A note from Jane

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I’ve had a trick shoulder for a decade now, the result of a pinched nerve that was never treated properly. Due to a mixture of laziness and hopelessness, I gave up on achieving normalcy.

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Recently, someone questioned why I wasn’t seeing a therapist for it. So I began reflecting on why I’d given up on healing. When it comes to a few close family members, I urge them to seek out treatment until they find something that helps; I think the body has more ability to recover or heal than we sometimes give it credit for.

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So I spent an hour researching local therapists and selected a specialist in neuromuscular work—not an area I’d heard of, but it seemed to fit my problem. When I went in for my first appointment, it was obvious within the first 10 minutes that this was what I’d needed all along. And it wasn’t too late to fix the problem.

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I sometimes need nudges, especially nudges to expect and work for better outcomes. (Sometimes I feel like it’s not worth the fight. Pick your battles, I like to say.) I’ll never forget my husband nudging me to fix a separate health issue not long after we got together. It wasn’t easy to resolve, but without his kind directive that I could and should do better, I’m not sure I would’ve done anything about it.

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In my professional work, I know that writing and publishing require tenacity, and I can forget that so does making progress elsewhere.

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Jane

P.S. Most popular blog post this month: How Do You Know What Backstory to Include?​

​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.)

Spring cleaning for your Google Drive

I’ve been using Google Drive since 2009, so that means I have an untold number of dead and irrelevant files sitting there, taking up space. But do I really want to spend hours sifting through it all?

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I used Filerev—its free tier of service—to do some spring cleaning and was pleased with the results. I found and eliminated 51GB of duplicate files, among other detritus. Visit Filerev.

System: another AI-powered search engine

After I mentioned Consensus—a scholarly AI search engine—in the last issue, reader Guy L. Gonzalez offered this recommendation: “Have you heard of System? Their approach is interesting and surprisingly under the radar, probably because they’re not making any hyperbolic claims.” System helps you see how everything in the world is related based on verified evidence.

Looking for high-quality offset printing?

If you have little or no need for distribution and would like to print the highest quality book possible without any knowledge of the publishing or printing industry, take a look at Print Ninja. Terrific for comic books, graphic novels, children’s books, card decks, board games, and many more custom projects. H/t Jule Kucera (who has used them).

Writing the Other

This is an excellent resource (and nonprofit organization) for those seeking online instruction and additional resources for writing about characters different from you—convincingly.

NEXT ONLINE CLASS

April 3: Craft Your Memoir’s Beat Sheet with Lisa Cooper Ellison

Have you been told your memoir contains a lot of interesting and well-written stories, but they don’t hold together? One solution: find your memoir’s beats. In this 90-minute class, you’ll learn how to capitalize on the benefits of a beat sheet, scrap the parts that might not serve your story, discover how a beat sheet can be used even with nonlinear books, and gain confidence as you shape your material into a cohesive whole.

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Your turn: favorite Etsy folks

In the last issue, I asked you to share your favorite Etsy artist or craftsperson. Here is a selection of what you said.

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• Ryan Zarecki runs The Buckle and Rose, which makes recycled leather into gifts, accessories, and general awesomeness. As far as I know, it’s a one-person operation, but the artistry is amazing and he puts so much heart into each piece. —Beks Tryth Freeman
• I love Nylakilimrug for what was supposed to be a whole bunch of human-only pillows for our living room. —Martha Dalrymple
• Laurel Mundy (TinyHouseBigWoods) for funny, sweet and representationally correct images of (mostly) birds on stickers, greeting cards, ornaments and more. I have her stickers all over my car and water bottles. Here in the Pacific Northwest she’s popular enough that people befriend each other when they see her stickers on each other’s car windows! “Oh you’ve got a Laurel Mundy, too?” She’s a beloved icon among birders in Washington state for her recognizable illustration that is so representative of and easily shared among a community. Thank you, Laurel! —Bryony Angell
• HBRArt: She makes fabulous art outside in nature with nature. A photograph preserves the art while nature reclaims it. —Barbi McSwain
• An Etsy favorite shop is Troy Made It, a potter with Down’s Syndrome whose pottery sells out in minutes when offered. Follow on Instagram to watch him create and learn when his next sale will be. All profits are donated to charity. —Carol Michel
• Puja Teli Design creates the most beautiful mandala bookmarks, creating one a day for 2024. Some of them are 3D too! —Heather Button
• Favorite artist on Etsy: Susan Altenau Pottery. Susan is an artist and a potter; she will paint from a photo a mug with the likeness of a beloved pet. We had a fabulous cat who adopted us and whom we shared with neighbors. All of us were bereft when Mr. Pippie passed away after nineteen years of managing four adults, two rural properties, and our ravenous vole population. We had a memorial dinner in his honor, and I presented two of the four mugs to our friends along with a photo book of Pip “living his best life.” —Elizabeth Abeles
• My Etsy favorite is Happy Hygge Gifts. Essentially, it’s warm, cozy comfort delivered in a box to empathize with a friend going through tough times when you can’t be there in person for support. Boxes include sets of things, like herbal tea, a tea cup, chocolate and either cozy socks or a blanket. They also customize. —Jenifer Vogt
• I love, love, love Peanut Butter Taco’s colorful mini-stickers! I keep a creative accountability wall calendar in my home office and use different stickers to signify different types of creative work I’ve gotten done on given days. ... I only wish they had a “frequent buyers” stamp card! —Karol Silverstein

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Next question: Do you have any springtime rituals you’d like to share with everyone? Hit reply to this message, or head over to Discord.

Free resources featuring Jane

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• April 14: 7 Steps to Building a Book Coaching Business (Zoom webinar) with Jennie Nash
• April 25: AI in Book Publishing (Zoom panel)
• Podcast: Book Smarts, Episode 41: Spotify and author earnings
• Video: Reduce Your Writerly Anxiety​

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Upcoming online classes

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• ​Craft Your Memoir’s Beat Sheet with Lisa Cooper Ellison, April 3
• ​Mastering Backstory for Novelists (three-part series) with Tiffany Yates Martin, begins April 10
• ​Literary Citizenship with Jane Friedman, April 11
• ​Effective Book Marketing for Any Author with Jane Friedman, May 9
• ​Self-Publishing Foundations for Success with David Wogahn, May 15
• ​Leverage Your Author Brand with Andrea Guevara, June 10

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Meet Jane at an event

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• ​Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop (Dayton, Ohio), April 4–6, 2024
• ​Write to Publish (Chicago), June 11–14, 2024
• ​Midwest Writers Workshop (Muncie, Ind.), July 11–13, 2024
• ​Willamette Writers Hybrid Conference (virtual), July 31–August 4, 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 | Threads | Discord​ P.S. I have a paid newsletter, too.

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