Issue 3: On Permanence
Writing the Book of your Heart
Happy 19th, Ninetweeners!
Welcome to the third issue of my monthly newsletter, Ninetween. You can look out for new issues on the 19th of every month at 19:00 EST (that’s 7 PM!)
Thank you to everyone who contacted me about the last issue. It was cool to see how many people my advice resonated with. We’ve all been at that crossroads of giving up and trying again, and I’m so glad we’re sticking with it!
I’d love for Ninetween to stay around for a long time, too. If you have the time, consider leaving a “like” or comment when you’ve finished reading. Even better, recommend Ninetween to a writing pal! I’d appreciate it.
On that note, this issue is about permanence and writing the things that matter the most. But first…
Last month, I got a tattoo.
I’d been considering one for years. When I finished Whale Fall in 2018, I told myself I’d get one if it was ever published. Well, here we are!
Want to see it?
I don’t know much about tattoos, but (as far as I know) this style is called fine line. I found some sketches by artists that made animals, people, etc., look like they were drawn with a single line, so that’s the desired effect here.
And let me tell you, I am obsessed. Am I already considering another? Yes. A bookish sleeve? Maybe! Shout out to my wonderful artist, Jade Savage, at Waxwing Tattoo Company. Check out her Instagram!
It was really important to me that this tattoo was done by a female-identifying person because of Whale’s journey through Whale Fall. Jade was super helpful in achieving my vision for the tattoo, and we both were really excited about Whale’s first time on a medium other than computer.
Did you know that female orcas (and juvenile males) have short dorsal fins? Yup, those towering boys are…quite literally…boys. Their dorsal fins can get up to six feet tall! We also use the shape of dorsal fins to identify the type of orca we are looking at: resident, transient, or offshore. These three types of orcas may look alike to the untrained eye, but they speak different languages, hunt different prey, and live in different waters.
If you’re approximately my age, you’ll remember Keiko, the star of Free Willy (1993). We’ll talk more about him in a future newsletter, but for now, do you remember the way his dorsal fin curled on his back? It made it look almost like a little airplane engine or turbine as he swam.
This condition is called dorsal fin collapse, and while it has been documented in the wild, it occurs in 100% of captive adult males. Researchers have theorized that this may be caused by diet, blood pressure, or even the higher temperatures due to the unnatural amount of time captive whales spend at the water’s surface. We sometimes see small amounts of similar collapse in female dorsal fins due to the collagen breakdown (what the fin is made of!), though it tends to be significantly less severe.
Stay with me, the tangent is coming to an end. I promise it has a point! The first point is that having a female dorsal fin was super important to my tattoo. It depicts Whale, after all!
The second point is coming, but you’ll have to wait a minute.
Writing Tip: Write the Book of Your Heart.
Getting a tattoo got me thinking about permanence. Whether or not the words we put on paper are actually forever.
Logic would say, “No!” I just deleted that paragraph a few times because my typing is an endless barrage of spelling mistakes.
Oops, just made another one there. You see?
But you won’t know because I’ve hit backspace a few times and now it looks perfect, doesn’t it?
Once a book is published, it might feel a bit more enduring than a sentence on a Substack you delete 8,000 times because that dang ; key is so close to the p. But even published books have a shelf life — they go out of print, lose copyright, and get shuffled out of libraries. Mistakes are fixed in subsequent print runs and new editions.
We human beings are even less permanent than books. If you’re under 50, you’re wearing a whole new set of skin cells every 42 days. But setting that aside, human beings are a shedding species: hair, cells, friends, thoughts, possessions, memories. We aren’t really built to last, are we?
It might seem like a weird way to lead into our writing tip, hey?
I promise it isn’t as strange as it seems! Or as dire.
Raise your hand if you’ve heard this one before. How do you choose which idea to turn into a book?
What about this thought? What if the book I write is garbage?
Writing can feel permanent — and permanence is a big decision — the kind of thing you think about for years. Like a tattoo. You don’t rush headlong into permanent things. Or, you shouldn’t. What would Great-Aunt Mildred think? We aren’t writing a shotgun novel here, are we? It is paralyzing.
But here’s the thing: writing feels permanent, but it isn’t. That’s the good news.
Nothing on Earth is permanent. Not the thing you type on, not the words you write, not the ground that you’re sitting on. Even the very plates of the Earth are shifting. Once upon a time, 230 million years ago, we were smushed together on Pangaea. 50-some-odd days ago, you were made up of a different set of cells.
The earth is changing, and us with it.
But here’s the thing: writing feels permanent, but it isn’t. That’s the good news.
So my advice for you this month is to write the book of your heart. Because while the world moves around us, the thing that stays longterm is passion. What are you obsessed with?
We have arrived at the second point.
What is your dorsal fin? What makes you go off on a 300-word tangent in your newsletter? What fun fact, idea, imagining, or inspiration gets your heart thumping and your brain churning? What makes you mad, sad, joyful, anxious, or delighted? What makes you feel human?
Write that book.
And if it is garbage?
Delete it and write it again. Or, even better, edit it. You can’t edit nothing, same as we can’t grow grass without soil. Lay the scraps, let them turn into compost. Then seed, water, and see what grows.
Even tattoos aren’t permanent.
Publication News.
I don’t have a ton of publication news for you this month, but here are a few small tidbits.
I was interviewed this month for Moonlit Getaway about the short story they published, The Obituarist’s Apprentice. You can check out the interview here and read the story for free at the link provided. It was a fun time!
April showers bring May flowers, but they also bring the buds of new projects! I am now about a third of the way through a new draft for a middle grade novel. I am very excited about it. While the main character may feel familiar to my writing, the setting and genre are completely different. Something entirely new! I have set lofty goals for this book — hopefully, I will have a workable rough draft before the summer.
I’ve also now seen a few concepts for Whale Fall’s cover, and what an absolute treat it is going to be! I can’t wait to unveil the final version when it is ready.
Elysia’s Middle Grade Bookshelf
Impossible Creatures is one heck of a hard book to get from the library! Well, I was briefly successful and then life got chaotic. Long story short, Mill Street Books was treated to an extra visit from their spender-in-chief, and I grabbed myself an absolutely beautiful copy. No regrets.
But the hype is real! I’m so glad that this book is tough to get from the library because it means that kids are eating it up, and more copies are due!
Impossible Creatures tells the story of Christopher, a boy bound to spend a boring summer with his grandfather in the Scottish highlands. But Christopher quickly discovers that his grandfather is anything but boring — he is the gatekeeper to a magical realm where every creature ever imagined resides. Before long, Christopher finds himself on an epic quest with a girl named Mal and her griffin, possibly the last of his kind.
For middle-grade readers and parents, this book is a wonderful opportunity to discuss topics including imagination, caring for animals, extinction, and ecological protection. It would be a wonderful book to read aloud to younger readers, akin to The Hobbit or as a replacement for Harry Potter. The writing reminds me of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart.
Impossible Creatures may be purchased locally at Mill Street Books. If you aren’t in Almonte, please consider supporting an independent bookstore near you. It would mean a lot to me. There is a sequel coming this September, which you can also pre-order!
Other Projects
The LAM, the literary magazine I co-founded, had its first fundraiser this past month. We gathered for a Create-a-Thon, which included blackout poetry and a short story brainstorming/outlining session. I didn’t realize how tough blackout poetry is! It certainly isn’t my forte, though I did thoroughly enjoy hearing what others had written and, of course, abusing text with my Sharpie.
If you’re local, please check out The LAM and consider submitting to our first issue, themed darkness and light. Unfortunately, we are only open to submissions from writers and artists in our area. You can find all the information you need on our Facebook page, including our call for submissions.
If you are interested in joining the Almonte Writers Guild, you can do so here. Please note that members must reside in Lanark County. I’d love to connect with you through our bi-weekly write-ins and monthly discussion groups.
You can now subscribe to the Almonte Writers Guild Newsletter right here on Substack!
For more information about Almonte Readers & Writers, check out their website.
Next Issue…
The next issue of Ninetween will land in your inbox and/or feed on May 19 at 19:00 EST (that’s 7 PM!) See you there!
Keep it almost twenty,
Elysia Rourke