death is no parenthesis: feel inspired, take risks, be bold

lizshine74by lizshine74

In On writing.

Feb 08, 2026

hummingbird in tree in winter
Winter Hummingbird by Liz Shine

Every project teaches you how it wants to be written. That’s been my experience, anyway. Just like good books teach you how to read them. If you’re listening. Some stories demand to be written longhand, then typed in. Some stories say, Just write through without thinking too much! My current project, a novel that is making new rooms in the house of my imagination, keeps bringing me back to the start, saying, Try that one again. You’re getting there, but you can do better. So this month, I will be rewriting chapter one again.

I’ve been sending out submissions every day since the beginning of 2026. It is making me numb to the process, and that is good. Submitting every day has also inspired a few spreadsheets, because even a submissions tracker like Duotrope is not quite enough once you get enough pieces out in the world. It helps to know which poems have gone where at a glance. A spreadsheet is nice with the line numbers and word counts of all the poems you are currently submitting, so you don’t (like I did for weeks) recount the lines every time.

When I say submitting every day is making me numb, what I mean is I am no longer attaching my own worth as a writer to the consequences of any submission. This new boundary around my emotional investment is a gift, a happy consequence of trying again and again because I’ve got to invest what emotional energy I have for this craft into my work.

For decades, I’ve had an energy leak, and I didn’t know it. Choosing on a whim to submit my work every day of 2026 until my birthday at the end of February has habituated me to detach from what I can’t control. And I can’t control how people will respond to my work. If I think too much about this, I feel less inspired, less likely to take risks, less bold.

As it is Valentine’s week, let that be our theme for this newsletter. What are the things that make you feel inspired, bold, and more likely to take risks? Here is my list in case it helps inspire yours.

  • Moving! Walks, runs, yoga. Lately, tai chi! Physical movement unsticks the imagination. I try to add some intentional movement practice into every day.
  • Focused practice. I love doing the Stunning Sentences each week. I am taking Nina’s class on “How To Make the Reader Care” later this month. Be careful about this and don’t try to do everything. Pick one or two prompt practices or classes. Don’t let the practice take over your writing time.
  • Reading a poem before getting to work. I read it slowly and out loud, ponder the words that resonate most.
  • Keeping my gardens tended and the hummingbird feeder full. I have a hyrdoponic farmstand, many indoor plants, and low-maintenance gardens outside to tend and weed during warmer months. This is a practice of care and attention that makes me a more patient writer and editor.
  • Using a timer when writing. It creates urgency and helps me get focused immediately. I don’t hem and haw and waste time thinking about bullshit existential questions that undermine my fundamental right to make art—the clock is ticking!
  • Reading with curiosity and an eye of admiration for the craft. I keep a pencil always in hand when I read.
  • Nature! Spending time looking at the moon, appreciating sunsets, noticing how the ducks move in the retaining pond behind my house: I try to get out in nature every day.
  • Writing friends. I make time to read the work of other writers and give feedback. I love to host write-ins and writing groups.

Small Things That Have Been Bringing Me Joy

  • good socks
  • sunsets/sunrises
  • watching movies to prep for the Oscars!
  • reading my book under a heavy blanket

One Found Sentence From What I’ve Been Reading

“In reminding us that language has history, density, integrity, such poetry is a potent antidote against a late-capitalist empire that would use empty, vapid language to cudgel us into action.” Kaveh Akbar in the Introduction to The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse

A Writing Prompt for February

Write a poem, a CNF piece, or a work of fiction about heartbreak and/or healing. Set in a rich, specific setting where the features of that place become as much a part of the story as the heartbreak/healing.

Reflection on January Goals

Goals are goals, they aren’t stones, and they certainly aren’t timed tests. I made my best effort toward my goals and even accomplished some of them. Others shifted as the project I was working on shifted. I showed up. I put in the time.

My February Goals

  • Submit work every day this month
  • Write a version of chapter one that allows me to move forward
  • Finish reorganizing my poetry collection
  • Do the writing prompt for the month and post part of it in the next newsletter

Reflection Question for Your Creative Practice

What are the things that make you feel inspired, bold, and more likely to take risks?

I also work as a writing coach and love helping writers gain confidence, set goals, and develop their work. I was a writer first, but I’ve been teaching for over twenty-five years. Coaching weaves those two skill sets in a way that I love, love, love. I work with writers locally and over Zoom. For more information on coaching, email me at eatyourwords.lizshine@gmail.com or see my website.

You can see my books here and read some of my short works here.

Looking for any of the books I’ve mentioned here? Order through my Bookshop.org affiliate page to support me and my local bookstore!

lizshine74

lizshine74

Liz Shine teaches high school English, writes, edits, and coaches other writers from her home in Olympia, WA. When she begins to feel overwhelmed by it all, she simply looks up at Mount Rainier in the distance and gets back to work. If that fails, she heads to the ocean. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press. Her Substack Make Time is her gift to writers, like her, trying to magic time in this crazy, busy world. All of those posts are cross-posted on the blog here. You can see more of her writing at lizshine.com and find her on Instagram {@lizshine.writer} cooking, traveling, and in other ways seeking moments of awe. She has been an active participant in communities of writers since the early 1990s. She’s learned that two things feel truly purpose-driven in life: writing and coaching other writers. In the in between (because one cannot be driving for a purpose every moment), she enjoys looking for wonder and connection. She is a lifelong yoga student, an enthusiastic walker along streets and trails, and an amateur gardener and vegetarian cook. She lives in Olympia, WA. She believes in the power of practice and has been practicing writing since some time in the early 90s when she became an adult in the rain-soaked city of Aberdeen. Writing began with journaling, as a way to understand a confusing, sometimes violent coming-of-age. She writes mostly fiction, some nonfiction, and poetry, and holds an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers Workshop. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press.