Welcome!
This newsletter is about to get a makeover.
Writing can be such a lonely business and knowing that I’m sending a note directly to someone who actually wants to hear from me is pretty much my life’s dream realized. So…THANK YOU. This irregularly-timed newsletter will be a personal note from me to you—sharing the things (and people and projects) that bring me joy; writings/music/ideas/strategies that I have found useful when trying to make sense of the hard stuff (breakups, confusing diagnoses, the loss of people we love, but also the minor, grating disappointments of everyday life). I aim to be the human version of the casserole you bring to someone after the sh*t hits the fan. If anyone you know might benefit from knowing about me or my work, please share this newsletter with them! Or, even better, just bring them a snack.
ps. The name of this newsletter is going to change soon but it will still be the same old me writing it.
This week I had a friend in town, the marvelous radio editor, producer and writer Pat Walters (he’s done a million stories but this one about a man and his parrot might be my favorite). We went for a hike in the foothills of Los Padres National Forest. All the rains in Southern California have brought out the green grass, the nascent wildflowers, and even ferns. But the best part of the hike was running into a few creatures I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
I grew up with many, many donkeys. Since we live on a ranch with plenty of space (and their grazing helped with fire control) my parents adopted over a dozen wild ones from the state who would otherwise be killed because there were more donkeys than the desert could support. These donkeys had baby donkeys and those babies had babies and before we knew it, we had too many too. We rehomed a number of them—to folks throughout California who wanted to use the animals for expeditions or for fire control or guard thier livestock, or just to live with as friends. One of these places was a school in Ojai that does pack trips…where I happened to be hiking this week. We turned around a bend in the trail…and there they were! Getting on in years. But soft and kind as ever (except for the one on the right who got jealous if I scratched anyone else too long).
My parents are gone now and our original corral burned in a wildfire a few years ago. But the donkeys remain where they landed. Not stubborn, but sturdy. Or maybe sometimes stubborn but always for a reason. The poet G.K. Chesterton once referred to them as “the tattered outlaw of the earth.” I feel like he probably didn’t know any donkeys personally though. If he had, I think he’d have written about them as soulful, fierce, and curious— tattered maybe, but only in the way that a sacred text or beloved book is tattered.
This week’s prompts are inspired by the surprise-donkeys in your path. The things you stumble upon when you’re not looking. For better or for worse…or just because you’re stubborn about surviving too. Please share your responses with me if you feel like it (on IG by tagging me @laurel_braitman or via the comments section here on Substack).
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 for longer if you so choose, but I find 7 minutes to be sufficiently unscary. Second, tell yourself that you are already an excellent writer, perfect even—if only for 7 minutes (you have the rest of your life to edit and 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!
Your life is a trail-map. Where does it begin? Where does it end? Is it curving or straight? A spiral? A loop? What forests, deserts, or other environments might you pass through? Where is the trail dangerous? How is the way marked? Are there signs? What do they say? What are the place names? Is there a compass? If so, what are the directions? What lies beyond the map? (Feel free to draw this prompt and then just write labels!)
You are an old, old donkey who has lived a very long, mostly healthy, life and learned many lessons. You have worked a difficult job and some easier ones. You have seen human behavior that has shocked and surprised you—in both good ways and bad. You have watched, for decades, as life has swirled and eddied around you. And, unbeknownst to the humans you know, you have also learned how to write. Before you die, you want to share some of what you have learned with these humans. You find a pen and can hold it in your teeth to write a letter on the side of your barn. It begins “I know this is a surprise but…”
Make a list of every single that has ever surprised you. The big and the very small and seemingly insignificant. The excellent and the harrowing. Do not lift your pen from the paper (or your fingers from the keys), just keep going till the timer goes off. Do not edit while writing.
Again, if you’d like, you can post your response in the comments section or on Instagram by tagging me, @laurel_braitman.
Are you in the CA Bay Area? If so, I’ll be onstage at City Arts and Lectures, in conversation with Samin Nosrat (of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat fame and one of my favorite humans) on March 31st. Tickets available here. I’d so love to see you.
Save-the-Date (More info forthcoming)
March 18th: I will be having a book launch party at Ojai Deer Lodge 3-6pm in Ojai, CA. There will be whiskey and books for purchase and I will probably cry with gratitude and relief. Come out to my favorite biker bar and chill with me in the sun!
March 25th: I will be in conversation with the writer’s writer, NYT contributor and all around brilliant human Jon Mooallem at Seattle Town Hall.
March 27th: I will be at Powell’s in Portland, in conversation with the incredible, smart Rebecca Skloot, author of the #1 NYT bestseller the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
April 11th: I will be at P and T Knitwear in NYC, chatting with the curator of all things bright and beautiful on the internet, Maria Popova of Brainpickings and the Marginalian.
Not in any of these places? No worries…there will be more…
If you’re a healthcare professional or a loved one of one…you can also sign up to write with me virtually here.
For everyone else…more virtual opportunities coming soon. Especially for patients and caregivers.
Yours, till next time,
Laurel
I'm glad to have found Dark Horse. Hat tip to Courtney Martin of The Examined Family for the link. I grabbed the prompt about life as a map and wrote for 7 minutes. A fruitful and valuable experience.
One line that seemed worth saving is, "The trail map is meant to be lived into. Filled in with the colors of a life lived."
The prompt suggesting a list of surprises terrified me, so I left that one for another time.
As a hospice volunteer (and aspiring writier) I look foward to learning from you. Thank you for sharing your words.
Hooray! Can't wait to hear more and more of your lyrical, funny approach to life and writing. Much love to you on this next adventure! ❤️