Hi friends,
This Saturday I was in bed for most of the day with a migraine, and then Sunday I woke to the news of the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs and Trump being allowed back on Twitter. It was the first weekend in a while that I didn’t get any writing done — or even have an urge to write. First I was too sick and then too heartbroken.
I thought about cancelling this week’s newsletter because I didn’t have anything to say. But then yesterday afternoon I sat down to pick up where I’d left off in Ethan Chatagnier’s beautiful debut novel Singer Distance, which explores some of the biggest mysteries in the universe and a sweet guy in love. It has nothing to do with LGBTQ+ themes (at least not so far), but as I read Ethan’s gorgeous words and found myself getting deeply invested in his main character’s journey — rooting for him when he wanted something, wallowing with him when he didn’t get it — I was reminded once again why stories matter.
Whether the characters on the page look like you and live similar lives or they come from places you’ve never been and experience things you’ve never known, their stories evoke empathy — they make us care about people who aren’t us. And what the world needs now, perhaps more than anything, is more empathy.
So my message to you this week is to write like your words matter, like they might make someone’s day or change their mind, crack their heart wide open or make them feel less alone, teach them something about the world or the universe, or make a tiny or immeasurable difference in their lives — because, no matter the scale, if your words reach one person or a million, they do make a difference. They matter. And we need them.
The world is upside down. Let’s keep writing.
Yours,
Jen