Evelyn Griffith - June Monthly Newsletter

|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. 

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Professional Development

I've been considering my career outside of writing a lot lately. what do I want to do to pay the bills? Do I want something I'm passionate about, or just something that leaves enough mental/creative space for writing? I turned and turned it over in my head and, eventually, came upon the idea of copywriting and marketing! It pays well, is relatively creative so I hopefully won't be bored, there's lots of agencies where I live currently so there's a chance I could stay in the area I'm starting to like, it has nothing to do with book writing (usually) so I wouldn't be expending creative juices on something that isn't my book, and the best part is that I already have some experience, so I should be able to hopefully apply for more mid-tier level jobs.

In light of this, I've been spending time this month considering how I can make myself a better applicant: what are these jobs looking for? What would make me stand out? What would make them want to hire someone right out of graduate school? 

I mentioned that I have experience, and I do. I've had internships where I designed trademarked logos for high profile clients, I've been running a literary magazine for the past few years, I understand the basic principles of management and brand design, I also have experience launching a multi-media platform from the ground up. But, I'm still worried that won't be enough, so I've started rebranding The Undiscovered! I'm doing so in hopes of using it as a more legitimate and recent case study in my portfolio! I've also been updating and upgrading my LinkedIn profile in hopes of being ready to apply to jobs when it's time!

Busy, busy, busy as I'm sure you can imagine!

The Undiscovered

The Undiscovered is doing well, just as it was last month! I'm in the process of getting the name trademarked, I've now got 310 subscribers, 854 followers, and I've had almost 29 weeks of consistent posting! I've started two series' of interviews as well as several different themed notes posts! But, even in light of all of that, I'd say the biggest milestone this month is actually my first ever Substack LIVE (link), where I was interviewed about The Undiscovered AND my book! If you want to know more about The Singing String from my own lips you should give it a look!

I've been thinking that it would be a really great thing to do my interviews via Substack LIVE and then use the transcript to make the written version to post later, but the problem is that during the LIVE I was just in, the whole thing was lagging on my end. It was a bit embarrassing, but I learned that if I want to do this more often I need to upgrade my internet plan first. Still, the possibility is very exciting! Lots of people have been asking my why I won't do a podcast and the partial reason is that I don't have the audio skills. But, with a LIVE, I wouldn't have to worry about that.

The only thing I worry about now is that my interviewees wouldn't be as honest or that they might be more guarded for fear of spoiling the book before it's out. 

There's much to consider as always!

As for other ways The Undiscovered is moving forward, I mentioned that I'm rebranding at the moment and that includes a logo design element. Right now I have two basic ideas that I'm excited about:

One: A willow tree blowing in the wind with a ship sailing along it's branches. 

Two: A flashlight shooting up into the branches of a tree as if illuminating different pathways. 

I really like them both but have yet to fully develop them digitally. I'd say that's one of my goals for July! Maybe in my next letter to you all, I'll be able to show you my two candidates!

The Undiscovered

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

The month of June has been such a breakthrough month for The Singing String! I've made more progress this month than in the past months combined.

I rewrote my third chapter which has been a thorn in my side ever since I wrote it a few years ago. Not because it was bad or because it didn't add value to the story. Quite the opposite, it was hard because it's so vitally important to the story but, at the same time, it's based on personal experiences. I struggled for a long time to separate my own experiences (and therefore the somewhat true parts of the novel) with the experience my main character Paisley was going through (and the very specific and magical contexts she is operating under).

Because of this, the scene always ended up reading very biased and black and white. Good guy vs. bad guy with a line drawn in the sand. However, I FINALLY cracked it this month and was able to write it in such a way that it adds to the story perfectly and allows for audience interpretation without my own biases sneaking through.

I also wrote an entirely new chapter between chapters two and three (affectionately called chapter 2.5). It includes a lot more scenes that I think help the reader begin to truly understand the stakes in the story. It also improves the pacing before chapter three.

Another chapter I rewrote is chapter one. When I first wrote this chapter, I was convinced I would never change it. I loved it because I wrote it while considering Madeline L'Engle's first chapter in A Wrinkle in Time, which is one of my favorite books. But, I've started to realize that the way my chapter was functioning wasn't adding to the story as I know it now. The rewrite is exceptionally engaging (if I do say so myself) while also hitting on all the things I want to based on who Paisley has become!

The final chapter I rewrote is chapter 5. Long story short, it now shows us more about the town Paisley has moved to and Paisley in relation to it, which is SO important to the story and was a crucial thing I'd been missing.

Finally, this wasn't a rewrite, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I created a "Rules List" for my world at the recommendation of my thesis advisor! It was SO helpful and I think added to my breakthroughs this month because it helped me to get my thoughts about the magic system straight in my head before I wrote all those new scenes.

Now the book is starting to read like a REAL and more importantly COHERENT story. I'm so excited to keep working!

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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.

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A Note From Someone Who Loves the Lord

There were a few revelations I had this month when it comes to Jesus, but I've narrowed it down to only one to tell you all about (for the sake of email length limits)!

This particular moment came when I was at the gym. I started lifting recently and while doing my chest presses, my farmer's carries, my rowing, I was also listening to a sermon by Timothy Keller (I'm a nerd, sue me).

He said something in passing that gave me such hope for my future and the change that God is enacting in and through me, but to explain I have to go back a little bit.

For those of you that don't know, I officially became a follower of Jesus on September 16th, 2022. A beautiful Friday at my undergraduate campus if I recall correctly! There's a LOT more to that particular story, but I'll save it for another day. All you need to know presently is that I was saved at the tail end of my twentieth year of existence (and therefore have been a believer for about three years and nine months).

Moving into Tim Keller's talk, he was speaking in a series called "Questioning Christianity" and specifically a sermon called "Identity." And in this talk, he was speaking about how he at one point had a teacher that he really valued and that teacher praised him for something. Then he said that, at the time, that teacher's opinion of him mattered more than God's opinion.

I was already with him at this point because that's something that I really struggle with as well, but then he said something that gave me the biggest sigh of relief I've had in a while. He said: "I was only three or four years into my faith at the time."

It was so huge to me to hear that, because if a man like him dealt with a similar problem at the same point in his faith as I am, then maybe there's hope that God will keep changing me and molding me into someone Christlike and Saintly and Good.

Conclusion

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you’ll join me again next month for updates on all these wonderful things!

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