Evelyn Griffith - August Monthly Newsletter
- Evelyn Griffith
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
|Evelyn Griffith|
Monthly Newsletter
First of all, thank you so much for subscribing to my author newsletter. If you’re new, I’m grateful to have you join me. If you’ve been here since the beginning, welcome back and thank you for your continued support!
In this newsletter, I hope to tell you about what I've been working on, what’s new in my writing world, and how my career has developed recently.
Professional Development
I went to my first Thesis Colloquium class (my only class for this semester) on Wednesday of this past week (the 26th), and the amount of work asked of my class was absolutely staggering. I’ll be honest, I left feeling like I wanted to cry. I was so discouraged and worried, that I had to phone my best friend for support. After she talked me out of my spiral, I had to rally my spirits, make a detailed todo-list/schedule and gird my loins for early mornings and the lack of free time with which I’d now found myself.
In light of this (among many other variables that make me the busy person I am) I've decided that my professional development outside of writing has to be put on hold for the time being. I’m always thinking about it in the back of my mind—what job will I get? Will it pay well? Will I have to move? Where? When? How will I handle my writing, The Undiscovered, and having a full time job?—but the reality is I don’t need to worry about it right now and, in fact, I CANT. There’s simply no time, or mental energy to expend on such things.
Since I made that decision, it’s been going better. I’ve had two VERY productive days and the head start I’ve been able to get on several projects for the semester has made me feel workload completion for this semester is possible, just difficult.
But hey, nothing worth doing is easy, and all the work I’m doing is work I’m genuinely excited to do. That makes a huge difference.
The Undiscovered
I’m pleased to say that The Undiscovered has been absolutely thriving this month. I usually have good things to say about it, but I think you’ll be surprised when you hear how much it’s grown.
When we spoke last month, I was at 348 subscribers.
I’m now currently sitting at 1,154 subscribers, 1.94K followers, and I’m scheduling out into January for my interview posts.
The other day I went through 19 applications in my email inbox, and woke up with 12 more and since I finished those I’ve consistently had 4 in my inbox no matter how many I got through.
I’ve been absolutely floored with the community involvement lately.
The people working with me in this have been outstanding. The authors are beautiful, articulate, thought provoking, generous, and kind. The people reading are engaged, insightful, and intentional with their comments. I’ve dealt with very little online trolling or inappropriate comments, and I’ve actually been able to build up a bit of a financial stipend for myself through
my paid subscribers.
I’m simply astounded by the generosity of the people supporting this project in all manners. Whether that’s by sharing their work, reading a post, restacking, or collaborating with me!
As for my future plans, I’ve decided that for the time being I’m just going to try and keep the good momentum going. I’ve been intentional about posting a note or three every day (in alignment with what people seem to engage well with), and I’ve also been trying to do author collaborations, and think of new ways I could expand my reach to new viewers.
I’m grateful that I no longer have the problem of whether or not I’ll have someone to interview. For a long time, I struggled because I didn’t know if I would have someone to interview for the next week. That problem has since vanished, and I’m grateful I can direct my attention to other goals for the project!
As for those other goals, I think—due mostly to my overwhelming thesis/school workload—they will have to be put on the back burner for a while. I need to prioritize my thesis this semester and that means I need to keep The Undiscovered running as smoothly as possible in the background until I submit it (my thesis) in December. In light of this, I’ve been scheduling my interviews so that I only have a few a week. Normally, I’d put a bunch of interviews in one week and then have all the paginations spread out across several weeks, but I’ve decided that just isn’t sustainable any longer as the project grows. I think this new strategy will help me to prevent burn out as I interview these wonderful people. I want to be sure I’m giving them my best and that means being fresh for each interview!
Progress on The Singing String
If you’re curious about this project’s origins, you can read about it on my website!
The Singing String is in a great place right now! For those of you that have been reading along with these monthly updates, you may recall that last month I sent a schedule for the writing I planned to do. I’m pleased to say that I followed that schedule to a T and was able to send out The Singing String to beta readers a couple weeks ago.
Since then I’ve simply been waiting. It’s important to set a project like this aside every once in a while so you can look at it with fresh eyes.
That being said, I DO have to submit my thesis at the end of December and, since The Singing String is my thesis, that means I won’t be able to put it down for long.
I’m thinking that moving forward, what I’d like to do is focus on the second half. This summer the first half locked into place. I don’t know how to describe that “click” better than that it just…fits. It rings the right way. The chapters flow into and out of each other, their starting and ending sentences feel right, the characters are knowable and interesting, and each moment seems to lead into the next with purpose and intention.
The issue now is that the second half is NOT that. It’s messy, episodic, messing with dual POV in a way that’s not perfect…yet. But, what it does have is a lot of heart, and spirit. I think I need to expand a few more scenes and get it to the point where everything is explored deeply, then start thinking about flow of language the way I did with the first half. Hopefully that’s accomplishable in four months!
If not, I’ll get as far as I can.
Before I start the Next Section
(Read this if it's your first time joining me!)
I struggled for a while, regarding whether or not I should include a section about my Christian walk in my author newsletters. Not only is it deeply personal, but it also might make some people feel that my writing is trying to alienate them. Regarding that concept, I want to say that while I am Christian, I never want my writing to be accessible only to a Christian audience. My faith is deeply important to me, yes, but my writing does not always deal with Christian concepts or theology. In fact, before I begin the next section I actually want to ask your forgiveness. I’m not used to writing about my faith journey and this is mainly because I find it incredibly difficult to do so. To express my thoughts in a succinct way about something that’s so all-encompassing for me and to distill it down so that anyone can read and relate to it is deeply challenging. Many times in the past, I have given up and decided that writing in allegory would be easier. You’ll have to excuse my clumsiness and my selfishness because one main reason why I decided to include these updates is that I simply need the practice. I want to be a writer who can write about their faith (for those who want to know about it) and I have an ever-growing respect for authors like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and Keller who wrote so eloquently and accessibly about something so complex, personal, and vast.
That being said, I hope you’ll be patient with me as I give myself the chance to develop this bit of creative nonfiction one small piece at a time. But, I also ask that you would permit me the selfish (perhaps undeserved) chance to show you that my work is for all people and audiences that wish to know it.
A Note From Someone Who Loves the Lord
This month, as I’ve been delving into a busier season of my life, I’ve started to realize that there’s a danger of some things being pushed out as a consequence of all the HAVE TOs. I have to do my thesis. I have to keep myself healthy: sleep, eat, exercise, shower, etc. I have to keep The Undiscovered going….
So I was brushing my teeth yesterday; thinking about those same have-to’s, when the statement occurred to me (whether by God’s will or my own thought) “The Lord can’t be what’s pushed out.”
I spit out my toothpaste, rinsed, and stood there looking in the mirror.
I’d been planning to skip my quiet time with the Lord that morning. There was just too much to do. It was the day after my first day of class and the whole semester seemed to loom before me like a chasm of endless work. To top it off, I’d woken up late, I still needed to hit the gym, and only THEN could I get cracking on all the tasks on my to do list.
I had somewhere to be by 4….
I walked over to my chair. The one where I do Bible study in the morning, with its polka dots, swirly wooden arm rests, and the white scarf my late grandmother crocheted for me draped across the back.
I thought, “If God’s all-powerful, all-knowing, always in control…there will be time.” There will be time for every good thing I feel I don’t have time for. I can give Him this time now, and trust that He will work all things for HIS good. Not mine.
If I can’t get something done, does it really matter if the time I did spend was with the God of the Universe? If HE was what I chose to prioritize?
Just something I’ve been thinking about.
Thanks for listening.
Conclusion
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you’ll join me again next month for updates on all these wonderful things!
2301 Colley Avenue PO Box 6125 Norfolk VA 23517
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