DEAR WRITER: Things I've Learned in 2025
Dear Writer,
If you wrote anything this year, congrats! There has been so much doom and gloom and uncertainty and weird media and a lot of people are like WTF is even my life, and still you wrote.
Amazing.
Celebrate.
So, here are things I’ve learned this year:
I’ve gotten my fair share of rejections this year. The left hand side of my Submittable looks like a grey slab of sadness. Some hit me like a Taser. Others I forgot by my afternoon workout. Oftentimes, my level of feeling distraught/sad/angry/despairing was more about what I made the rejection mean and/or how desperate for cash/recognition I was at the moment. There is a lesson there.
I’ve also gotten some pretty cool “almosts” this year: DISQUIET Finalist, John Steinbeck Fellowship Finalist (they give you this beautiful letterhead which is nice), Writer’s Guild Veteran Screen Programming Finalist, a contest judged by Gwen E. Kirby (I LOVED Shit Cassandra Saw) so that was pretty cool. I also am getting published in The Fairy Tale Review in 2026! Huzzah, huzzah. So, again: you win some, you lose some. You see the growth, you see the stagnancy, you adjust, surround yourself with people who believe in you (and make sure you’re the number one cheerleader), and keep on going.
I’m finally listening to Atomic Habits and I am sure there will be a lot to quibble with, but one thing that I DEEPLY agree with: it’s more important to create a writing life than to wait for some accolade (a prize, a book deal, a bestseller) to make you a writer. Process is key. I’ve been really going deep with my own process as a book doula (inspiration, organization, creation, revision, publication, celebration…) and its helping me to really see and feel like a writer. When you focus on your process, you feel so much more secure in your identity because your process is yours and no one can take that shit away from you. And you also don’t just keep chasing chimeras in the form of external goals and never feel satisfied with all you’ve done, all you are, and all that you move with.
Many writers are very aware of themselves and the world. It’s a gift and curse. The gift is why writers are so good at what we do: observing, feeling, translating meaning, recording life, expressing the unsaid, going deep, connecting the dots, making stories feel real. But also, this awareness and sensitivity can also translate to anxiety, depression, jealousy, tenseness, and a host of maladies. Not so cute. So, if you’re a writer and you’re not in some kind of emotional support container and moving your body, that’s probably not a good thing. I’m not saying that these spaces have to be perfect or expensive, but yeah, doing what you can to take care of your body, mind, and soul (including gaining more financial stability) is imperative if you want to be a writer who doesn’t hate life.
There are so many good books in the world! I’ve read a lot of great books this year, some of them Lit Club titles, others not: Bruja, Loca, Alligator Tears, Miss Muriel and Other Stories, The Dwarf and the Courtesan, Yellowface, Juliet Takes A Breath, The Woman In Me, Oreo, The Heartbreak Years. I am a proud literary slut—I really will read almost anything if it’s good. I suppose that’s the bisexual in me speaking. There’s so much to learn and to feel when you move beyond your normal and just read the things that make you go hmmm….Reading is great and I feel there’s something about reading as a writer where one can mix pleasure AND craft AND peace. I have a whole guide about how to create a reading list for the year, might just have to teach it as a one-off class. I say this because I’ve heard from writers who worry they don’t read enough, don’t read the “right” books, want more tips on how to read for their current goals, etc. But when in doubt: go read something that makes you feel something. Anything.
Publishing and gaining book deals is about leverage and luck. We can’t control the latter but we can be very clear about the former. Having an author platform is key, but let’s be for real, we’re not all going to have (nor do all of even want) 100K followers. Still, there are ways to work with what you got and I am really into what that looks like as I coach writers. My book doula goal is to see more Black women receiving lush 100K+ deals or more AND for writers who don’t have that has a goal, to acquire a book deal that matches their gifts. It’s been fun to see the reality of the publishing industry and how it’s an industry just like anything else.
Weed strains go with different books and different actions. I edit sober. The novel I am writing flows in draft stages with Chemdawg. I am releasing Act One of my romantic novella on Substack and she likes a Cherry Pie. So, writing well with weed is about being very clear about my endeavors, my mood, my location (figuratively and materially) and how the plant can aid my desires. Set and setting really. If you smoke and write, I encourage you to treat the process like a sacred laboratory, really getting clear about what you need.
Welp, that’s about all I have for now.
We are living in a particularly gnarly time, socially, politically, economically.
And let’s be honest: we have more to go.
So, I hope you can create spaces of peace, power, and pleasure for yourselves.
And always know that your writing deserves as much love as you do.
It’s more important that you’re here and secure and stable than what you produce.
Still, I wish you happy writing for the end of this year and for next.
Love,
Hannah