Dear Catherine,
I attended your workshop during Melbourne Writers Festival and I need to tell you that it’s been one of the most pivotal experiences of my life. (I sat near the front, furiously transcribing nearly every word you uttered.)
After years and years of meaning to write, wanting to write, waiting to write, finding excuses for why I couldn’t write, and trying to convince myself and others who encouraged me to ‘just do it!’ that I couldn’t, I’ve just completed NaNoWriMo.
I would never have attempted it had I not taken on your 4 days/4 weeks challenge and already established the practice of getting up at 5:30 am to write until the kids needed to be up (or later, if I just couldn’t stop pounding out the words).
Your tip about typing in white font was pure gold. It made all the difference. So did the idea of ‘giving myself the Spring’ – it transformed something terrifying into an act of kindness towards myself and framed it in a way that made me feel I deserved that time. That the endeavour – and I – was worth the investment of time. Breaking the commitment down into just one hour a day – no more – and only four days a week (though this expanded) made it MANAGEABLE. For the first time, it wasn’t daunting. It was a simple as putting marbles in a jar, one every day. So critical.
My NaNoWriMo submission is a totally shitty first draft, a la Anne Lamott. The shittier, the better. So liberating. It’s not even a draft, really – there’s no ‘the end’, yet. But there’s one in sight. Now, I’ve got something to really sink my teeth into. And an entirely new purpose that feels real and attainable, after years of reading and yearning and fear.
Thanks to you, I will not die with my music still inside me.
I hope you, too, are having a most incredible Spring. I owe mine to you.
P.S. I am so happy – you’ve made every day better for me since I attended your class
PLEASE use this testimonial – it’s the least I could do. And not too generous at all. If I wasn’t a recovering Catholic, I’d say you’re doing God’s work, unlocking on.
Kate Buckley