Writing in Pajamas is a Cliché for a Reason

Comfort, Purpose, and a Meaningful Creative Life

Pen and marker drawing by Shelley Burbank.

In this issue:

• A Letter from Shelley

• April Art

• April Pappus: Writing in Pajamas is a Cliché for a Reason

• Writing Prompt

• Writing News

• Publishing Industry News

• Living in Guam

A Letter from Shelley

First of all, I’d like to say thank you once again to the new subscribers this month! I’m so glad to welcome you to the Pink Dandelions community & hope that you will find inspiration, encouragement, and joy here with me and my loyal Dandies.

Substack has been a game-changer for me. Since my first letter, this community has grown by 66%. That floors me, to be honest. Yes, I started small, but considering my list had been in existence for several years with very little growth on another platform, I kind of want to pinch myself.

There’s my first cliché! More on this topic later.

For this month’s essay on living the creative life, I explore the role of purpose in our creative lives. You’ll also find a journal prompt, my most recent art, a note on why I revamped my online writing journal and an invitation to follow along, and a snippet of publishing industry news. I’ll also share recent photos from Guam.

I hope you are all feeling engaged and enthusiastic about your dreams, goals, work, and life. If you are, hooray! If not, please know you are not alone. The creative journey is less a bicycle excursion along a flat coastal road and more a hike up and down hills and valleys and twisty mountain paths and rocky stream beds.

Remember, we put up with the sweat and struggle for the glorious views along the way.

Cheers!

Shelley

April Art

I was thinking I might want to adopt a pet bird, and why not a pink one? I like this guy’s wary eyeball. He’s cheeky! Drawing continues to be a fun outlet for my creativity, mostly because I have no intention of being “an artist.” My purpose is to add texture and color to my writing projects, as I do here in this newsletter.

[I drew from a photograph I found online, but when I searched for it again, it eluded me. So, unfortunately, I’m not able to give credit to the original photographer. When I do, I’ll post it again with credit.]

April Pappus

A pappus is the seed fluff drifting on a current of air, carrying the seed to fertile soil in which it can germinate. Grow, my lovelies! Grow!

Writing In Pajamas is a Cliché for a Reason

Writing sneaks up on me.

Most mornings, I wake up and pour the first of my three cups of cafe au lait, turn on some classical music (I’m a casual Vivaldi/Baroque listener), and open the novel or nonfiction book I’m currently reading. Often, I’ll see a message from one of my friends back in the States has popped up on my phone. If the person is still online, we get into a conversation, sometimes long and sometimes short, but I don’t ignore these opportunities to connect because life overseas, so far, has been lonely.

This is my fault. I know I should get out there, join something, make some new, local friends, but so far I haven’t been able to summon the energy or the interest. I went through this when we moved from Maine to San Diego, and it’s exhausting and uncomfortable, though ultimately satisfying to meet new people.

I’m grateful for the few good friends I made in San Diego. My social bonds, however, feel stretched and thin. I long for community again.

My days are spent in my apartment rooms while my husband is at work. It’s disconcerting to realize how little outside interaction I require these days. Yes, loneliness runs beneath my skin like a slight prickle of tension, but most days it’s not enough to drive me out of the house and into the wider world. I have enough to keep me occupied for eight hours. Sometimes more. Getting out is something I need to work on.

Often during my cozy morning routine (coffee, music, book, texting), an idea for one of my projects will bubble up from my subconscious. If the idea is persistent, I’ll set my book aside, make my bed (I am a stickler for making the bed once I’m “up” for the day), and head to my desk. After taking the note, I’ll grab my planner and jot down an overly-ambitious task list for the day.

I check my email, read some of them, respond if necessary, and move on. (I used to check social media, but more often these days, I skip it. I’m trying to wean myself off, and it’s working. I don’t miss it.)

Since I’m already at my desk, I might open a project and begin writing. If I sit there long enough, I get into the zone. Maybe, like today, I finish a writing journal blog post and then start in on a newsletter essay or open the current fiction work in progress. Once I’m in this zone, two or three hours can pass, and then I “wake up” realizing my coffee is stone cold . . . and I’m still in my pajamas.

At this point, I wander to the kitchen to zap my coffee in the microwave. In the back of my mind I think, “I really should get dressed” followed immediately by, “But why?” It’s not like I’m slinking around in a silk nightie and peignoir and those feathery slipper-shoes. (Oh, if only my life were so glamorous!) No, I’m most likely in my saggy pair of llama pajama bottoms and a tee-shirt. Does it matter what I’m wearing?

I’m in my PJs right now, in fact. It’s two in the afternoon, and I’m still at this desk, not dressed for success, but maybe dressed just right for creativity.

I cannot be the only writer who, when lucky enough to be able to write at home, sits at her desk in her pajamas. It’s a cliche for a reason. When you are grappling with words and getting the images in your head onto the page, why not be comfortable?

Writing in bed is also an attractive option. If I have my laptop nearby and an idea blossoms, what could be easier than opening the lid and setting to work while reclining against the pillows? Some famous writers worked in bed: Proust, Wharton, and Colette, and others.

Are these examples the reason why the “writing in pajamas” cliché persists? Perhaps it isn’t so much a cliche as a truth universally acknowledged. Has that phrase also become a cliche? What is it about clichés that stick like burrs to the fabric of our narration, anyway?

The Experts Say

I’ve been dipping into John Gardner’s book On Becoming a Novelist (published posthumously in 1983) which is at once inspiring and depressing. Gardner wrote this book for serious students of writing. He’s a bit snobby about types of writing: namely, TV writing and the kind “you can generally count on” in “women’s magazine fiction.”

Ouch.

I once aspired to write that women’s magazine fiction—and did for a time until the market dried up—and I’d write it again if the market reemerged.

One of the first topics he covers when discussing whether someone “has it” in them to be a writer is the use of cliché.

“The writer with the worst odds . . . is the writer whose feel for the language seems incorrigibly perverted. . . The trouble with such language is not only that is is cliche (worn out, overused); but also that it is symptomatic of a crippling psychological set.”

Ouch, again!

So, Gardner wrote this book for the kind of writer who goes for an MFA or the equivalent in experience and temperament. The more literary writer. His stated purpose for writing the book:

“I write for those who desire, not publication at any cost, but publication one can be proud of—serious, honest fiction, the kind of novel that readers will find they enjoy reading more than once, the kind of fiction likely to survive . . . This book is for the beginning novelist who has already figured out that it is far more satisfying to write well than simply to write well enough to get published.” —John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist

This book started me thinking about the idea of purpose in creative pursuits. As we pursue our creative goals, should we reflect, on a more regular basis, our creative purpose?

We all have our dreams and goals. Some of us want to do well enough at whatever it is to make a little (or a lot) of money. I’m not here to disparage that! I’d like to make a little (or a lot) of money from my writing, too.

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about craft and the reason I wanted to be a writer in the first place. Yes, I wanted to “be a writer” and make a living from my writing, but if making a living was my primary goal, I could have picked a more likely career. Teacher. Lawyer. Retail store manager.

I wanted to spend my life in literary pursuits because I LOVED BOOKS. I had stories in my head, and I wanted to see if I could get them out of my head and into a form that captured them in an elegant, interesting, compelling, enjoyable way.

Any other job would just be a way to make money, and that’s the way it happened. I worked many jobs for a paycheck. Some I liked better than others. All the while I wrote. I dreamed. I hoped. I wrote some more, trying to become good enough to deserve publication and a readership.

Since publishing two novels, however, I realize making a living writing is probably a long shot for me. Most likely not in the cards. The likelihood of my winning the lottery and becoming a best-selling author recedes further every day. If it hasn’t happened by now, it probably won’t. On the other hand, never say never.

(Just playing, John Gardner!)

You might have dreams of turning your creative work into a paying gig or even a full-time living. Maybe you’re already there. Even if you managed to succeed a little or a whole lot, every so often you might want to take some time to review your purpose. Honestly. Deliberately. A soul-search in the dark of the night when no one is around to listen or care.

Are you still in it for the love of your art? Your interest in your topics? If making money and being popular has become the sole focus of your creative life, how does this impact your decisions? Your ethics? Your willingness to gamble savings and relationships in pursuit of a big payout?

A podcaster I respected recently published a self-help book. Before I had a chance to read it, I learned that she actually took the idea from a lesser-known individual (a poet!) and expanded the mantra into a book and then actually applied for a trademark so that she, and only she, would be able to use and profit from the two-word mantra the poet coined. She did not mention the originator of the concept. She did not give credit anywhere in the book, not even in the acknowledgments.

Was fame and fortune so important to this popular podcaster—not her stated purpose of helping others be their best selves—that she threw her ethics aside? She had to have known what she was doing was wrong.

I won’t be listening to her podcasts or watching her videos, at least until she makes amends and acknowledges her mistake. I’m not going to name her. I’m not into cancelling people.

What I am suggesting is, if we check our purpose, we might be less tempted to lie, cheat, or steal on our way to success.

What if it’s just failure?

Possibly, my decision to focus on purpose rather than success comes from my failure to realize my dreams.

So what?

Most of us won’t succeed in wild and magnificently public ways, so if we can embrace the idea of creative purpose rather than outward success, won’t our simpler, less showy lives be made more beautiful and meaningful?

And isn’t that the point of living?

Journal Prompt

PURPOSE. What is one goal or project you are working on right now? What is your purpose? Your why? Explore all the reasons why you are pursuing this particular goal at this time and in this place. How does this pursuit fit into the larger picture of your life? When you think about succeeding/fulfilling this purpose, what feelings swirl and surface? If you don’t totally succeed, how do you think it will feel? Is the pursuit as satisfying or nearly as satisfying as the ultimate result? Or almost beside the point?

If you’d like to share your journal entry with other newsletter readers, reply to this email and put your entry in the body of your email. I’d love to have a “Dandy Readers Write” section.

Did anyone write a short story about a dangerous butterfly from last months prompt? Me, either. I’ll try to write one this month.

Writing News

Where do I begin? This has been a big month of changes for me, in a GOOD way.

In assessing my writing career, i.e. doing my taxes, looking at my expenditures and income, and all my numbers including social media followers, newsletter subscribers, book sales, and such, I knew it was time, finally, to pivot in a number of ways.

Socials

First, while Facebook ads actually did help with sales, the outcome wasn’t so spectacular that it’s worth spending my own money on advertising when I only get half the profit my ad spend generates.

If I were self-publishing, I might be more tempted to throw money Meta’s way. On the other hand, I’m less enthused about social media than ever.

I recently heard a podcaster say that they had only a “modest” following of 20,000 on Instagram, and that wasn’t enough to keep them on the platform. Mind. Blown. I’ve yet to break 1000 followers on any of my socials. I never made it my goal to amass a huge following, but even I can see that if someone with 20K can’t make socials work, then what do I think I’m gonna do with 900 followers?

I wrote more about this on My Writing Journal blog in “The Way Back Files.”

Newsletter

A thousand readers of this newsletter, however, would be totally amazing, so much more “real” than social media followers. That’s my goal. I’m looking for a thousand true fans of my work to be opening my newsletter every month. I’m not going to “find” these readers on Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, or BlueSky. I’m going to find them by a) writing exceptional stories and essays and b)word of mouth.

“But, Shelley,” you say. “How are people going to find these exceptional stories when you write them if you aren’t schlepping them on socials?”

Glad you asked! I will be submitting my best work to magazines, anthologies, and contests. If I write a really, really good novel, I’ll look for an agent and/or a good small press. I’ll share some free stories on my writing journal. I’ll speak at libraries, women’s organizations, book clubs, and possibly on podcasts.

I have two novels out in the world that my kind of readers like. I just need more of those readers to find the Olivia Lively Mysteries and become fans. They will tell their friends. They will go to . . .

My New, Simplified Website

Yes, I’ve finally ditched my GoDaddy DIY website that gave me so much angst and anxiety over the past six years. Instead I’ve found a new platform called Novlr that offers paying members a free website. I found it super easy to drop photos and content into the template, and it just plain works like a charm.

I’ll share more in the months to come about Novlr. Meanwhile check out the new and improved (and simplified) website by clicking the button below.

GoDaddy’s help chat also helped with the transition of my domain to the new site. I’ve always been happy with their customer service responsiveness. I just never should have attempted to build my own website in the first place.

Revamped Blog

Because my old blog/writing journal was connected to the old site, I needed to move it somewhere else. I decided to move it to my VERY old Localista blog on shelleyburbank.wordpress.com. I updated the theme, changed the name of the blog, and voila, I was in business.

The best part for me is that Wordpress manages it and I have a subscribe button that works. At this point I’ve left the old Localista content up there, but I will be working on updating and weeding that stuff into submission soon. My old website blog content is now history. I did not download it. Some I drafted on Google Drive, but either way I’m sorry some of the links to interviews and reviews are gone.

I didn’t want to transfer any weird coding over to the new blog.

So if you’d like to follow along on my writing journey more closely/more often, you might like to subscribe to that blog/writing journal where I share photos of Guam, what I’m reading, what I’m thinking/feeling about writing and publishing, etc. several times a week. Click on the button below to take a peek.

Type M for Murder posts

Here is one on finding short story ideas while reading nonfiction.

Here is one on how the proposed tariffs might impact writing and publishing.

Publishing Industry News

I don’t have much to report, but I did enjoy a Substack newsletter by Heather Garbo about how agents are positioning women’s fiction type stories when they submit to editors.

The “category” called Women’s Fiction is understood by readers and is used on Amazon and other retailers, but agents are using terms like “upmarket fiction” and “book club fiction” while pitching to the industry, even if the industry might eventually tag the books “women’s fiction” in some of the marketing.

“Maybe this trend we are seeing of avoiding pitching as women’s fiction emerged as a way to better clarify where a title falls.” —Heather Garbo, Write Your Next Chapter.

From what I’m gathering around the industry interwebs, Women’s Fiction isn’t as hot as it’s been in the recent past, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely dead. Women’s Fic readers will still be looking for books about relationships, families, adult coming-of-age tales of transition and change, career struggles, drama, dramedy, and personal growth.

Women’s Fiction can be melded to almost any other genre and will make it stronger, deeper, more emotionally resonant, and memorable. (My Olivia Lively Mysteries are actually Women’s Fiction with a private investigator main character, hence crime elements in her career struggles and even her relationship issues!)

I’ll be continuing to follow the industry’s take on Women’s Fic.

You can read Garbo’s piece Should You Stop Pitching Your Manuscript as Women’s Fiction? by clicking on the title. I think you’ll find it fascinating and informative.

Guam News

A typical row of storefronts; it’s a jungle out there; salmon egg bennies at TuRé Cafe; the view on the deck at TuRé'Cafe.

We decorated the balcony, found this new cafe called TuRé which is right on the ocean, and are still enjoying the library and the beach on the Navy base. I’ve embarked on an exercise and healthy eating journey and have been working out almost every day focusing on strength training and cardio. I can see muscles again!

We spent Easter eating pastries and coffee for breakfast and then working: C on the laptop and me on housekeeping. If felt like a spring cleaning kind of day.

This weekend we have a hike planned plus a BBQ for C’s work. I’m going to make beef and veggie kabobs for the grill and pasta salad for a side. Maybe some chocolate chip cookies for the kiddos.

Hopefully, I’ll get back to trying whipping up some traditional Chamorro dishes in the kitchen. This last month found me in a bit of a funk, just drifting along on my Guam experience while wrestling with my tech and writing stuff, but I’m feeling more excited again now that I have a stable base under me.

Look for the next Pink Dandelions in May!

S.

For new readers, this is one place you can buy my books. Also on B & N and on order from indie bookstores.