Page Fright: The Year-End Issue

Page Fright was born on March 23rd of this year, and the experience of launching it has been deeply satisfying in both predictable and unexpected ways. Here’s some of what I learned from Page Fright and you in 2022:

1.     The most-viewed Page Fright article was “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer.” Maybe this one resonated with so many of you because, as I described, a lot of writers are “gregarious introverts” who crave human connection yet have chosen a creative outlet that requires solitude. Beyond this, the pandemic has made us all hyper-aware of the upsides and downsides of so much isolation, even as we ventured out into the world again. And so I think the topic of “loneliness” hit on a few different levels.

2.     You confirmed my suspicion that doubts and anxieties are felt by emerging and experienced writers, alike. That’s neither good nor bad – it just is! The goal for writers is not to banish fear but to manage fear, and that’s what Page Fright will keep aiming to help you do in 2023.

3.     I discovered other wonderful Substack newsletters, which I strongly encourage you to subscribe to. I know you might feel overwhelmed (even annoyed) by the volume of emails you receive, but, believe me, you’ll be excited to see these in your inbox. Here are just a few: The Entropy Hotel by Henriette Lazaridis, Gentle Creative by Cali Bird, and Craft Talkby Jami Attenberg.

4.     Never has the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do,” been more true. Despite my belief in the unequalled motivational power of deadlines and the necessity of setting them for yourself if no one else is imposing them on you, I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t followed my own advice lately. A busy teaching schedule and weeks-long Covid fatigue had me pushing Page Fright deadlines further and further back to the point where they lost all meaning!

This is the truth, but a harsher truth—maybe one you’ll recognize in yourself, too—is that I was on a roll with my Page Fright articles, and then I wasn’t, and then it got hard to get back into the groove of doing them.

But here’s the good news: as soon as I started writing again, all the feelings writing brings me—calm, curiosity, satisfaction, joy—returned. I instantly felt better, mentally and physically, as I always do when I write.

So, now, as the new year approaches, I hope you’ll join me in setting writing deadlines for the next few months…and sticking with them!

5.     I learned that a newsletter can be more than a newsletter—it can be a community. Thank you to all of you who read Page Fright, subscribed to it, liked it (and “liked” it), shared and promoted it, participated in my Twitter party, created social media materials, and commented on articles with such incredible honesty and insight.

Here’s to the most joyful and productive writing year of your life. Happy New Year!