A bumpy start

Thank god it's February.

Welcome to So Relatable, a bi-weekly newsletter that helps creative folks improve their craft, achieve their goals, and eat better snacks. I’m glad you’re here! ✨

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January is usually one of my favorite months (new year! fresh goals! a much-needed slow down!) but as the calendar flips to February, I’m breathing a sigh of relief. 

This past month was stressful. Between a rescheduled trip to NY that took all the wrong turns, a bumpy few weeks at work, too many side projects (we love to overcommit!), two short story rejections, and a recurring bout of insomnia, I ended January with an emotional hangover.

It wasn’t all bad, of course. I didn’t do Dry January, but I cut back in a way that felt good and balanced. My workouts were great—lots of time at the climbing gym, lots of yoga, and so much BodyPump a fellow YMCA member recognized me at the bar (the ultimate ego boost!).

On the creative front, I read through my entire short story collection, which I’ve been noodling on for the last ten years. One of my goals for 2024 is to take a break from novels and focus on short stories, mostly because I can’t stomach another book-length project right now. The good news is that I still like my own stories (many of which have been published) and the collection is 80% done. The bad news is that I’m struggling to write anything new for the last 20%. Telling yourself to “be creative!” and “have fun!” and “write whatever you want!” seems great, right up until the moment you sit down and realize you don’t want to write anything at all. 

This is the reason I didn’t send a newsletter last week, and why I’m struggling to write this one. For five years I’ve sent you regular updates on my creative process, but sometimes I feel a dearth of creativity, an utter lack of inspiration, the terrifying feeling that I’ll never write anything good again, the awful suspicion that I never wrote anything good in the first place. And no one wants that sad story landing in their inbox!

But maybe these feelings—doubt, fear, exhaustion, paranoia—are normal. Maybe they’re part of the creative process. (If so: rude.)

Perhaps this explains why I spent January so focused on my physical goals. Why I replaced my early morning writing sessions with group exercise classes. Why, when sleep is elusive, I picture my project at the climbing gym instead of the project on my laptop.

I’m getting stronger—on the yoga mat, in the weight room, on the wall. After years of spinning my wheels on various unpublished novels, it feels good to see results, to make measurable progress.

And maybe that’s enough for now. Maybe I need to let my creative muscles rest while my actual muscles do all the work. Maybe, instead of telling myself to write whatever I want, I need to let myself write nothing at all. Maybe 2024 is meant to be a year of inputs, rather than outputs. Of questions, rather than answers. Of resting, rather than doing. 

Maybe we’ll find out in February.🤞

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Snack Break

I just went hunting through my Google Photos to see what delicious things I ate in the last three weeks, and it was nothing but pizza, beans, and birthday cake. That’s basically the bulk of my diet, so I shouldn’t be surprised. This delicious lemon birthday cake was baked by Katie and served at book club to celebrate the wonderful Abby, and it was accompanied by a beautiful brunch spread and a bemusing discussion of White Cat, Black Dog. Nothing tastes better than birthdays.

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Relatable Recommendations

• Listening: My debut as a podcast guest is now live!

  Tom Kuegler
  , author of
  Mind Of A Writer
  newsletter, recently interviewed me for his podcast. I was nervous going in (I’m a writer, not a speaker) but Tom put me at ease and we had a really fun and thoughtful conversation. Give it a listen/watch and let me know what you think. (Compliments only, please.)

• Watching: Speaking of climbing, we enjoyed The Wall: Climb for Gold, which follows four women as they attempt to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I cried! I gasped! I can’t wait to climb this week!

• Clicking: I loved seeing the design choices for the paperback versions of certain books. Don’t let capitalism get between you and your work friends! I’m on a quest to glamorize getting older, so of course I approve this article.

• Eating: My other quest to make 2024 the Year of Beans continues! This past week, we enjoyed vegan red beans and rice. Simple yet hearty, and soaking the beans for 24 hours instead of opening a can is absolutely the way to go.

• Feeling: Better, actually. Don’t ever doubt the power of a good venting session.

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Thank You!

Thanks to Natalia M. and Sarah K. for helping me survive an endless January!

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👋 About Me: I’m Chrissy Hennessey, an enthusiastic snacker and native New Yorker living in coastal North Carolina, where I stayed after earning my MFA in 2014. My writing has appeared in a decent number of journals, I’ve received fellowships to some fancy residencies, and I’ve written three novels, all currently unpublished. This newsletter is a passion project I started in 2019 as a way to connect with readers and writers, share my creative journey, and build a community. Thank you for being here!