I'm writing a book

And starting a newsletter about it!

The Artist's Son Writing, c. 1887, Paul Cezanne

Join me on a journey to write a book, and sell my soul to the publishing industry! Or mercifully fail and find the real joy in writing.

"Fold the paper hamburger style," Mrs. Poe, my 2nd-grade teacher, said. This was a novel idea. You could fold a paper longways, like a hot dog bun; I'd done it many times making paper airplanes. But Mrs. Poe exploded my old view of reality: fold it like a hamburger.

"Now you've made a book," she said.

Shut. Up. SHUT UP. A book? I wrote "By S. Scott" at the bottom. SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP. It's a book! Written by me! It doesn't have a title! But I am a published author!

Now I am become author, the creator of worlds.

Has the world ever reshuffled itself before your eyes? As if God were working a Rubik's cube of your life, and he'd just gotten one side with all of the green squares? That was me in Mrs. Poe’s class staring at my book.

I've wanted to write a book for most of my life, and now I'm going to try it.

And I'm creating a newsletter to share my journey. It's called Book Talk Good. I aim to make it a bi-weekly newsletter about my journey from writing to publishing and all the dark nights of the soul and beautiful moments of jubilee in between.

I will add as much value as I can about the process of writing, publishing, marketing, and many other things I know nothing about now. But we will find out together. Or you can read about me getting rejected and crying in the shower while listening to Bon Iver.

I'll be sharing the journey through regular journal entries and a few essays about what I've learned about the craft of writing. My hope is to make something enjoyable to read about somebody trying something hard they've always dreamed about.

I also want it to be encouraging. A lot of us want to make something cool and meaningful. Through my journey, we can share the experience of carrying such dreams. Maybe it's time you tried yours.

Oh, here we go: most posts will be behind a paywall.

SELL OUT. WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS? DEBBIE MACOMBER?

I want to take my daughter to Disney World someday, and if I could write tender-hearted romances with relatable characters in the most charming of small towns, I would. Also, Debbie Macomber is worth $10 million. She could have a house in Disney World. The real Mickey comes to her grandkids' birthday parties.

I've learned when you're creating something, people want to cheer for you. They share positive messages and even provide financial backing when you're vulnerable enough to share it. I'm always amazed by the generosity I've seen in people offering to help support my dreams. This newsletter is another way of joining me on my adventures.

If you're a Stories Talk Good subscriber with no interest in this, don't worry. Nothing is changing here. I'll still be writing stories, essays, and other nonsense throughout the week, and they'll be free. I created a new newsletter to keep this separate and avoid making it a hassle to keep these other emails out of your inbox.

If you're already a paid subscriber here, I will give you a subscription to Book Talk Good. You have already been so generous, and I want to honor that.

One note for fellow Substackers: this is not another "How to become a succesful writer" newsletter. I don't know how to do any of this. I'm not a preacher telling you how to get saved. I'm a fellow pilgrim in the pews complaining about the music and trying to understand what it means to "Love thy neighbor."

I hope you'll join me.