Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here.​

A note from Jane

When I was in middle school, I learned about a new magazine launching in my region that would be written primarily by 12–18 year olds.

When the staff announced a nighttime meet-and-greet event for interested contributors, I nearly went out of my mind with excitement. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and I begged my mom to take me.

The event was an hour away, basically in another country, but since my mom was a closet writer, she took me, maybe curious herself. When we arrived, the event was crowded, energetic, and boisterous. Then nothing ever came of it—the magazine didn’t in fact launch.

That memory returns to me whenever I travel and speak somewhere that’s out of the way. This week I’m in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where I’m staying (and speaking) at the charming, forest-bathed Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, as well as presenting at the Writing in the Ozarks conference.

These institutions represent some of the most committed acts of literary citizenship, quietly and humbly supporting the arts in the nooks and crannies of the world. To me, they matter more than the big-city institutions and programs, because when you’re growing up small in a rural area, to have arts activity nearby can mean everything to what you envision for your future.

Jane

P.S. Most popular blog post this month: How Can I Set Aside the Cacophany of Writing Advice and Just Write?​

​Bob Eckstein​

ISSUE SPONSOR

Jane’s Electric Speed List

Here are some of the latest things I’ve discovered. (I am not paid to mention any of these resources; there are no affiliate links.)

Map of the Best: locate the best restaurant near you

​Map of the Best is a website where you can load a map of any place, then adjust the filters to see the “best” restaurants near you. You can adjust by star rating, number of reviews, awards, and more. Incredibly efficient for those traveling—helps eliminate a lot of search engine ping-ponging!

Reader recommendation: Guilded instead of Discord

This comes from a reader, Elizabeth: “I recommended Discord years ago, but I’d actually recommend Guilded more now. It has fewer gimmicks, and actually is more agile for editing and formatting text (i.e., bulleted lists). I switched, realizing Discord wasn’t worth my money or usage, when they forced things like the name change and non-toggleable super reactions. I know it’s more difficult to switch as an author with a community there, but I just wanted to share my thoughts in case you ever look for an alternative!” —Elizabeth

(Jane says: I won’t be switching yet, but I like having a backup plan!)

Do you have an iPhone and an Apple Watch?

Check out Whisper Memos, an app that lets you record audio notes using your watch, then makes them available as transcriptions on your phone. Helpful when you’re driving, in the shower, or anywhere else inspiration strikes. Free to start, but you’ll need to pay for long-term use.

Free, open-source site for building a workout

First: Decide the muscle groups you’d like to target and indicate what equipment you have available (if any), and the site will generate a program you can customize, with instruction videos. Take a look.​

NEXT ONLINE CLASS

Oct. 18: Master the Flashback with Tiffany Yates Martin

The flashback can act as both friend or foe to authors—and readers. Used skillfully, flashbacks offer a rich and vivid way to weave in essential backstory and add depth and texture to a story. But clumsily executed ones can be an eyeball-stopping intrusion that yanks readers right out of the story. In this class with career editor Tiffany Yates Martin, you’ll learn exactly what flashbacks are—and aren’t—and how to incorporate them smoothly and effectively to more richly develop your characters and their arcs, heighten stakes, and deepen readers’ experience of your story.

Your turn: grief resources

In the last issue, I asked you to share grief resources, and the response was overwhelming. Here’s a selection what you said; browse more here.

• I suggest The Myth of Closure by Pauline Boss. I like her assertion that instead of seeking closure, we instead search for meaning. Closure sounds like we’re supposed to close off those who we have loved and lost—how cruel and cold. The loss of a loved one never completely goes away, nor should we want to toss our memories of them in the trash bin of life. Instead of closure (a made-up media word, perhaps), we can learn to move forward in our life and remember them tenderly. We can build resilience despite a loss that can’t be clarified, allowing us to better handle ambiguity when it occurs in our life. Life will go on, but it will be different—it already is. —Peter Billard
• Cloud Sangha, a Buddhist online place to meet up with other folks, is wonderful for study, deep conversations, support for life’s challenges, including grief. —Bobbie O’Connor
• Future Widow by Jenny Lisk. She shares what it was like going through her husband’s brain cancer in the moment and in reflecting on it later. Both in their 40s with their lives turned upside down, it’s compelling, insightful, and helps a grieving person know they aren’t alone. This is a must-read for anyone facing the loss of a spouse and picking up the pieces. —Ellen Taaffe
• Anderson Cooper’s podcast All There Is has been so incredibly helpful for me. In particular, the episode with Stephen Colbert. Each episode has been fantastic but it’s so beautiful listening to the vulnerability of these two men as they share their experiences of grief, scattering pearls of grace along the way. —Tammy Herzig
• My number one grief resource is It’s OK that You’re Not OK by Megan Devine. She also has a podcast and website with a course called Writing your Grief. When everyone else was offering their best sentiments that left me hollow, Megan addressed the reality I was experiencing. —Jenn Nahrstadt
• Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live With Unresolved Grief by Pauline Boss. This book has been the most helpful for me because of her extensive research on grief and ways to cope with losses that are most often overlooked by society. This is the first book that acknowledged and gave my personal loss a name. Case studies and some of her personal history. A+ writing. —Mary Gattuso
• Often, there’s nothing we can say or do, but I send books anyway. My go-to is Megan Devine. I also love Modern Loss, a book and multi-author blog that covers all kinds of loss (from death). I especially recommend it to those experiencing age-inappropriate loss of a parent, because it was started by two young women who had lost their parents young. The site and book both have a slightly irreverent tone that I love, but that may not resonate with everyone. Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is an excellent book for middle-aged (and older) women who have lost a spouse. For mother loss, I can’t recommend Hope Edelman enough. She’s written a number of books around mother loss, grief, and how to navigate mothering without a mother. For anyone with a spiritual bent, Who Dies? by Stephen and Ondrea Levine has been one of my favorites for almost 40 years. —Sarah Chauncey
• For some of us, all the books out there on grieving—and all the therapy that’s on offer—just don’t work. Please tell your reader asking for resources that if they find that nothing really helps, not to feel like something’s wrong with them. It’s kind of like joining a club that no one ever wanted to be part of—the “group” of people mourning for loved ones. Each of us grieves in our own particular way. It’s a matter of finding one’s own path. Maybe that involves grief counseling or books. Maybe they just don’t help. Maybe it’s more a matter of going out into the world to experience all the beauty that’s out there, of doing creative work that can sink them in other worlds, or allowing friends to envelop them in love. I know this well, now three years on that journey. —Janet Stilson

Next question: Is there place you recommend for a writing retreat? Hit reply to this message, or head over to Discord to share.

Free resources featuring Jane

• Business Clinic (Oct. 27): Attracting Students to Online Classes​

Upcoming online classes

• ​Master the Flashback with Tiffany Yates Martin, Oct. 18
• ​Social Media Bliss with Jane Friedman, Oct. 19
• ​10 Steps to a Nonfiction Book Proposal with Jane Friedman, Oct. 25
• ​The Psychology of Memoir (Part 3: Complete) with Lisa Ellison, Oct. 26
• ​Build Your Dev. Editing Business with Allison K Williams, starts Nov. 1
• ​Create an Author Website with Jane Friedman, Nov. 16

Meet Jane at an event

• ​​AI Governance Global (Boston, Mass.), Nov. 2–3, 2023
• ​Author Platform Audit & Workshop (Boston, Mass), Nov. 3, 2023
• ​Craft & Publishing Voyage (cruise ship!), April 28–May 5, 2024

“At electric speed, all forms are pushed to the limits of their potential.”
—Marshall McLuhan

Created by Jane Friedman I report on the publishing industry and help authors understand the business of writing. Connect on LinkedIn | Instagram | Discord​ P.S. I have a paid newsletter, too.

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