New Chapters, On + Off the Page

+ an EACH AND EVERY SPARK playlist

June in Wisconsin means boats and Birkenstocks; sunscreen and sangria. It is truly the most wonderful time of the year and it’s when I feel the most myself. I recently sent out a text to a couple of friends to organize a beer garden¹ outing and one of them replied “I was just thinking of you—because it’s beer garden season!” If I am known as the friend that organizes the beer garden nights, that is truly an honor.

June is also the beginning of a very intense few months of parenting. I have very little childcare this summer and will be patching things together with a couple of teenagers, soccer camp, and a prayer. I’ll be spending it drafting my next middle grade novel (!!!) as well as chipping away at a creative side project. In the fall, all three of my children will be in school. I’m hoping my heart has peace and excitement about that in September, but right now, I’m just feeling all weepy-eyed.

I was recently ditched by my very last freelance writing client for a robot. I wrote a company’s blog for nine years and they waved goodbye in a single email. They’ll have AI spit out² the blogposts I used to write and while it makes me sad for the demise of human creativity, a tiny honest part of me knew that I would never leave that client even though I didn’t have the time at all to be writing for them. I am loyal to a fault and hate leaving people in a rut, meaning that I was clinging to a gig that was not aligned with my goals or skillset. But they did a quick cost-benefit-analysis and set me off at sea. My husband actually congratulated me—I can now confidently say that my writing income comes completely from books and long-form essays I’m passionate about, nary a 800 word blogpost on Human Resources trends in sight. Next year, I will have five whopping mornings a week to work on writing that I really want to do—fiction and substack.

But it felt like a chapter ending.

I’m so nostalgic for a time in my life that was actually quite stressful—when K was in grad school, and we lived in this postage stamp of an apartment above a cafe, and I quit my marketing job (that I had for approximately 18 seconds) to try and “make it” as a freelance writer. I pitched 5-7 publications a day, mostly from leads I got in the old Binders Facebook group. I was writing about dogs and foster care and chess tournaments and literally anything anyone would pay me for. I eventually got a part-time gig at a wedding magazine that stiffed me for an entire year’s pay (lol, such a delight) and there was just this insane hustle I had. If you needed an about page? I’d write it. Eyes on your resume? I’m your girl. Cover letters for medical school applications? Sign me up. Truly, if you had fifty bucks, I had a laptop.

I will no longer write your about page for fifty bucks. But that last blog, as lame as it kinda was, was the last vestige of the Claire who was trying to prove she could do something that felt impossible if she put her chin down and ordered a venti. I’m so proud of myself for how I worked my little tail off, with a baby, and cobbled together a career. And perhaps that’s why I could never let this last client go—because I was a freelancer, dangit, and if I never sell another book, I knew I had that manic little hustle to fall back on.

I don’t think you can craft a writing career together using the same methods I used in 2015. The world is very, very different now. The landscape has changed drastically. I don’t even know if Binders still exists. I really don’t have advice for people who want to become writers. But I will say this: sometimes, you have to write about Human Resources trends for eight years because it pay the bills. And sometimes, you get to put that behind you and mosey right along, because you are no longer in the season of your career where you need to write about things that are completely uninteresting to you, and it would behoove your sanity to acknowledge that fact.

And sometimes, they hire a robot and make the decision for you. ;)

The Official Each and Every Spark playlist:

As with all of my other books, I wanted to provide a smattering of songs that served as inspiration for my newest middle grade book. I wouldn’t claim to be any kind of super-music-fan, but I do listen to playlists constantly. Whenever I can’t stop listening to a certain song because it reminds me of a character, that’s when I know I’m starting to get a real feel for a story. I don’t actually listen to music with lyrics while I write (I’m much more of an ASMR girlie) but I listen while I’m driving to my coffee shop to write, daydreaming about Paris and croissants and secret missions assigned in the corners of dusty bookshops.

This playlist is nothing if not wildly eclectic. I can’t even say why some of the songs remind me of Marie and Penny and Adrien and Jeanne and Heloise and Mason and Matthew—only that they do.

Photograph by Boyce Avenue (ft. Bea Miller)

It’s All Coming Back to Me Now covered by Lea Michele

Papa, Can You Hear Me? covered by Lea Michele

Heroes by Ben Rector

Extraordinary Magic by Ben Rector

I See Fire by Jasmine Thompson

In My Dreams by Christy Altomare

In a Crowd of Thousands by Christy Altomare and Derek Klena

It’s Quiet Uptown by Kelly Clarkson

On My Own by Samantha Barks

Sky’s Still Blue by Andrew Belle

…and of course a healthy dose of French—tons of Edith Pilaf, and most especially, Carla Bruni’s entire Quelqu’un m’a dit album.

Don’t forget—if you want a signed copy, my local indie is also collecting preorders and ships nationally.

And lastly, a book (or two) I’ve loved lately for…

Picture book fans: Jan Brett never misses, and Mossy is one of our favorites of hers this time of year. The sweet story of turtles in love with a nice (and subtle) conservation message. I also love Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall—a nice story about bravery with terrific illustrations.

Middle graders: I love a summery MG that takes place at a pool, so Flip Turns by Catherine Arguelles was a quick read this month. Similar themes to Rachel Riley.

My kids recommend: Bridget (4) has been requesting all of The Story Orchestra books on repeat lately, particularly Swan Lake. Tess (7) read through the first ten books (!!!) in the Stella Batts series in the past four weeks, a chapter book series about a girl who wants to be a writer and is always imagining. And Benjamin (9) honestly never met a Star Wars comic book he didn’t turn down, but when I asked him for a non-Star Wars book, he begrudgingly coughed up to reading Wild Robot for the second time. I want him to keep reading the others in the series, but I try not to be a huge book-pusher so we shall see!

Adults: I was obsessed with The Favorites by Layne Fargo. I’m such a sucker for any story about Olympic hopefuls—I think it’s all the desire and dreaming and dedication and drama? Who knows. But this story about ice dancers (a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights) was so enthralling I read it in two days. And she’s a long one!

Thanks for reading along!

1. I very recently learned this is more of a midwestern thing? A beer garden is literally just like an outdoor space that serves beer and sometimes, like, pretzels or hot dogs. But it’s a pop up situation—not a permanent-restaurant situation. Usually in a park or something. Our favorite one is next to a giant playground making it the perfect family night, especially if someone brings pizzas.

2. I truly can not write one more word about AI. Yes, it’s bad news. No, I don’t like it. Yes, it is killing creative careers. No, people aren’t worried enough about it. Yes, we need to be aware. No, we shouldn’t utilize it. But during this season of life, I just can’t type or read or think about it for one more minute (and this could very much have to do with the fact that I live with someone who has thought the robots were coming for us since I’ve known him, so I am a tad inundated with it on the Homefront. 🤪