“And it keeps coming, and it keeps coming, and it keeps coming ’til the day it stops.”
– from Someone Great by LCD Soundsystem
I’m dealing with cancer in my family again. If you’ve been around awhile and are keeping track, that makes four family members with cancer over my lifetime, three of them in the past decade. Two survivors, one who lost the battle, and now a little nine-year-old fighting for his life.
Obviously, it’s shitty. Like really really really really really shitty. It’s frustrating and annoying and maddening and fucked.
So much of life is frustrating, annoying, maddening, and fucked.
I find myself wanting to see the silver lining in all of this because I’ve been told that “no one likes a pessimist.” “It’s all in the Universe’s grand plan.” “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” “I’m sure it will all work itself out in the end.”
But sometimes staying optimistic does more harm than good. Sometimes you need a large dose of pessimism. Sometimes you just have to scream “FUCK THIS SHIT!” out loud into the universe over and over again.
I’ve been trying to get back into journaling because it’s helped me so much in the past, but all I’ve been able to write is “not fucking again.” (I cuss a lot when I’m upset. It helps. Try it.) So, I’m taking my own Journal Through It: From “Oh $#@!” to “I’ve got this!” in 30 Days course again. It’s a nice reminder that I have the tools to survive hard things that come my way.
Are you going through something rough right now?
Maybe someone you love is sick as well. Maybe you’re sick. Maybe mass shootings and earthquakes and power hungry narcissistic politicians are getting to you. Maybe the systems of oppression in this world are extra heavy right now for you.
If you’re having a particularly rough time right now, I want to give you my Journal Through It: From “Oh $#@!” to “I’ve got this!” in 30 Days course for free.
It’s helping me a lot, I want it to help you too.
Journaling doesn’t work too well if you don’t do the darn thing, so my only caveat to this offer is that you try to set time aside to journal. Even if it’s just writing “not fucking again” over and over again until you fill the page, like I did.
So if you’re going through a rough time, email me at info@laurenmariefleming.com and I’ll send you a code to get my Journal Through It course for free.
With all kinds of love and support,
Lauren
P.S. Know a friend who’s going through a rough time? Forward them this post and they can get the course for free too. Spread that love all around.
This week’s writerly resources:
- The NYTimes is hiring a race-related editor and if you are a POC you should totally apply.
- Into writing male-on-male erotica? Submit your super hot stories here.
- Brief Encounters and Chance Meetings. Love the theme for this A3 writing contest.
- Apply for a scholarship to the Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency.
- The Hugo House – a place for writers in Seattle – is hiring!
- Hunger Mountain is accepting submissions for short stories, essays, and fiction.
- Submittable is looking for pieces about creativity, the publishing industry, and/or digital media for their blog. They pay $50 for pieces of 1000 words or less.
- If you are a Spanish speaking copyeditor, check out this thread on Twitter.
- Catapult Books is hiring a paid intern in NYC.
- The Women’s National Book Association 2018 conference is open for submissions until March 1. Winners get $250.
- Joyland is accepting submissions for its Open Border Fiction Prize. Any author who writes in English, regardless of country of origin, is encouraged to apply. $1000 and publication as reward.
Got a resource you want to share with others? Email me at info@laurenmariefleming.com and let me know.
What I’m reading right now:
- On my Nook: The Fifth Season (Broken Earth Series #1) by N.K. Jemisin – The only book by a woman of color to win a Hugo award. I’ve also heard great things about the audiobook.
- In my hands: My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman – The grandmother in this story is kind of my new hero.
- In my ears: Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson – I chose it after reading this description on BookRiot, which made me oh-so-happy: “a delightfully odd book about queer polyamorous demi-gods, dysfunctional families, sibling rivalry, Afro-Caribbean mythology, and present day Toronto.”
- In my shopping cart: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton and Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova (the second to Labyrinth Lost, which I loved)– I’ve been waiting for both of these books for so long! What can I say, I love a good diverse YA read.
This is a new section where we can share what we’re reading with each other. Got a book you’re loving right now? Email me at info@laurenmariefleming.com and I’ll include your recommendation in a future newsletter. Also, let’s connect on Goodreads!
