Cruel Compendium #75 🏳️‍🌈

Necessary change, toxic workspaces, and #1000WordsofSummer

Are you ready to take your creative life to the next level? I’m excited to work with you!

Book a free 15-minute discovery phone call with me through the end of June to discuss how I can support you with writing, editing, pitch coaching, newsletter advice, career consulting, and much more!

Check out more about the wide range of services I provide, or peruse the instant-book packages I offer.

What can we do together?

• Develop your voice and edit your work so it’s as strong as you are!

• Get feedback from someone experienced and supportive so you’re not doing it all alone!

• Figure out what makes a pitch work and where/who to pitch to! (I had a ~43% pitch acceptance rate in 2023.)

• Make career choices that will help get you to your dream job!

• Negotiate your contract and prepare you to ask for that well-deserved raise!

• Help you kick off that creative project you’ve been thinking about for years!

• Work through imposter syndrome, because I’ve been there too!

Hello everyone, and HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! 🏳️‍🌈

ICYMI, last week I wrote about going speed dating and kicking off my summer of dating IRL.

Be sure to click “View entire message” at the end of this email so you can read the whole post in your browser. On to the links!

#1000WordsofSummer and me

This is day 11 of 14 days of 2024’s #1000WordsofSummer — and I have diligently written 1000 words a day! Eight of those days I spent spitting out words for a novel idea I’ve had in my head for more than five years, yet never put a single word to paper. (A stellar example of not respecting your own ideas.) Until now.

I love this project because many writers I follow are taking part as well, and a lot of similar exploration of creative habits pop up. One of them is morning pages — this is the habit of writing three pages (ideally right after you wake) recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way.

Morning pages are the one habit I seamlessly integrated into my life after reading Cameron’s ubiquitous book (well, I got through nine weeks of it, anyway) and still follow through with years later. The time I sit down to journal around 7:45am has become sacred and grounding. There is no greater peace than sitting on my porch on a cool morning while Minerva wanders the garden and I write down my barely-conscious thoughts, getting all of that wilderness out of my head and onto the page. And then I can go forth with my day with a smooth brain. (You can read some of the times I’ve mentioned this sustaining habit in CSBC below.)

I’m bringing up morning pages here yet again because I’ve noticed something new. First, when you start writing 1000 words a day, you quickly notice how doable it is — if you guard your time carefully. And during this 11-day period, I replaced my morning pages time with #1000WordsofSummer time. So by 9am I had already been creative and gotten a huge task checked off for the day, one that makes me feel accomplished and gets my brain buzzing, in a good way.

I haven’t completed this project, but I’m already wondering — should 8am be my new permanent writing time? My intuition is certainly telling me so. And if I do replace morning pages with morning writing, where do morning pages fit in? Do I move them to the afternoon? Abandon them temporarily? I don’t currently have the capacity to do both, though perhaps with practice my mind will get more used to this burst of creativity and I will have the energy to do afternoon pages as well — maybe as a nourishing practice to end my work day.

Perhaps this is the new writing practice I am inviting into my life, because it’s right for the creative habit I’m craving now. I am consciously opening myself up to all kinds of changes and new experiences in my creative, business, and personal life.

I love the surprising discovery of stumbling upon a new habit that might just work better for the place I’m at in life right now.

Don’t forget to let yourself be open to those changes, subtle or large. Keep your atomic habits, but let them grow and change as you do.

My writing on Morning Pages:

Respect your own ideas

My favorite month and my five sacred habits

Three ways to know thyself

Be brave

Other writers on Morning Pages:

Waking up at 5:30am to write by

Cody Cook-Parrott

My morning ritual by Katie Seaver

Jumpstarting my creative discipline by

Ines Bellina

You can’t fail The Artist’s Way by

Ali Griffin Vingiano

and

Mazsi Jávorszky

How to fail at being creative by

Tanner Frost Bowen

Prepping for a two-week writing challenge by

Kelcey Ervick

An artist on the “discovery project” of #1000WordsofSummer.

Are you a sun writer or a moon writer? by

Sarah Teresa Cook

and

Raju Tai

Speaking of having a sacred 7:30am writing time, I’m a sun writer all the way.

If you are a sun writer:

• You thrive on consistency and aim for a daily routine

• You generally benefit from short, frequent bursts of creativity

• You need a lot of brightness, buoyancy, and hope

• You work well with to-do lists

• You also work really well with “to-did” lists, and taking stock of your accomplishments at the end of the day

• Your creative trajectory can change frequently, but tends to orbit certain overarching themes

If you are a moon writer:

• You thrive on allowing your creativity to ebb and flow

• You tend to benefit from long, highly focused sessions and luxurious breaks

• You need space for expressing darkness, and for serious, complex thinking

• You like to follow rabbit holes & spontaneous inspirations

• You really benefit from taking an overview of your creativity in larger phases or spans of time—and setting goals & aims that way, too

• Your creative trajectory follows the same broader cycles, but within them, a whole world of diverse details & interest are held

What happens when a romance writer gets locked out of Google Docs by Madeline Ashby

Every writer’s nightmare and a scenario I’d never read about until now:

All 10 of her works in progress—some 222,000 words across multiple files and folders—were frozen. Not just frozen, but inaccessible on her phone and tablet. When her husband fetched her laptop, Renee logged into Docs and tried sharing the documents again. Then she received her own message from Google.

“Can’t share item,” was the header. “You cannot share this item because it has been flagged as inappropriate,” read the body text.

Is Love is Blind a toxic workspace? by Emily Nussbaum

On the subpar treatment of reality TV stars, hidden dangers behind the scenes that NDAs keep from getting out, and stars’ slow-moving attempts to unionize.

Reflections on reciprocity by

Alex Elle

Choosing those who choose me back is a huge theme in my life right now, and I’m grateful for this supportive message.

Ultimately, my approach to relationships is about recognizing and honoring the importance of mutual effort and shared values. It's about understanding that not every connection is meant to last forever, and that's perfectly fine. By focusing on those who truly align with my values and who are willing to invest in our connection, I am able to create a supportive, enriching, and genuinely fulfilling community. I am grateful to be building a life filled with authentic and aligned relationships. Even if my circle is small, it is mighty and meaningful.

Bits and bobs about freelance writing.

via Kaitlyn Arford

• I really can’t stop screaming about how much value and wisdom I get from

  Cody Cook-Parrott
  ’s work. I loved this episode of Off the Grid (which Cody always says is their favorite podcast) about their rocky relationship with Instagram and the push and pull of marketing yourself online.

• Cody Cook-Parrott
  ’s free Weaving in Our Values Toolkit

• 100 ways to share your work and life that aren’t social media

• A freelancer survey gives an overview of current freelance rates and earnings

• 5 basic email templates to use to negotiate a higher rate by Kaitlyn Arford. I used one of these as a jumping off point this week! ABN (Always Be Negotiating)

• For those who use Grammarly and got sick of having to click through every single premium suggestion, I switched over to Language Tool, which is still free and less annoying.

@jpbrammer

Causes I care about and actions for change.

• Keeping an eye on Texas Governor Abbott’s pardon of Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murdering demonstrator Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. My county’s DA is asking a state court of repeals to reverse the decision.

• Meanwhile, you can support the National Bail Fund Network.

• The Substackers for Palestine Children’s Relief has raised over $23,000 so far!

• Use Operation Olive Branch’s spreadsheet or the Gaza Family Funds directory to donate to help evacuate a Palestinian family to safety. Over 800 families are desperate for help.

• Looking for one family to directly donate to? Six-year-old Rita’s family is still trying to meet their fundraising goal.

• Visit ceasefiretoday.com for helpful links to email/call your Congress members, sign petitions, find a protest near you, and more.

@sensible_amber

@sarashakeel

• 🏳️‍🌈 Everywhere is Queer, a worldwide map of queer-owned businesses. Happy PRIDE!

• 📖 Love this issue of

  Downtime
  that’s centered around nourishing reading habits from Michelle Martin. She gives a shoutout to one of my all-time favorite books, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

• ✨

  Lola Kolade
  is one of my favorite TikTok creators and she also has a Substack and a podcast. I loved this episode about embracing main character energy.

• 📚 The 19 most beautiful libraries in the world

• 💨 More people are now smoking marijuana daily than drinking daily in the US. Let’s go?

• 🧮 A financial calculator to help you figure out whether you should rent or buy

• 🎤 Chappell Roan is living proof that it takes ten years to become an “overnight success.”

• ℹ️ It is not too much information for me.

• 👀 Just two friends who realize they dislike the same person.

• 👋 Escaping NYC for good at 3am.

• 🤳 What you clicked on most in the last Compendium: The one line that can fix your Google search

Support for the week ahead from your higher self.

How can I invite necessary change into my life?

Ace of Pentacles
New opportunities, manifestation, abundance

New opportunities are already knocking. You don’t even have to seek them out. All you have to do is open the door.

Pay attention to your curiosities and interests over the next two weeks, and turn toward them, especially when that means turning away from fear. You do your small part, and the universe will do the rest.

When that 3pm heat nap hits.