We have some new subscribers…Welcome! I’m so honored you’re here. I will never EVER take you for granted. As such, I hope you find the below helpful. And while I intend the prompts to be writing prompts, they don’t have to be. You can think about them, record voice memos in response, draw your answers, or just read this letter and file them away in your subconcious. Like any good politician, my creative brain will answer a prompt with whatever it wanted to say in the first place. And this past week (in which my new book came out!)—-that is “OH MY GOD PEOPLE ARE LOOKING AT ME!!! WHAT DO I DO?! This is SO uncomfortable. MAKE IT STOP.” Also, “What if they STOP?! Please, God, don’t let them stop.” And “I DON’T DESERVE THIS. Or wait, yes I do! No I don’t! When is Oprah calling?!” I’m tired just typing this. And you don’t have to be mid book-launch, to feel this way. I call it the “baby shower feeling.” (Note: I have never had a baby or a baby shower but this feeling is how I imagine it feels to be opening presents in the center of a circle of well-intentioned people you don’t want to disappoint who are paying extreme attention to your facial expressions.)
So this week we are going to write about some of these worries, concerns and fears. The big and the little. The conflicting ones. The messy ones. The ones you used to have and don’t anymore. The ones that make you laugh. The ones you just started having recently. Like losses, one worry has a way of bringing up all the other ones. And experiencing it can feel like tugging on the loose string of sweater, before you know it you’ve unraveled a whole skein of them. So, we’ll go in together.
As in everything, you’re not alone, even if it feels that way.
These prompts are meant to inspire you— not limit or intimidate you. To that end, put your phone in airplane mode if you can and set a timer for 7 minutes. You can always write (or think) for longer if you so choose, but I find 7 minutes to be kind of magical. Second, tell yourself that you are already excellent, perfect even—if only for 7 minutes (you have the rest of your life to criticize yourself). Third, whenever you get stuck, choose a sensation to describe (a taste, sound, sight, smell, noise, etc). Let me know how it goes! If you’d like, you can post your response in the comments section or on Instagram by tagging @laurel_braitman.
Write a list of every single thing you’ve ever been scared of or worried about—start with the earliest things you can remember and work your way forwards in time. Do a line break between each. Don’t stop and think too hard or edit your list as you go. There is no fear or worry too silly to list. And if you want to skip around and not work chronologically, that’s fine too. Think about the ridiculous fears and the biggest ones you can barely write down lest your superstitious self worries they’ll come true (I promise this list is not a conjuring). Include them all. Keep going till the timer goes off.
Choose one worry from the list you just wrote and spend the next 7 minutes writing a numbered, step-by-step survival manual for facing it should it come true (it can be one you have experienced in real life or not). Eg. instructions for dealing with the monster under your bed that you never actually met as a kid, or your step by step approach to surviving a plane crash on a deserted island. Or maybe it’s a worry that has come true, the loss of someone close to you or a breakup you didn’t see coming. As with #1, don’t stop and edit yourself or overthink. And stick to the instruction manual format. Think Ikea instructions or Wikihow articles. You can even include diagrams.
You are a coach, only instead of coaching a team, you are coaching a past version of yourself through something this self has no idea is coming. Write the locker room style speech you’d give this version of yourself. Feel free to use sports metaphors. This might be the only time I ever ask this of you ;)
If you’d like, you can post your response(s) in the comments section or on Instagram by tagging @laurel_braitman and I’ll find them.
Some of you may have found me via Samin Nosrat’s newsletter. She is the kind of friend I could not survive my own life without. She wrote a brand new recipe inspired by my new book (and Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen). It’s posted on my instagram here and it’s THE MOST DELICIOUS HOT FUDGE SAUCE you will ever eat. I swear it. Just don’t forget the flaky sea salt.
Did you or any young people you know take any Draw Together drawing classes during the pandemic? For me, Wendy MacNaughton’s incredible programming over the last few years has been like a lighthouse in a raging storm. And as of last week, all Draw Together classrooms resources are now available for FREE! Sign up here and you can bring the genius of Wendy and her incredible drawing classes into a school you care about.
I’m always on the lookout for resources to help my students who want to publish their writing more widely and recently stumbled upon Kate McKean’s substack “Agents and Books.” It’s so full of wisdom. This post in particular got me. “Your book can be the absolutely best in the world, and/or best you can do, and you can publish it traditionally or via self-publishing and it will still break your heart. Because publishing—either way—is not here to validate you.” True not just for book writing but for most things we dedicate ourselves to. She has lots of practical writing advice too.
I am officially on book tour (and trust me, I’m trying to follow Kate’s advice myself). If you’ve bought my book, holy cow, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And my oh my, I’d love to meet as many of you in person as possible. I even have stickers with me of the beautiful illustrations from the book to give away! And pens that say “Peace be with you, Be not afraid” on them, (If you don’t understand this then you haven’t finished What Looks Like Bravery. What are you doing reading your email?! HA. Just kidding!!!).
Seattle! Tomorrow night, March 24, I will be in conversation with the wonderful Jon Mooallem (one of our absolute best living nonfiction writers) at Town Hall. Tickets here.
Portland! On Monday March 27th I will be in talking with the brilliant Rebecca Skloot, author of #1 NYT bestseller the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks at Powell’s books. Info here.
San Francisco/Oakland! On March 31st I will be interviewed by the incredible Samin Nosrat, cook and bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat at City Arts and Lectures. Tickets here (virtual attendance also possible!!)
New York! On April 7th I will be in chatting with the amazing Maria Popova of Brainpickings/the Marginalian at PandT Knitwear. Info here.
And more, more, more coming soon…..
If you don’t happen to be in those places, or if you’re looking for writing workshops and not book events, do not fret. We have a number of upcoming workshops right here! Join us!
Hi Laurel - thank you for the prompts. I got a little lost after making my list and explored one of those fears a little further (fear of my younger siblings developing drug additions) and I wish I'd written the manual instead. For another 7 minutes, another time perhaps!
However, I did remember one particular childhood fear that was so juicy for me that I had to share. I'm looking forward to creating some IKEA instructions for my past self to follow sometime in the future.
"I am afraid of the dark, cold walk to the trashcan at night at my childhood home, where there is little light and bright green moss growing on asphalt. I typically didn't want to put on shoes so it’s cold and wet and sometimes I step on the odd rock or two that’s shaken loose from the black asphalt and it's hurts like a tiny traitorous lego. As soon as I threw the bag with a big whoosh into the rotting trashcan I sprinted back up the hill, around the corner, jumped onto the porch missing the steps, and ran inside."
I wrote my list and then wrote the realities. Cannot find how to share.