (my dog, Gus), or a list of books or passage of writing I found useful, or a song that is getting me through. I plan to allow this series to evolve as needed in a way that is natural and hopefully useful/interesting.

If this doesn’t sound like your thing, no problem — I’m making this series a separate section of my newsletter that you have to opt in to in order to receive. So if you don’t want to read about yet another aspiring novelist’s capital-J Journey, no worries — simply don’t opt in and you won’t get these missives in your inbox.

If you would like to follow along, then do please OPT IN! Finding community among other writers has been inspiring and energizing, and I’d love to keep that going. To opt in, I believe you’ll have to go to your subscription settings and toggle orange (or green — some color) next to the Work in Progress section of my newsletter. An extra step, but I’d rather be sure I’m not spamming you, and that you are along for the ride because you want to be. Inbox overload is a real thing.

Maybe you’re on your own Aspiring Novelist Journey, in which case, let me know how it’s going! Feel free to use these dispatches as your own check-ins. Comment with your musings, frustrations, milestones, and current writing soundtracks. Maybe you have already written a few novels and want to share your words of wisdom or laugh pityingly at my striving. Maybe you just want to lurk for a will-she/won’t-she occasional diversion. All are welcome. For now.

To receive updates in your inbox from this new Work in Progress series, opt in by going to your subscription settings “Notifications” and toggling orange next to the Work in Progress section. Otherwise — nothing for you to do! Thanks as always for being here.