Rachael Herron

(R.H. Herron)

Blog

On the Yearning for a Beautiful Feed When Life Gets In the Way

There should be a fancy German word for the yearning to quickly create something that will look beautiful on goddamn Instagram.

I have a new routine (and you know I love me some new routines), and it involves me getting up at five in the morning (yes, this is what some self-employed people do). I do a bunch of things that are good for me (yoga! meditation! journaling!), and then I’m working by 7:30 AM.

If you subscribe to Cal Newport’s Deep Work theory, which I do, you know we only have 3 to 4 hours (at most) of excellent thinking in us per day. I write from 7:30 till about noon when I’m done with my heavy lifting.

Since I start so early, lately I’ve been giving myself a nice big fat lunch break. Sometimes it involves a long nap, sometimes a dip in the hot tub (more on this soon) — it always involves reading a book.

Then I quick-change into a different hat. Afternoons are devoted to important business stuff like email and marketing and eating vast amounts of cheddar popcorn from Trader Joe’s.

But, dude, I’m kind of wiped out by the time it’s four or five. That’s when I start scrolling Instagram, the only almost-safe social media platform left when it comes to not getting triggered by politics.

And when I’m scrolling, what I’m really doing is yearning for another–different–outlet. What if my business was actually making and sewing red buttons to black velvet? What if I cast spells and drew tarot cards online? What if I calligraphed heartfelt sayings and sold them to the highest bidder?

I’m not saying I want to do any of these things. The opposite — I have the best job in the world, and I truly wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

But I yearn for a beautiful Instagram feed. Right now, my feed is full of the rescued puppies, some selfies, and more pictures of puppies.

(Video via puppy-comadre, my sister Bethany.)

My Insta feed feels a little bit like my house does. Cluttered and untidy, but 100% the place I want most to be. (Literally something that just happened two seconds ago — I tried to put on my slippers which were under my desk, and I had to shake cheese popcorn out of them first.)

What does this all mean?

Perhaps this afternoon’s musing is about honoring that desire to capture something beautiful and to set it next to reality.

My life is messy and full of puppy poop. But it’s also chock full of love and laughter and light and grace and gratefulness.

Of puppies and the yearning for curated beauty

Pensive Iris

I think I’m going to try to write more frequent posts (without rules – I set myself a rule of one a day and immediately didn’t feel like doing it). I think I’ll do calligraphy of my own quotes. They’ll be awkward and a little sloppy and completely heartfelt. I either continue it or I’ll stop, either is fine.

I’m getting better at understanding that life is okay just the way it is, and that I’m just fine, where I am, in this seat, even when I’m sitting on ground popcorn cheese (perhaps especially then).

When you want instant gratification with something creative and pretty and new but real life is actually messy. New blog post.

Writers Digest PDFs! Grab ’em now!

FREE PDFs TO MY LESSONS BECAUSE I ROYALLY SCREWED UP – As I usually do when I teach, I promised all the people who were in my sessions at Writers Digest Conference last weekend that they didn’t have to take notes or take pictures of my PowerPoint slides — if they signed up for my email list, I would send them the PDF of the sessions. It’s a great bribe – it always works, and it’s totally win-win.

Guess what? I’ve misplaced two of the three email lists from the sessions I presented. Those emails aren’t lost, but I put them somewhere so incredibly safe that I haven’t been able to find them yet. This makes me feel like a big old jerk. I promised the PDFs, and now I’m not sending them – who does that?

So I’m putting them up here today. If you have any interest in downloading PDFs of my one hour classes on

or

even if you weren’t in New York at the conference, click those links and grab them for yourself. (Limited time! I’ll probably take these down after everyone who gave me their email in New York comes looking for me. If you’re one of those people, or even if you’re not – please sign up for my weekly writer’s email list in trade? Link below. Thank you!)

And if you know where those email addresses are stashed, please let me know. I think my favorite sunglasses might be with them.

Plot MD

Last night, I went to hear my dear friend Adrienne Bell teach from her book, Plot MD: Your Personal Prescription for Crafting Compelling Stories. You know that thing where you believe you know how awesome your friends are and then they blow you away? (It’s always one of the most delicious surprises of life.) Yeah, that happened.

I love Adrienne’s book. I’ve had her on my podcast. And still, hearing her speak about her method of generating organic story structure for novelists absolutely rocked my world.

See, I just got my revision letter for the thriller that’s coming out next year. It’s probably the nicest revision letter I’ve ever gotten. I know how to make all the fixes, and I can’t wait to do so. However, I had this niggling feeling that I still didn’t understand the characters as much as I needed to in order to create a truly effective emotional journey for my reader.

There, speaking into the microphone to a packed house, Adrienne walked us through her character arc worksheet.

People, going into this revision and listening to her, I suddenly know incredibly clearly what I need to do for my main character.

And you know why I had such a revelation?

Because I finally filled out the character arc worksheet on paper.

Adrienne’s is a completely unique way of looking at character change, one that I’ve never seen anyone else teach.

When I’d read her book, of course, I’d read the worksheet.

But you know how you do. You read the book, you think through the exercises, but you don’t do them. You think you’ve gotten it.

I am reminded, again, that this methodology does not work! For you writers out there, I can’t recommend more highly getting her book and DOING the worksheets.

My own book has cracked wide open, and the answers to my problems with the main character were solved in a few directed moments of thought last night.

Then I went to the cafe this morning and mapped it out for the other characters. It was INSANELY HELPFUL.

Dance with the scratch paper that brought you

Adrienne is the magical plot whisper for our time, and if you need help with your plot, I definitely think you should hire her. (She coaches!) I am planning to when I need her, which I will on the next book! (She finally said yes, that she’ll accept money from a friend because we are business-women, damn it!)

*I’m not an affiliate. I just love her and she’s magic. 

Get to know Adrienne Bell, Plot MD.

Thrilling News!

I worked 911 dispatch for seventeen years. As I’m incredibly young, this might come as a shock to you. How could this be true? I know, I really have no idea.

Two and a half years ago, I left that job to become a full-time writer. It was a huge leap of faith, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Obviously, while I was working 911, I couldn’t write about a dispatcher. Even though I write fiction, and I make everything up, it wouldn’t have reflected well on the agency I worked for. Any news outlet that wanted to talk about my book would link it back to that agency, and I didn’t want to lose my job.

But heck! When I stopped working and went full-time? All bets were off.

I could finally write the book of my heart.

And today I am able to announce to you that my very first thriller, Stolen Things, will be coming out in August 2019, from Dutton Books/Penguin. From today’s Publisher’s Marketplace’s announcement:

Coming in Aug 2019 from Dutton Books.

In Stolen Things, Laurie answers 911, and the voice on the other end is her sixteen-year-old daughter. Jojo is in the dark, something really bad has happened, and her mother must find her. (And that’s just the beginning!)

I AM SO EXCITED! My new editor, Stephanie Kelly, is the absolute tops, and I’m already loving working with her. She really gets every single thing I was trying to do with this book, and she’s helping me make it my best book so far.

And I could never have done this without my beloved agent, Susanna Einstein, who took this book through endless iterations, each time getting me to up the tension and pacing (because I like too many slow, sweet moments to be appropriate for a thriller).

I can’t wait for y’all to read this. Feeling so happy and grateful.

Coming in Aug 2019 from Dutton Books.

I Talked To Strangers About Politics and Didn’t Die

Scroll down to see how to get a pair of socks, knitted for you by me. 

On Saturday, I went out to register voters. I was stumping for a congressional candidate on Saturday (Josh Harder, who is absolutely blowing his shot to have his campaign slogan be VOTE HARDER but seems like a great candidate). I never thought I’d be the person to stand on a corner, asking strangers to talk about politics. But 2018 isn’t like other years, is it?

Two of my best friends and I went together to join a Swing Left campaign. The whole idea behind to Swing Left is to flip the House to a Democratic majority. They match you up with the district nearest you that needs help with this. (Put in your own zip code!)

While we worked on Saturday, we were official volunteers with the Tracy Democrats Club, badges and everything.

Me, Juliet Blackwell, and Adrienne Bell

We stood around the mall and tried to get people to talk to us.

And it went exactly as you think it would. Most people gave us the headshake or the deer in the headlights look as they raced past as fast as they could.

I get it. I am always that guy. Where I live in Oakland, wherever I go there’s a paid person trying to get my name on some kind of petition.

On this: I have a friend who works in self-defense, and she noticed one day that these paid signature gatherers were using tactics that only people with bad boundaries use. In other words, they were being paid to be well trained and excellent harassers.

So she doubled back and told them of her interest in this fact, and got them to talk to her about how they work. They are trained not to respond to obvious clues like protective language and body movements, the things we all take for granted. The funniest part was when she left, he attempted his spiel for real on her again.

Those are the people that terrify me. I will go a block out of my way to avoid passing in front of one.

Me and my pals? We were not professionals.

We would ask, we’d get shot down, and we’d smile and wait for the opportunity to try again. (Seriously, send writers to do these jobs! We are PROS at rejection! Get out of your face? Of course, sir! Ma’am, may I talk to you?)

I think my favorite answer was one woman who barked, “I don’t talk politics with anyone!” I can totally respect that.

But the answers that broke my heart were the ones we got from people who said they were too disheartened to vote. They were distraught with the direction of the country and truly thought their vote wouldn’t change anything.

Of course, we know this might be true! That’s heartbreaking in another, agonizing way.

But we have to fight. We have to do things we don’t want to do. We have to push past comfort points. Yes, it does wonders for the soul to hold the sign and stand in the middle of the street and shout at the top of your lungs how enraged you are with the injustices of this country.

Going to a protest doesn’t do very much, though.

We all know that in our hearts, even though we hate to admit it. We’re shouting into echo chambers made of high-rise walls.

Getting out there, trying to get people to register to vote, telling them about the Democratic candidate who could make a difference in their district, that felt like doing something for once. (We weren’t arguing politics. We didn’t engage with Republicans. No one ever changed their mind based on a conversation with a stranger in a mall. We were focused on one thing: Getting our voters out in November.)

And while it was truly AGONIZING, I’ll do it again. And I’ll probably be exactly as uncomfortable next time. That’s okay. It fed my soul more than making a banner.

Registering voters was harder than I thought, and I'd do it again.

Are you registered?

Edited to add: I’ll knit a pair of socks (my choice of colors – I have to enjoy it!) for the first three people who register (who weren’t before) and pledge to vote! (You’ll send me a pic of yourself with your “I Voted” sticker and get the socks! It’ll be November and getting cold!) Don’t you need socks? GO HERE to find out how to do it in your state and then let me know! First three get ’em.