There Is No Answer Behind You
Inky Archive for May 2026
If this email is cut off, just click “view entire message” to read the whole thing in your browser.
This is Magic & Ink, where I write about fantasy writing and creative living. In this month’s Inky Archive you can:
• climb out of the Dip with me
• get a music lesson that will help you write better
• learn about the new, not-so-secret M&I community
You know what must be done. You may not have courage or trust or understanding or the will to do it, but you know what must be done. You can’t turn back. There is no answer behind you. You fear what you cannot name. So look at it and find a name for it. Turn your face forward and learn. Do what must be done.
— Patricia A. McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed
Dear Friends,
I’ve been experiencing what Seth Godin called “the Dip” — that period between the initial excitement of starting a new venture and the time when you achieve mastery over said venture. Which is to say that May has not been the brightly blooming garden of success that hoped it would be.
I expected to return from my trip to France with renewed energy, fresh ideas, gold dripping from my fingertips, etc. What I returned with was some kind of sinus infection that has left me suffering with mild vertigo and fatigue for weeks, along with a series of disappointments on the business side of things that have triggered personal insecurities that go back to my youth. I haven’t even made any progress on my novel, which is so disappointing after the success of my writing retreat in April.
May has not been without its successes, though: most notably, I completed the first practicum for my book coach certification training, and I think I did very well (I’m still waiting to hear back from my evaluators). Which reminds me that I am on the hunt for my second practicum client: If you are a writer with a completed manuscript and you would like a free manuscript evaluation, please reach out to me via email or DM ASAP!
One thing that is disappointing and a relief at the same time was my decision to shut down the Analog Writers Club. You can read more about my reasons in the sign off article linked below, but ultimately the community never took off the way I hoped it would, and trying to keep it running was distracting me from my new business. It was only ever getting my second-best effort, and second-best is not something I want to keep putting out there.
As I plan for June, I am leaning into perseverance, which is the main quality needed to get through the Dip. I’m aiming for a bit more discipline, a lot more learning, and constantly reminding myself about my goals as I determine the best course to achieve them. And I am reminding myself that my goals aren’t just business goals but life goals. My business is just one facet of a much larger picture of how I want to spend my days from here on out! So I’m banishing despondency and trying to remember that this is a season of growth, even if that growth is still hidden underground right now.
What are you growing in your garden in June?
🔴 Spilled Ink: Music Lessons
Due to my ongoing health issues, I’m serving up something I originally wrote back in 2010.
A while back, we attended an open rehearsal of my daughter’s middle school string orchestra. They were preparing for a festival at the time, and a guest conductor — he led California’s high school honor orchestra last year — came in to workshop with them, offering advice on how they could improve their overall performance.
As he worked with the kids, leading to a notable difference just in the space of an hour, I thought that much of what he said were suggestions I could apply to my creative growth as a writer. Here are a few of the lessons he offered, and how I have interpreted them for my own use.
1) Play. Have fun. Feel the music. It’s better to have the right feeling than the right notes.
Inexperienced musicians, like inexperienced writers, often worry too much about making sure they are doing everything correctly. When they make a mistake, they pause, try to go back and fix it. This is a disaster in the middle of a performance, and can untold difficulties for a writer as well. How often do you get hung up on a single word or sentence? Or maybe you spend so much time trying to make that first chapter just perfect that you never move on with the rest of the story?
I know I’m guilty of both these faults, and when I get caught up in technical perfection (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure) I lose the feeling behind the story I am trying to tell. And just as the most technically perfect violinist will sound dull if they convey no emotion in their performance, if a writer cannot feel the emotion at the heart of their story, neither will the audience.
2) Listen to others, understand your part in the symphony.
It always is a little strange listening to my daughter practice the violin at home. The music seems odd, disjointed and incomplete. Only when we attend a performance of the whole orchestra does her small part begin to make sense as part of an entire composition. Every note she plays affects and is affected by the notes the other musicians are playing.
As a writer, I want to remember that this character, this scene, this chapter, are all part of a larger composition too. What I write on this page will affect how the reader understands what happens elsewhere in the story. It’s those blended notes that help shape the themes and sensibility of a novel, and elevate it beyond a series of plot events.
3) Curve your wrist, and don’t hold too tight to your instrument or you’ll be out of pitch.
What does being out of pitch mean for a writer? I have read any number of books that were technically well-written, including interesting plot, characters and settings, but left me feeling underwhelmed. I’d liken this to a book being out of pitch (and some readers will be more sensitive to it than others, just like I couldn’t tell you if a violin was in proper pitch or not).
One possible reason for this failure, I think, is that the writer is holding too tightly to their instrument, or in other words, they are following all the rules of writing so closely that they have not left any room for magic and surprises, those unexpected discoveries that occur when you leave space for creative exploration. So loosen up. Let the music flow.
4) Extend. Use the whole bow for the long notes.
Contemporary writing, for the most part, doesn’t demand much from the English language. Our media-trained audiences want things quick and easy, and so long as plot and character are delivered, they won’t complain about the lack of artistry in the presentation.
But I don’t want to be the writer who gives in to the standard of “good enough.” A whole note played with half the length of the bow will be good enough for most audiences — it’s the same note, filling the same amount of time — but there is a distinct difference in quality, an elegance that transforms the performer into an artist. Like that violinist, I want to use the full length of this marvelous instrument of mine, language, even if it’s not quick and easy. I want to extend myself to the utmost, and bring true artistry to what I write.
🔵 Catch Up: May In Review
Here’s a reminder of what I’ve published in May.
And on Analog Writers Club:
And if you’re tired of hearing from me, here are some interesting things I’ve like from around the web on Substack this month:
🟣 A Place to Connect
One of my aforementioned disappointments this month was the failure of the Find Your Book Club to launch. While a structured community offering support and camaraderie on the writing journey seemed like a great idea to me, it turns out that nobody else thought so. I didn’t have one sign up, except for one person who became a paid subscriber (thank you so much!), I think so they could participate in the write-togethers.
I’m OK with that. It relieves me of the pressure of having to deliver everything I promised. I mean, yeah, I would have liked the money, but time is also a valuable commodity!
However, as I was preparing for the program, I created a community on Discord (they call it a “server” over there) in anticipation of needing a place for participants to connect. Now it’s just sitting there empty and unused, and I’m thinking I might open it up for general use, for subscribers of Magic & Ink and for other writers out in the wild who want a community to help them focus on achieving their writing goals. I’m envisioning chat forums and scheduled and impromptu writing sprints, along with other activities that might emerge as the community evolves.
This would replace the not-very-well-attended events I have scheduled via Zoom in months past. What do you think? Would less structure, more flexibility be something that appeals to you? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be sending out an official invite soon.
That’s it for this month! While part of my planning this month will be to figure out useful resources for Wonder Makers (my paid tier), for now I’m going to start putting some older content behind the paywall — it might be a good time to upgrade if you haven’t already! In the meantime, if you want to support my work, you can always buy me a chai.
Kindly,
Stace
Stace, I very much resonate with The Dip, and the weird out-of-controlness that comes after a big event or a vacation— hang in there! Your writing will survive this. I do potentially have a P2 client for you – my network yielded too many possibilities. Message me!