5.30.20

Inspiration & Perspiration:
Danielle Trussoni’s Newsletter

May 30th, 2020

“Genius is 1 Percent Inspiration and 99 Percent Perspiration.”
– Thomas Edison
 

Happy Saturday from the writing cave, where I have been drinking coffee and working on my new novel.

I am at that stage of writing when every day brings a new and surprising realization. One day I think that I have started working on a masterpiece. The next, I think it is the worst novel I’ve ever written. Writing a novel is an act of belief, and sustaining your faith in the book for the months and years that it takes to finish it is the preeminent trait of a novelist. We novelists are tough and a bit stubborn. We have to be, or we would never finish a book!

This book is a strange one, and while I have moments of doubt about whether anyone in the world will understand it, I have been taking inspiration this week from Franz Kafka.

That attitude was definitely necessary while creating Crypto-Z, the audio drama that I created with my partner Hadrien.

The story is related to my novel The Ancestor, but is a totally new story. Not many novelists (that I know of anyway) create audio drama. It is an old form, one that was popular in the thirties and forties, but has taken on new life in the era of smartphones. One podcast company calls audio drama a movie in your mind. I think that sums it up really well.

You can listen to it free here on Apple Podcasts.

Here is Hadrien last week at the episode 4 listening party.

We do this every week when a new episode drops. Want to join? Send me a note and I’ll get you an invitation.

Aside from writing, I have been trying to reach readers online. I’ve had the great fortune to have Sadie Hartman of Night Worms (a website that creates incredible book boxes by subscription) helping me out. She asked me to participate in a celebration of horror writing this weekend by reading an excerpt of The Ancestor. Here it is on YouTube.

When I’m not writing, I’m spending lots of time with my family. I have a two year old daughter who is high (HIGH) energy and runs and plays from 5:30 AM until 8:00 PM every day. She is a lot of fun, as you can probably tell from this cute nutcracker figurine:

I would like to leave you with this beautiful photo of flowers that I have recently made my screensaver on my phone.

May you find inspiration in your life and work. Thank you for sharing my week.

Yours,