On the Craft: Lessons from My Mentor

On the Craft: Lessons from My Mentor

There’s one reason why my words stand before you, one reason why I feel this desperate calling to share my thoughts on the craft with other creators. It’s to pay forward all the generosity bestowed upon me over the years. What would we do without our teachers, our mentors—the selfless people willing to step out of their own worlds to give us a lift up? One person in particular had a profound impact on me: Leila Meacham [https://www.leilameacham.com]. She was a proud Texan, a football lover, a beloved English teacher, and a novelist who hit the big time (seven-figure deals) later in life. To me, she was more than my writing mentor. She was my hero, and I’d like to pass along some of her wisdom. What’s funny is I never met her in person. But by the end, she treated me like family. Whenever I get the opportunity to help a budding novelist, I jump on it, because that’s what Leila would do. She didn’t have to help me, this eager yet green scribbler of words, didn’t even have to bring me into her orbit, but she opened her arms to me, and in the years leading up to her passing, changed my writing and my life. While my family and I were living in eastern Washington State, my in-laws came to visit in 2014 via a ship that cruised inland on the Columbia River. While the ship was at port, my wife, Mikella, boarded to have lunch with her parents. I was working, so I missed out on my one chance to meet Leila, who also happened to be on the cruise. My mother-in-law, who is another mentor of mine and one of my biggest supporters, had met Leila, learned who she was, and talked me up. During lunch, Leila introduced herself to Mikella, chatted for a moment, then left everyone to their meal. But then she pivoted and returned to the table. To my wife, she said, “Something just now told me to turn around, that I need to connect with this Boo fella.” So began one of the most important relationships of my career, all by phone and email, seven years of communication. You should know that when Leila wrote an email, it read like a letter she’d sent via the postman, because there was never a misplaced word, never a hurried sentence. My being here, sharing my thoughts on the craft and life, this is me pivoting, like Leila did on the ship. This is me humbly reaching out and offering what I can to those who seek a creative path (bless your hearts…). When I’d call her, I’d start into idle chitchat, and she’d say, “Let’s get right to it and talk words.” So let’s do that. I’ve been poring over the hundreds of emails we shared, and I’d like to offer some of my favorites. To give you an even clearer idea of who she was, she battled pancreatic cancer for two years, then was issued her wings in 2021 at the young age of eighty-three. We were in touch well into her final days, but she never made it about her when we talked. In fact, the below is as much as she would address my questions about her health. Did you reach your deadline? Fingers crossed and a prayer in the heart that you did. Keep the candles burning for me. I am not out of this darkness yet, but I believe I see lights ahead. Hoping you and the family are faring well enough in this lockdown. She was suffering tremendous pain, the chemo pounding away at her, and yet she was checking on my deadline! If that’s not a life lesson, I don’t know what is. One of the traits that made her a great teacher and mentor is that she somehow could give criticism while lifting you up. Like this, her first note to me: Boo, I am halfway through your book. You are very talented. The passion is there, as well as other essential elements of fiction writing, but you lack craftsmanship that will hamper your landing a top-tier agent and major publisher. Just to throw out a few in haste: 1) Be precise in your word choice. 2) Make sure your figures of speech match the imagery you wish to project; that is, that your similes and metaphors are not too weak or too strong for the object they modify. All it takes is deeper visualization of the picture you wish to draw and word choice to paint it. Another, later on, a master class in teaching: Boo, I have to say that I’m very impressed with your work ethic, perseverance, enthusiasm, and patience, for whatever value you place on that opinion. I shall butt in now with one of my favorite peeves of faulty sentence construction of which even well-known writers are guilty. It is called “the orphaned pronoun.” I was guilty of the embarrassing infraction in my first literary efforts but since have cleaned up my act. An orphaned pronoun is one that has no antecedent—no noun to which it refers. The pronouns it and that occur most often. Here are the most glaring examples: John disliked Anna, and it drove her mad. There is no antecedent for it. John disliked Anna, and his animosity drove her mad. John told Anna to be on the lookout for rats and that made her sick. What made Anna sick: that John told Anna to be on the lookout for rats or the possibility of sighting rats? You have to change the construction. John told Anna to be on the lookout for rats, and the possibility of sighting one made her sick. Just thought I’d toss that in. (Ha) Keep on trucking, LM I loved the following thought, an illustration of her unwavering belief in God: Ask God to go with you all the way, and He will. Sit quietly before your story, ask, and He will give you the right words, voice, tone. Trust me. He writes my books and my fingers do the walking. So much of our chats leaned into grammar and diction, constant tidbits feeding into my inbox: Another sentence construction I’ve noticed to be aware of if a writer wishes to tighten his prose. Example: “The bolt was thrown on the other side of the fence so far down that he couldn’t reach it.” The meaning is clear. However, this is better: “The bolt was thrown on the other side of the fence and, to his utter dismay, located beyond his reach.” Lesson: You can eliminate the relative clause “that he couldn’t reach it” (sentence clutter), reduce the idea to a past participle and be able to include a bit of character within the sentence as well. Here’s another thought regarding details. Make your words do double duty, get more bang for the buck. Recently, in my new book Dragonfly, I set a scene in a tavern. It’s July. Alistair is a non-drinker. He’s an OSS officer reluctant to send a team of young folks behind enemy lines. Of course, the code name for the team is Dragonfly. So I wrote: “Alistair swallowed the last of his club soda, set the glass on the napkin, and left before the summer heat of the tavern melted the remaining ice and obliterated his drawing of the dragonfly.” Club soda re-establishes Alistair doesn’t drink, summer heat that it’s July, and the action of “left before” suggests his reluctance to send the team into harm’s way AND serves as foreshadowing which creates a cliffhanger. Are those young people going to make it, or will they be obliterated like the penciled drawing of the dragonfly? She was always so kind to let me send her one of my working passages to pick apart, again leaving me upbeat and eager to better my writing. I sent her this one: Along with her warmth and innocence, there was something slightly “bad girl” about Abby that appealed to the motorcycle guy in Brooks. At parties, she was the one to instigate a round or two of Jose Cuervo shots, and she was often the last one standing. She laughed the loudest at fart jokes and always had a few crude jokes of her own to tell. Morning, noon, or night, she welcomed a good argument, especially one involving church or state. And she’d bury you if you insulted women. At times, not often, but at the most opportune time in a back and forth, she would drop the F-word and she would use it with such confidence and calculated timing that it worked to great effect. Brooks wanted to get to know her, to learn about her past. There were skeletons in her closet that he craved to get to know. Her response: OUTSTANDING!! You’ve got the idea. I can see this girl. Only suggestion I’d make is to add a little qualifying phrase to “last one standing” such as “when the lights went out.” We speak in assumptions in conversations because we assume our listeners know what we mean without adding the obvious, but in writing, you have to qualify the when, where, and how of a statement. One other point: Can one get to know a skeleton? Or do we learn about them? Again, in conversation we can get by with loose diction, but not in writing. The writer must be on point. But, my goodness, great job, Boo!!! I wrote her one time under deadline, totally down and out. She wrote back: You need some restorative time, Boo. It is essential. Fill it with activities that do not require creative energy but simply give you enjoyment and peace. Who knows but, while you are so engaged, a story line will drop right into your lap, unbidden. There’s no forcing what refuses to come. I once read a wonderful line: Happiness is like a butterfly. Chase it and it runs away. Sit quietly, and it will light upon your shoulder. So it is I believe with the creative muse. Wish you were here and I could hold your hand, but from my heart to yours will have to do. A reminder to read: The best teacher of writing quality fiction for a new writer is to read fiction books of quality writing. The general reader reads for the story. The wanna-be writer (for want of a better description) reads for the style, word choice, pace, development, etc. etc. He absorbs it by osmosis, sometimes unconsciously until he puts pen to page. Here are a couple of great SHOW and TELL lessons: Thought I’d drop a couple of examples to demonstrate the difference between SHOW and TELL and improved word usage (diction). Tell: His father’s words to comfort his wife were as meaningless and ineffective as a sprinkler bottle used to put out a house fire, and she wasn’t buying it. Show: His father’s assurances had the effect of a sprinkler bottle used to put out a house fire, and his mother turned her head to stare out the window. Do you see that you don’t have to tell the reader that the character’s wife wasn’t buying it when her action speaks for her. Also, assurances is a more specific word than words and implies comfort. To avoid telling, try using internal monologue to establish character and show action. Emilia’s passage is a great place to employ that technique. Have her observe and speak to herself in teenage-ese in her thoughts, not as an author observer. “What are you doing, Emilia?” He knows very well what I’m doing, Emilia thought. It was now or never. He didn’t care about her as the daughter of Jake and Carmen. He didn’t care about her parents. He cared about her. Her! Another lesson on SHOW and TELL, this one urging that we must find balance. I thought I’d pass on this element of expression that seems right up your descriptive alley. As you know, the cardinal rule of fiction writing is SHOW, don’t TELL, but I take a little umbrage with that edict because “telling” can pack a wallop of detail without the writer having “to show.” Example: The hurricanic force of the Hamilton family made landfall before the Wilson residence one day earlier than expected. As Margaret watched from her living room window, four children, one a screaming baby in her mother’s arms and the others in a loud physical scrape, two barking dogs, and a bedraggled set of parents, also involved in a heated exchange, piled out of a luggage-filled car on her front drive. “Oh, dear,” thought Margaret, thinking of all the un-battened down treasures in the house. That is an example of telling, not showing, but is there any doubt about the pleasure these guests will be or the reception they will receive? The ordinary writer would have written: The Wilson family arrived a day early, much to the consternation of their hostess. That is an example of telling also, but it is as limp as wilted lettuce. Of course, showing is most always preferred, but occasionally you can work humor, sadness, joy, etc. in the process of telling. I asked her where her ideas came from one day: I always begin with the first line and let the story develop from there. Truly, I don’t have a clue about what will happen or where the story will go. One of these days I might write myself into an inescapable corner, but so far that has not happened. Example: One day I wrote: The call he’d been expecting for twenty-two years came at midnight when the residents of Harbison House were fast asleep. That became Tumbleweeds. Toward the end of her life, while she was in the hospital, she put a bookend on our work together, and I cherish her words with all of me: You don’t need me anymore, Boo. You have arrived. Your characters are powerful and unforgettable, your voice strong and confident, your tone honest and true. Some of your written expression is still a bit rough around the edges, which will smooth out in time. I mention it only because in addition to being a great storyteller, which you already are, your goal is to become a great writer of prose. You will have to watch out for descriptions which we say and are easily understood in conversation but must be spelled out in writing. Example: Her dark chocolate hair was pulled back, a few strays floating free up front. A good editor would correct it thusly: floating around her face. Her forehead was painted . . . An editor would suggest: Her forehead shone with a fine sheen of sweat. But no matter. What reader but another author would notice? I have only these words to leave you. I do not know what your religious affiliation is, but I cannot imagine a wine grower who writes of mountains not believing in a supreme being. So if you are one of us who believe that all talent is a divine gift with which we are entrusted, never lose sight of that fact. It will keep you humble and grateful, confident but not full of yourself. You can take credit and should for enlarging and developing the talent, the discipline, patience, and sacrifice to “get the words right,” but there it stops. I know authors who swagger while they’re sitting down, they are so proud of what they believe to be solely their doing. The truly great writers know the source of their wellspring, and that is why the world will remember them. Vaya con dios, my friend. Don’t forget that I am here, and stay in touch. Leila Her last letter to me. July, from the hospital, in between chemo treatments, two months before she passed: In beauty of expression, an author must be careful not to “overwrite.” Simple, clear imagery will do. For instance, if you will pardon my cheek in using an example from my own current writing, I use the phrase, “In the rubble of his despair, two realities were glaringly clear.” No need to go into the character’s “feelings” at that moment, a tendency many writers indulge in trying to be “literary.” Better to stick to craftsmanship. The “overwriting” that gets to me is the attempt at metaphoric expressions that do not work, such as “his white hair stood up in the wind like dancing girls in hula skirts.” Dear me. You’d be surprised who wrote that. Stay well, my dear. I am in tears now, feeling all kinds of gratitude. Wait, she’d say the tears are enough to indicate gratitude. What a teacher, all the way to the end and beyond. Leila, if you’re listening, your aftershocks still rumble. Dear writer, I hope you found a few nuggets of wisdom in my communication with Leila. As we chase our literary dreams, honing our storytelling and prose skills, may we also realize our potential as goodhearted humans while we’re at it. I believe the latter is required if we’re ever to lay down the story we’re meant to tell. When you hit the big time, the object of bidding wars and movie options, may you remember to pay it forward, because as solitary as this profession can be, it takes an army of support to carry us forward. Stay well, my dears! Boo (This article was originally shared via Writer Unboxed [https://writerunboxed.com/2026/04/30/lessons-from-my-mentor/].) Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Drowning in Words at boowalker.substack.com/subscribe [https://boowalker.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Inmates Are After Jennifer Aniston

It’s time I share something that I’ve kept buried for many years. I don’t know that you need to hear it, but maybe you do. Maybe you woke up feeling like something was missing from your life. I am here today to fill that hole. That’s right, boo walker, the literary 3M Bondo wood filler that you didn’t know you needed. Twenty years ago, when Apple came out with the @mac and @me email addresses, you were given the ability to create aliases. On a whim, I grabbed jenniferaniston@mac(dot)com. I thought it would be funny if I made Jennifer my writer’s assistant and sent emails from that email address, something like: Dear Rolling Stone, Boo asked me to reach out regarding your desperate urge to interview him. He might have some time next week. Best, Jen Here’s where it gets weird, if it hasn’t already. Ever since, once or twice a month, inmates from various prisons around the U.S. have been writing to that address, most often suggesting in various ways that they and Jennifer would make a good couple or that they would love a chance to audition for her next project. It’s always official correspondence coming through the actual prison communication system, the latest of which was requesting a collect call. Yes, on occasion, I have responded. That’ll be a story for another day. Anyway, her popularity with those behind bars sends my mind in all sorts of places. How tough it must be to be a celebrity on that level. Can you imagine? Also, I wonder if there’s a story there (because I’m always wondering this). What if an inmate reached out to me, the uber-minor celebrity boo walker, and it turned into an interesting tale where we start chatting, then I’m part of a jailbreak, then running for my life, then imprisoned for a crime I didn’t commit? Yikes. There you go, a peak behind the curtain of an especially looney boo as I approach the final days of my deadline. I hope it was good for a laugh or at least a widening of the eyes. Here’s looney boo in person if you don’t believe me. With that silliness out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. Books. I’ve leapt into Elif Shirak’s The Island of Missing Trees [https://amzn.to/3Q8NKQY], and it starts out with a wondrous passage that I had to share. I’d kept hearing that she’s a wonderful writer, and there’s no denying it. Here’s how her novel opens up: Once upon a memory, at the far end of the Mediterranean Sea, there lay an island so beautiful and blue that the many travellers, pilgrims, crusaders and merchants who fell in love with it either wanted never to leave or tried to tow it with hemp ropes all the way back to their own countries. Legends, perhaps. But legends are there to tell us what history has forgotten. It has been many years since I fled that place on board a plane, inside a suitcase made of soft black leather, never to return. I have since adopted another land, England, where I have grown and thrived, but not a single day passes that I do not yearn to be back. Home. Motherland. It must still be there where I left it, rising and sinking with the waves that break and foam upon its rugged coastline. At the crossroads of three continents– Europe, Africa, Asia—and the Levant, that vast and impenetrable region, vanished entirely from the maps of today. A map is a two-dimensional representation with arbitrary symbols and incised lines that decide who is to be our enemy and who is to be our friend, who deserves our love and who deserves our hatred and who, our sheer indifference. Cartography is another name for stories told by winners. How remarkable is that, right? That whole idea of maps deciding who we love and war with. Oh, my. Brilliant. But! I’m having a bit of an issue. I’m only fifty pages in and was not prepared to welcome one of the narrators, a fig tree. When I first came upon that jarring POV, I was caught off guard, then this morning, I was slightly perturbed, unable to suspend my disbelief. You have to lean in if you’re going to believe a tree has a voice. I sipped my coffee and wondered if I had it in me—if I had the interest—to follow a tree throughout the story. I ultimately decided that I needed to give it a chance, that my hesitation is nothing but a lack of imagination. I need to remove my blinders and let the fantasy swoop me up and away. I’ll keep going and see what happens. Of course, I was okay with the dog in The Art of Racing in the Rain [https://amzn.to/4onmHhC]. I wrote from a ghost’s perspective in Before We Say Goodbye [https://amzn.to/4uUuiGB]. Why not a tree? Elif, if you’re reading this, my own words are not worthy of the flies buzzing ‘round your leftovers, so please don’t take offense to my hesitation. Movies. I have a gem of a film for you. Never would I have known about it had my adventurous, sometimes-too-artsy-with-her-taste wife not pushed it upon my son and me. I’m so glad she did. Trust me on this one. If your heart needs a warm blanket, if your soul needs a boost, here’s your ticket. Hunt for the Wilderpeople [https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0F1MWTSV1/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r] is on Amazon right now. Music. I have so many new discoveries but holding back so as not to overwhelm you. I’ve just learned of Brooklyn-based Big Crown Records [https://bigcrownrecords.com], who is putting out amazing soul music. Have a taste here with Mr. Lee Fields. Some call him Little JB, referring to James Brown. Crank that and see if you don’t feel a rumble in your bones. Let’s go down a totally different lane. Ever since being introduced to him in music school at the College of Charleston, I have adored the composer Philip Glass [https://philipglass.com/]. His music pounds my heart. So I jumped on monster pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn’s new release called [https://music.apple.com/us/album/hourglass/1880085073]Hourglass [https://music.apple.com/us/album/hourglass/1880085073]. Put that in your ears and smoke it. Here’s a taste of the first track, but I encourage you to take in the entire album. If you listen, like really listen, these musical geniuses will draw tears. Stunning, right? I’m two days away from sending my work-in-progress to a group of fearless beta-readers, then I’m stepping away for a reboot. School’s almost out, and we’re popping down to Mexico for some sun and sand and reading. So much reading. Any suggestions? If you don’t hear from me for a couple of weeks, all’s well. Just plugging myself in for a charge. If you’re bored, drop me a line and let me know your plans for the summer. This isn’t a one-way street! Much love, boo Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Drowning in Words at boowalker.substack.com/subscribe [https://boowalker.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Godwinks in art and outlining novels

Before I get into some wild Godwinks and coincidences and the wondrous nature of opening yourself up to the mesmerizing entanglement that weaves us all together, allow me to mention an essay I’ve just published on outlining a novel. Never before have I had my arse kicked by a piece like this one [https://open.substack.com/pub/boowalker/p/on-the-craft-pounding-out-story-beats?r=22hty&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web]. I can’t believe how much it took out of me, weeks of pondering and re-working, and I’m super proud of how it turned out. It’s not just for you writers; it’s for anyone who wants a look behind the curtain. And there may be mention of a new Red Mountain novel! You can read/listen to it on Substack [https://open.substack.com/pub/boowalker/p/on-the-craft-pounding-out-story-beats?r=22hty&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web], or find the 53-minute audio version via my Drowning in Words podcast on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-craft-pounding-out-story-beats/id1871330758?i=1000770593920] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/7I1tDW95wQELQYQktb9FNa?si=0e309e0caa3349ad]. Okay, we all know what Godwinks are, right? They’re the tiny miracles occurring all around us—should we choose to take notice, those whispers from the mystic that assure us that we’re not alone. Allow me to share how the following collection of art tied together for me this morning as breathtaking evidence of a grand design. I feel touched by the divine and hoping I can pass it along. Books. I’m not quite done talking about The Dog Stars [https://amzn.to/3PRBe8m] by Peter Heller. May I share one of the many passages that knocked me to my knees. Here goes… I stood in the shade of the tree in the cool breath of the moving water and let the sound, the light breeze blow through me. I was a shell. Empty. Put me to your ear and you would hear the distant rush of a ghost ocean. Just nothing. The slightest pressure of current or tide could push and roll me. I would wash up. Here on this bank, dry out and bleach and the wind would scour and roughen me, strip away the thinnest layers until I was brittle and the thickness of paper. Until I crumbled into sand. That’s how I felt. I’d say it was a relief to have at last nothing, nothing, but I was too hollow to register relief, too empty to carry it. I really didn’t give a shit what this old bastard did to me. Nothing to lose is so empty, so light, that the sand you crumble to at last blows away in a gust, so insubstantial it’s carried upwards to shirr into the sandstorm of the stars. That’s where we all get to. The rest is just wearing thin waiting for wind. C’mon! That is fire, folks. That is why I read. I came away from this novel feeling so grateful for what I have, as it’s such a reminder that it can all go away in a moment. We must not take for granted the little things: a long meal with loved ones, the choice of take-out options, the comfort of a good bed, the touch of your lover—even the slightest one—or the little sounds they make, the funny nuances of their routine, the access to all the art you could ever consume, the chance to say “I’m sorry” or “I love you” or to start again, a lick on the face by a dog who loves you unconditionally, the brush of your cat as she weaves ‘round your legs, a goodbye kiss from your child as he rushes out the door to go find his place in the world, mail delivered to your door, your mother and father and brother a video call away, the way the warm morning sun cuts through the window as you sip coffee just the way you like it, the way a patch of grass, a good book, and a bit of shade on a hot day is all you ever need. Film. Check out the movie trailer to The Dog Stars. Or maybe wait until you’ve read it first. I don’t know that Ridley Scott can do wrong. It’s gonna be a scorcher of a film. And that cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, and Margaret Qualley! Here come the Godwinks. Music. I mentioned one of my fave bands, Bleachers, had a new album [https://music.apple.com/us/album/everyone-for-ten-minutes/1872842313] coming out. It’s here, and it’s marvelous. I only just learned in preparing to share with you today that Jack Antenoff, the muscle behind Bleachers, is married to Margaret Qualley, who is the aforementioned star of The Dog Stars. How about them apples? Not only that, she’s the daughter of Andie MacDowell (Groundhog Day), who you know and who just so happens to have been born right down the road from where I grew up in South Carolina. God winks for days!!! Don’t you just love when you plug into the dazzling interconnected web of creative wonder? Can I throw a cherry on top? Here’s one of the marvelous tunes from the new album. Notice the banjo? I just did as I pulled up the video. You might know my first gig was playing banjo in Nashville. I can’t stand it, guys. All I want to be is wrapped up in this holy web. Let’s leave it there, right? I’m six weeks from deadline and stoked to bring Salvation Isle to you next year. I know, that seems like a long time. At least The English Bookstore in Bologna [https://amzn.to/4vrMmbe] is coming in hot, only two months away! Much love, boo Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Drowning in Words at boowalker.substack.com/subscribe [https://boowalker.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

On the Craft: Pounding Out Story Beats

Warning: brainwork ahead; lots of words coming; you will need coffee We’ve covered opening yourself up to a new story, sowing those seeds, and allowing them to take root. Let’s skip ahead, assume you have a story idea, and talk about sketching out the beats, aka, plotting. This one’s not only for writers. It’s for any curious souls who want to pull back the curtain on the creative process. As always, you can listen to the audio version by clicking above or on my Drowning in Words podcast on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/boo-walkers-drowning-in-words/id1871330758] or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/7eT5GbBUYyTEtYRbgU4eZr]. You know that Dos Equis commercial featuring the most interesting man in the world? He says, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis.” Well, I don’t always outline, but when I do, here’s an idea of what’s running through my head. Don’t fear. Following my suggestions below and attempting to hammer out a plot before you start writing doesn’t mean you have to be a plotter for the rest of your life. An outline isn’t going to bite…hard. Stephen King, an infamous pantser, won’t put a hex on you. And you’re not losing the magic by engaging the analytical part of your brain. I can’t stand the idea that we authors feel a need to jab our flag into one camp, either plotter or pantser. Do whatever the project calls for, whatever’s pulling you. Yes, I pantsed the first half of Salvation Isle, and it was a wonderful ride, but with the new project I just started, the fourth in my Red Mountain series, I wanted to outline as much as I could. And I’ll explain why shortly. Both plotting and pantsing have wonderful merits. Pantsers, those who write by the seat of their pants sans outline, thrive on discovery. They have the joy of spelunking into a dark cave with only a headlight, seeing only what’s right ahead of them. It can be scary and surprising and a ton of fun too. It’s as if you’re enjoying the story in real time as you tell it. Also, it’s a thrill to simply start typing and see what appears on the page. Known pantsers: boo walker, Agatha Christie, Haruki Murakami, Ursula K. Le Guin Plotters, on the other hand, can set their story up in a way that might lead to a cleaner first draft. They can take time to weave in layers of complexity that pantsers won’t get to till later on. They have a plot that is likely already adhering to the theme and advancing the character’s growth in a steady arc. The obstacles are presented with precise escalation. And so on… One could argue that plotters are faster at arriving at a publishable story. I’m trying to squeeze this Red Mountain book in between two other contracted books that have fixed deadlines, meaning timing is of the essence. Plotting can make tackling a more complicated structure easier. In the case of my Red Mountain stories, I typically have three to five points of view. Pantsing that kind of spread can tax boo’s CPU to the point of a short-circuit, and nobody needs to see boo short-circuit. Lastly, I’ve found that having an outline makes it far more difficult to get bogged down by writer’s block. I heard someone say once that writer’s block only happens when you don’t know where you’re going. How true! Known plotters: boo walker, John Irving, Patrick Rothfuss, Tana French, George R.R. Martin Did you notice I’m part of both camps? I just wanted to see my name next to all those masters, though I couldn’t allow myself any capitalization. I’m a plantser: bi-curious, non-partisan, and plotsexual. I suggest you be the same. Change it up. Don’t get comfortable—or else your muse will get bored and go find someone younger and thirstier for words. Though it’s always changing, I prefer the middle ground. I hammer out an idea of where I want to go—sometimes a heavily detailed plan, other times a couple of paragraphs expanding on the premise—but always set out on my story journey welcoming distractions. An ADHD joy ride toward the climax of the story. Even the best plotters make room for their imagination to grab the wheel. You can’t know all the places a story wants to go till you’re submerged, wearing your character’s skin, hearing their dialogue, feeling their feels, seeing the plot whiz by in real time. Here’s a good place to defend a misconception about plotting. Pantsers love to rub in the face of plotters how boring it would be to miss out on the joy of discovering the twists and turns along with the character. Plotters can do this too. If you spend long enough prepping your story, figuring out your characters, and then pushing through the beats, you can absolutely play discovery games. Exercise: Create a character in your head right now. Yeah, you, right now. Imagine yourself wearing their skin, breathing through their lungs. Now, give them a desire and then put something in the way. Once, you’re there, close your eyes and imagine that character going after that desire, then hitting the obstacle. What do they feel? How can they get around it? Put them into action. Maybe they don’t get through. Think of another way around the obstacle. Keep going till they get their desire. You just played discovery without typing a word! Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Here’s the truth of it. If you really want to outline properly, giving yourself the tools you need to start writing without pausing for a month, then you need to get dirty. You need to get into the head and skin of each character, get into the specifics of each obstacle. You have to answer all the questions lingering as you watch your people run around in this world you’re building, and as you toss out plot ideas to keep them moving. Free write, research, play the “what if” game, find pics of your characters, speak out loud with their accents, create their family tree, draw out settings, go on long walks to consider all possibilities. Whatever it takes to bring the story to life in your mind. Choose your weapon. Now, choose your weapon of choice: whiteboard, chalkboard, sand on the beach, index cards on the floor, Scrivener corkboard, Excel (ugh, nooooo! Though I use Excel at times, it feels a little corporate to me). Naturally, I suggest changing it up. I’ve tried everything I can think of. Stretch those outlining muscles. During a recent rage-filled episode with Scrivener (which I’m back to loving, by the way), I discovered Plottr. The guys over there were kind enough to offer a subscription, and I committed to using it for this Red Mountain book. It’s a wonderful tool, cleaner and more elastic than Scrivener’s corkboard. In fact, I’m already thinking that with future books I’ll use Plottr for outlining and Scrivener for character/setting organization and drafting. I’m forced to use Microsoft Word once I start working with my editing team, but I like to stay in Scrivener as long as possible while writing. No matter your tool, here are the basics that I find important. Of course, talk to me in two years, and I’ll likely have an entirely different process. With Plottr, I can create as many rows of blank boxes as I’d like, but you can apply this to any tool you’re using, including a good ol’ fashioned notebook. Blank boxes are your index cards. They give you enough space to fill out the crucial information. What’s most important to me, whether I go physical or digital, is that the index cards are moveable, so I can arrange and rearrange them as I massage my plot. Creating empty boxes. First, I decide on a timeline. Will it stretch over the course of a summer or span a decade or more? The first step is to create a row of boxes that show rough dates. For Red Mountain Calling, it starts in March and ends around November. Locking that down early on is huge. Then, I create another row of boxes that’s dedicated to larger events in the story. It didn’t take me long to realize that if I follow the yearly pattern of my Red Mountain stories, this one kicks off in March of 2020, right when COVID arrived. In this timeline, I mark down factual dates such as when restaurants and hotels closed, when the hospitals started spilling over. I also might mark some important dates related to the wine year, like when budbreak takes place, when winegrowers pick their white and red grapes. And whatever other dates apply to the story. I’ll also insert important dates from my fictional universe too. For example, I know a very bad thing will happen on the mountain, and it will affect every character. That goes here too. I create yet another timeline to sketch out the classic beats in any story, like the catalyst, the midpoint, etc. More on these later. Now, the good stuff. The beats for our characters. As mentioned, I have a few different storylines going (only do this if you have a death wish), so I create a row of empty boxes for each of my POV characters. And here comes the author crisis… I created all these boxes, then just stared and stared and stared. My seventeenth book, and I felt as much like a newbie as I ever had. I beat myself up for a while, sped down Impostor Syndrome Boulevard, even had the urge to forget my grand idea of prepping and just start writing, but I ultimately held strong to my outlining commitment and took a step back. I had a sense of how each of the characters was starting out, but I wasn’t quite sure where they were going, so I decided to pull a few craft books geared toward outlining off my shelf. Thumbing through them knocked some wonderful ideas loose, but then I got super frustrated. I noticed that one book disagreed with another, and I found myself wondering if I was reading them wrong and which path to take and who to side with and… Stop overthinking, Boo. That’s what I told myself. Everything you need is between your ears—and behind your ribcage. That’s the issue with craft books. I adore them. Hell, I’m writing the first in a series of them! But the user must understand that they offer one way to do things, which is super helpful, but we can’t get pulled into thinking there’s only one way, that there are specific guardrails we must follow. I’ve already talked about Theo of Golden breaking rules. A totally static character without an arc and arguably last year’s favorite in the book world. How about Daniel Kraus winning the Pulitzer with his novel Angel Down? It’s one big sentence! I bet you I can find umpteen billion craft books telling you how to structure your sentences and not one of them will encourage a sentence that stretches for 304 pages. With these how-to books, we can learn how other writers think, but then we must set ourselves free to make and break our own rules. In the end, I’m looking to do two things: 1. Chase an idea that brings me joy as I usher it to life 2. Entertain my readers and hopefully make their lives a little better The first is easy. Write from your soul. Write for yourself. Do not write to prove that you matter to those around you. Do not write because you want to be known as a writer. The second requires work, but the good news is that the vast majority of readers out there don’t care how strictly you follow the rules. They wouldn’t even know to notice. They care about being pulled in by an interesting character that’s going through something intriguing. They care about pacing. This day and age, we’re competing with other forms of media that are more easily distracting, so we can’t let them get bored. My point is that you don’t need to ever read one craft book. Just like musicians don’t need to know theory. I was a music major in college because I adore seeing under the hood. Same for story. But by no means are how-to theories required to create a masterpiece. All that said, studying the craft can be a tremendous joy and learning some tricks can save you from reinventing the wheel. Before I return to the topic at hand, let me say while smashing my fist down on the podium that the far more important piece to your growth is consuming stories, including those that don’t quite work. Books, movies, poems, songs, television shows. Do that enough, and you’ll know what to do once you get started with your own. You’ll build an instinctual sense of pacing, of how characters grow, of how good dialogue works, of how to capture the audience. Putting my books back on the shelf, I ultimately returned to this idea that it’s all in my head and my heart. Let my instincts steer. What followed was tremendous. Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What is a story? Before we drill into the specifics, let’s hammer out what we consider a story. That’ll give us a better idea of how to build one. With respect to plenty of exceptions (hello again, Theo of Golden), a story, or at least my stories, have a flawed character(s) who change as the plot progresses. Typically they want something (even an inkling of the vaguest something, internal or external) but obstacles get in the way. By the end, whether they achieve their goal or not, they have positively or negatively changed, the latter of which can lead to a pretty sad story. Regarding Theo of Golden, the protagonist didn’t change but the cast around him did, which is a glorious example of how the rules are here to be bent and broken. Here’s another simple distillation I like apropos story, attributed to playwright George Abbott: Part one, you get a likable guy up a tree. Part two, you throw rocks at him. Part three, you get him down. That’s all you need to pound out a story, amigos, but let’s add a few other ideas in. Cause and effect. Your story needs to flow, and the best way is getting most of your plot points to lead into the next. In other words, unless you’re shaking it up, maybe don’t construct a story with a bunch of random scenes. That’ll take you into episodic territory. Your scenes need to flow into each other by cause and effect. I can’t go further without mentioning the “but/therefore rule” brought to the writing world by the creators of South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone would make sure each scene was tied together with “but” or “therefore,” instead of “and” or “then.” Try that and see how much more interesting your story becomes. I’ll have this concept in my head while plotting, then revisit it when I go over it later. Make the story easy for your reader. The premise/theme as the spine. Most scenes should (should is such a bad word!) be connected to the overall premise and theme of your book. To me, the premise is the basic concept, your elevator pitch, and the theme is what you’re trying to say, the underlying currents running between the words. Don’t overthink them and let the definitions of each hang loosely, no matter who tries to tell you exactly what they are. As you fill out the empty boxes in your outline, stay true to your premise and theme. If your teacher gave you an assignment to write a collection of elephant poems, don’t cram in a tiger poem just because you like stripes. For all my Red Mountain novels, I’ve held onto this premise: a cast of colorful characters in a small wine-growing region fights for life, love, and belonging. The themes have to do with working together for a grander cause, finding meaning in life, learning to love yourself and others—despite the ugly bits. See what I mean by keeping it loose? Notice how I didn’t just stick to one? This is my party; I can do whatever I want. I consider these ideas with each plot decision. I’ll even create a micro-premise (and maybe a related theme) for each POV character, which falls under the main premise umbrella. On structure. I have a flexible structure concept that I’ve been tweaking for years that includes a few beats that always find a way into my stories—and most stories. I mentioned creating such a timeline earlier. All of my novels so far reflect the hero’s journey, as brought to us by Joseph Campbell. Go read Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey for the best way to understand it. You’ll also find I adhere to a three-act structure, the second act being split in two by a midpoint. Thank you Aristotle and Syd Field, among others. Along with marking each act and midpoint, I have some other essential beats: the opening scene, the setup, the call to adventure/catalyst, character breaking into Act II, midpoint, dissolution/crisis/dark night (my fave), the awakening, the charge leading into Act III, and the final scene, which might hark back to the opening. These are just story basics, beats that I recognize in nearly every book, tv show, and movie I consume, and they come out of me instinctually. With my multiple POV books, I try to have the characters grow in roughly parallel fashion, meaning that each POV character’s big moments, such as the dissolution, happens around the same time. Because I have my timeline, knowing that Red Mountain starts in March and ends in October (at least for now) I can guesstimate where the beats will land. The midpoint will be in June. The beginning of Act III will land in September. Know your characters. Before we fill this growing collection of boxes, know your people. What are they dealing with? What is their flaw? How’d they get so damaged? What is the wound that led them to this place where they need a story to grow? Why am I telling their story? How are they going to change? What are their worst nightmares? Once you can answer these questions, nail down what they want. As I say over and over, their desire can be anything. ANYTHING. Don’t let anyone tell you it has to be a measurable external goal. Most craft books will push this idea on you. Yes, that’s one way to do it, and it just so happens to be an easier way, but there are tons of stories out there proving the options are endless. The desires can be internal or external or both. They can be concrete, such as going after a promotion or solving a murder, or they can be absolutely vague, such as a pursuit of happiness or simply a will to get by every day. It’s just nice to have something in mind, so that you can throw obstacles at them. That’s your story. I’ll write out what each character wants, then brainstorm all the possible obstacles that could get in the way. You’ll see this in action down below. This can be the most fun of the whole project. Don’t hold back, write down anything. Then pick and choose your favorites, especially considering what challenges will be most germane to the story at hand. If you’re really good, you can organize them in a way where each obstacle is more daunting than the next. In other words, start by throwing rocks at your character, then bricks, then daggers, then pull out your gun. But prove me wrong. Start with the biggest monster and end with a tiny bang. Once you have a list of challenges, start filling out boxes. Your character goes after what he wants, runs into an obstacle, which causes him to recalibrate. Perhaps he’s knocked back a few steps, but he pushes forward. Once he gets past one obstacle, throw the next at him. Your story is coming alive. At this point, it’s good to remember that your character is growing. He will try to solve his issues in unenlightened ways in the beginning. By the midpoint, however, we should expect that he’s grown and has a sense that he must change before he can truly realize his internal and/or external goal(s). Bake that into your scenes. Think about how someone who has grown might face the same obstacles he faced earlier on. Putting things into practice with my WIP. To show you this thinking in action, let’s get granular and look at one of my characters. Otis Till is one of the stars of my Red Mountain series. He’s had a ton of flaws over the course of the series, so I needed to come up with something more creative. Side note: when writing in series, you might have a character slowly grow over the whole story. In my case, I didn’t know it would be a series from day one, so most of my characters grew out of their initial flaws in book one. No matter, I just give them new flaws with each new book. That’s a lot like each of us, isn’t it? We work on one challenge, only to discover we have a new issue the next year. Of course, the issues are often related. In the last Red Mountain, Red Mountain Burning, Otis left the mountain, but now he feels this desperate need to return. His flaw has to do with feeling like Red Mountain can’t continue without him. He can’t relinquish control even after being gone for a year, and he feels as if he doesn’t matter unless he’s a part of it. His journey will be about returning to Red Mountain and trying to clumsily save the mountain and its inhabitants, only to realize that he must stop white-knuckling and let go. Here’s a workable micro-premise: an elder winemaker of Red Mountain must find his new place on the sidelines if he is to go into his seventies with a sense of peace. No promises if that will stick, but it’s a good start. As I hammered out his beats, I only allowed material that hit on that premise. His call to adventure comes to him as a dream; he wakes knowing that he must return to the mountain. His Act II begins when he sets out to drive back from Miami to Washington state. The Ending. What I find very important in outlining is getting a sense of the ending. I don’t always have a clear vision, but even a taste helps. Maybe one specific detail or a scene where I see him awakening, see him defeating his monsters. You take his flaw—his issue—which in this case is not trusting that Red Mountain can thrive without him, and ask what his overcoming it might look like. Let’s assume that he can finally let go of his leadership position and become a sideman on the Red Mountain stage. That possibility leads me to believe that as he returns to Red Mountain, he’ll first try to micromanage everyone, driving everyone mad as he tries to get the mountain back on track. By the end though, I keep seeing him settling on a piece of land on the backside of Red Mountain and being happy in a simpler state, laying down his arms, like a retired general. That gives me a pretty good idea of some beats that I can add into his timeline. The Arc. Regarding Otis’s growth throughout: in the beginning, he’s desperately missing Red Mountain and sure that if he doesn’t get back, the mountain will fall apart and everything he’s worked for, for many years, will prove to be a waste. It’s gonna get ugly in the first part of Act II as he tries to save everyone. But around the midpoint, he might realize that he can’t save everyone, that it’s not about him anyway. He’s just one of the cogs in the wheel. Still, that won’t be easy, especially when he feels like everyone around him is drowning. The second part of the book will be about him coming to truly believe that he has to let go and that the mountain and its inhabitants will be okay without him carrying every bit of the weight. Along with the external story, the internal story kicks into a higher gear. What all these troubles are really about is his ongoing grief for his sons, wishing he’d done more for them, feeling like he failed them. See how this thinking can help you refine your story beats as the story moves along? Sketching out desires and obstacles. He wants to save and protect Red Mountain and its inhabitants. Things that could get in the way: * COVID - a huge issue for the food and bev and hospitality industries. So many ways to go. Restaurants can’t buy wine; no one is visiting the tasting rooms. And what about people on the mountain getting sick? * Otis sold his land and is homeless. He wants nothing more than to make wine again, but there’s no land for sale. * A time-traveling gladiator challenges him to a to-the-death brawl. Nah, that’s not germane. But it would be fun! * A new bad guy. How about the son of a bad guy in a previous novel? Ah, yes. * Brooks, his mentee and closest person he has to a living son, is struggling both emotionally and with the vineyard he bought from Otis, but Brooks doesn’t want his help. * Brooks has not taken on the leadership role on the mountain, so the community is warring with each other. There is no common vision. * A new pest or disease that could affect the vines. * Otis’s or his partner’s health become compromised, outside of the COVID threat. I could go on forever. Once I have a good list, then I can pick through for favorites, organize by escalation, and then see how they would play out over the course of the story. Each one could be a whole story if I wanted. There you go, more cards to fill out! Other scenes that need a home. Another way to fill in the empty boxes is to capture any random scenes that might be floating around in your head. I always have a few ideas that will happen somewhere, but I’m not sure where. I’ll just plug them in as best I can. For example, a scene with Otis howling at the moon naked is a sure bet at some point; it’s a part of who he is and a reader favorite. I know that Otis needs to have a fight with his mentee, Brooks, which will crush him as he feels like he’s letting down yet another son. The ultimate way for that to climax is for Brooks to shout that he doesn’t need him. That will knock Otis down to the studs. Which means that’s likely a good dark night of the soul spot, the place where the worst things happen. Also, I know that there will be a scene where Otis gives Brooks some very powerful advice; I’ve already written down the dialogue. I put that somewhere on the timeline towards the end, and again, I can shift it later. I mentioned plotters can insert some complexity into early drafts. Here’s an example: Say we know something about the end, such as Otis and Brooks’s inevitable fight. What can we do to layer in pieces that will make that fight hurt more? Considering their father/son relationship, I will definitely thread in early on Otis’s grieving for his dead sons, and I’ll make it clear how much it hurts that he let them down. I’ll also make sure the reader sees that he considers Brooks a son from the early chapters. And I’ll gradually build the tension between the two men all the way through. By the time the big fight happens, it should be inevitable. Pantsers can’t always do that as easily. Every POV character needs such attention. Follow this process with each of your POV characters. You can even do it to important non-POV characters. It can only enrich your story. As you go, consider the other characters and how they will interact with each other. There will be a scene where Brooks refuses to let Otis taste his wines, as he’s ashamed. That will impact Otis, but it’s certainly a big internal issue with Brooks. I need to choose where that scene will fall as far as point of view. And I know it’ll happen early in Act II. Brooks’s moment of dissolution will certainly tie in with the scene when he shouts at Otis and tells him he doesn’t need him. That’ll be both of their low points. Because that scene applies to both of them, I will have to decide which POV will cover it best. Unless we see it from both POVs, I can remove the block from one of their timelines to simplify. Now what? Once I have a general beat sketch of each of the characters, I go back and visit the important beats. Where does the midpoint fall? I’m hoping that the midpoint of each of the characters will fall closely to each other. I like that, similar to how the climaxes all come together. In fact, if I can, I’d like all of them to experience their climaxes in the same room. That’s not always the case, but it serves the reader well if you can pull it off. Once you’ve done your best, take a day or two, then revisit. Follow the story though the beats. Is there a natural cause and effect flow? Does it escalate in tension? Is there a proper payoff? Does the character grow in a nice arc? And then… There is a time when you must start writing, and so much reveals itself only then. The plot that you created needs to be incredibly fluid. If you’re suddenly in your character’s head and something doesn’t feel right, go in a different direction. Let the character and your intuition steer. Typically I’ll go at it for a hundred pages until things start to feel like they’re falling off the tracks, and then I’ll pause and say, “okay, now that I’ve seen who these characters really are and what’s actually going on, once I’m immersed into the details of the story, I’m gonna spend a few days tweaking the beats.” I might have gotten their flaw wrong, perhaps guessed the wrong ending. And I will pivot. Don’t be afraid to pivot, friends. It’s not always pretty, the process. It shouldn’t be! We’re all hacking away, trying to find the pretty. Create a path, then start moving your fingers. Recalibrate the plan, then back to moving fingers. Do that over and over, and you will soon have a book in hand. Hold on, that didn’t feel exciting enough. Do what I’m suggesting, and by Gods, you will defeat your demons, defy all odds, experience moments of blissful flow, and end up with a book in hand that has your name on the bloody cover! God speed. boo Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Drowning in Words at boowalker.substack.com/subscribe [https://boowalker.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

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I’ve finally made it to our summer hideaway on Peaks Island, here in Maine, and as always, I find myself set free in so many ways. There’s a lot to worry about out there in the big blue blistering blur of life, a lot of ways to conjure fear. It all falls away as I step onto the ferry to leave the mainland. If you’re ever up here, come find me. I’d love to break bread with you, so long as you’re good people. I’ll share pics of the last few days below, but first, let me get into some lovely art that’s landed into my life lately. Let’s start with the book world. Ridley Scott has made a film adaption of Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars [https://amzn.to/49wBKiP], which is a post-apocalyptic book that’s been on my TBR pile for far too long. Years, in fact. I’m halfway through and so so into this book. He’s a tremendous writer, a sort of Hemingway-esque vibe, coarse and virile, but there’s a gentleness too. And his imagining of what happens after a flu kills most of the population will definitely keep you tearing through pages. Have you read it? I know, I know. Surprise, boo is talking more about end-of-times books. Sorry, not sorry. The movie hits theaters in August, so plenty of time to read first. I highly endorse this wonderful novel. Quick side story: director Ridley Scott’s television person reached out to me a few years back about adapting my Red Mountain series. That, my friends, was a wonderful day and an agonizing few weeks as we chatted a bit, and I waited for a big fat green light. Alas, nothing came of it, but that only means Red Mountain [https://amzn.to/4ujsdDR] is waiting for a better time to find the screen. I feel it coming soon! Are you watching Your Friends & Neighbors on HBO? What a show; what a cast! The second season is total fire, and I feel almost guilty as I delight in how toxic and unhinged this crew of Westchester, NY high-society misfits has become. Now, music! As I mentioned, the Newport Jazz Festival [https://newportjazz.org/] is my spirit place, and I’m getting to know this summer’s lineup. I’d not heard of Gotts Street Park [https://www.instagram.com/gottsstreetpark/?hl=en] before, a jazzy soul group from Leeds, but they’ve climbed the boo charts in NASA fashion. Check out some of their work with these killer female singers, Pip Millet and Celeste. For real, crank these tunes up and tell me if your soul doesn’t start dancing. Yeah, that’s right. Doesn’t get much better than that. Celeste is going to be at Newport too, so I’m hoping they all share the stage together. Anyone else going? Last and least, here’s what’s happening in my world. My mom and the one other wonderful person who listen to the audio versions of these missives will be over the moon to know that I recorded an into and outro with my acoustic guitar that will now be included on all further podcasts, starting with this one. Don’t fear, I’m not getting all professional. It’ll still be unedited and an unfiltered mess, but I just had an urge to write a couple of catchy jingles, what my friend Charlie has taught me is called bumper music. You can listen by hitting the play button above or via my Drowning in Words podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/7eT5GbBUYyTEtYRbgU4eZr] and Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/boo-walkers-drowning-in-words/id1871330758], which will have the latest episode up shortly. My agent came back with edits for my work-in-progress, Salvation Isle, and she’s thrilled with what I’ve done. She’s most certainly lying, but it’s the encouragement I needed to take this baby home. I have a July 15th deadline and feeling beyond wonderful about this story. You have NO IDEA what’s coming. For you writers and readers who like craft talk, I have some good ones on deck, so stay tuned. Much love from Peaks and thanks for letting me share, boo Drowning in Words is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Drowning in Words at boowalker.substack.com/subscribe [https://boowalker.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]