Inspiration & Perspiration:
Danielle Trussoni’s Newsletter
October 2021 Newsletter
“Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” — Thomas Edison
Hello from the Writing Cave,It is a cloudy morning here, and I’m buried in my new novel. Although I’ve recently moved to a mountain in Mexico where the weather is generally temperate year-round, I am actually happy when the weather is glum (at least during my writing hours). Cloudy skies make the writing cave feel like a sanctuary. Here’s a photo of what the editing process looks like from my perspective. I finished full draft of this novel back in February, and I’ve been writing and rewriting parts ever since. When I feel happy with it, I will send it to my agent, who may have more revisions to suggest. Then, we will send it out to editors, who will absolutely have more revisions to suggest. Anyone who believes that writing a novel is a single-draft situation has not visited my writing cave.
When you’re working alone in a room for hours and hours at a time, the little things matter. I like to have good coffee, a big jug of water, sometimes some flowers, and lots of books stacked up around me when I work.
Earlier this month, I decided to buy a new keyboard. I wanted to have a keyboard that offers a really tactile experience, one that gives some resistance when I write (which makes me feel like I’m really getting something done!). After a lot of research, I chose the Azio retro classic, which replicates an old-fashioned manual typewriter both in look and feel. I absolutely love it. A lot of you on social media have been interested, so here is a link where you can buy it for yourself.
Seeing Angelology there next to my keyboard, I think I should mention that I will be publishing another part of the series. I have written this elsewhere, but I’ll write it again here for those who don’t know.
After writing two books in the series (both of which were NYT bestsellers, and well reviewed, for the record), my publisher did not buy the next book in the series. What? Really? Yes, really. A lot of things happened that fed into this (my editor left her job, the second book didn’t sell as many copies as the first, etc etc), but the result was that my readers have been left hanging (and I have been left hanging too!). The other result is that because one publisher put out the first two books, other publishers are not interested in picking up with Book #3.
So. I have decided to write and publish continuations to the story on my own. I am not quite sure which platform they will appear on, but they will be coming. So please stay tuned here for more information (and thank you for your patience).As some of you know, I’ve recently moved to San Miguel de Allende. There is a service that allows me to receive all of my US mail here. I’ve rented a PO Box that will fill up with my magazine subscriptions, my newspaper subscription, and books that I order. If you’re interested in sending me snail mail, let me know. Just respond to this email and I’ll give you my address.
Many of my readers are also writers. I have had such fulfilling moments talking about writing with people who are as passionate about the process as I am. And so I decided to host a workshop here in San Miguel. There’s still time for you to sign up to join me (I believe there are 3 spots left). We will spend five days working on chapters and stories from longer works such as memoirs and novels, then celebrate at the end of the week with a cocktail reception. If you’re interested, please respond to this email and let me know. I’ll save you a spot.
I will leave you with this photo of something sweet. I found this macaron shop the other day, and had to buy some. I hope you take time to enjoy sweet moments, and thank you for sharing this time with me.
Yours,
Danielle