Yesss!!! I absolutely love this. I'm not a Beyonce regular either but for some reason that song hooked me. And here's the thing about swerves...I actually think there are some logical reasons why they make sense, even if it might not seem so on the outside. I think ALL the time about the quote from Walt Disney, where everyone was telling him to make more and more Three Little Pigs cartoons, and he said, "You can't beat pigs with pigs." Yeah they made more of those, but they never did quite as well as the originals. In your case, maybe there's simply an element of "you can't beat Manhattan skyrise fairytales with more Manhattan skyrise fairytales." I really, really admire people who've done what you've done and are not resting on the laurels of the epic amazingness they've already achieved, because creatively I do think resting on our laurels starts weighing them down.
All this is basically just to say, creative swerves keep us going! They keep our creativity alive! Swerve on, and hug those goats!
I think that's it. And your body and brain are designed to keep making more pigs!!! That's what you're conditioned to do. But somewhere in side, the elves are saying no no no no......
This is super interesting to think about! I always find myself gravitating towards the same ideas and characters and worlds, which is great because that's what I'm interested in, but I wonder if I should try going in a completely different direction sometime and see what comes of it!
But personally I have been having a huge swerve in music tastes, and beliefs that I wouldn't have imagined when I was 10 years old.
Also, my writing style has swerved from mostly innocent and lovely, with veiled ugliness to being more raw, dark, and sometimes very violent and jarring. It’s kinda a swerve and breakup to the person I tried to force myself to be. (It’s maybe while I found the Fall alignment switch from your prequel interesting, actually).
Fall was an interesting book, wasn't it? It just had a vibe I wasn't expecting. I read it now and think, huh. interesting. Which is further proof I have no control over my own work, ha ha.
This really resonated with me! I am contemplating a huge swerve in my life. One where I leave everything familiar and comfortable behind. That isn't necessarily what scares me. It is who I will be after the swerve and what will happen when I try to return to the person I was before this big change. I have so often wanted to be a different person than I was. Someone who wrote more, exercised more, loved myself more, basically just this ideal person that I can never attain. But I guess maybe by taking such a huge swerve and starting over from ground zero I can start to become this person I strive to be, like Professor Manley says. I'm praying that this swerve is in the right direction and will lead me to many new places where I can rediscover myself.
Don't judge the swerve! Just live it and see how you feel. Follow the feelings more than what you think of how you're doing. Sometimes it has to start very very badly in order to turn right later. In my case, my first YEAR of the swerve was... not good. Then things took a turn.
I love this post and can relate whole-heartedly. 💜
I've swerved so many times in my life that it's just become a way to designate the end of different chapters and the beginnings of new journeys. One involved leaving my family and moving across the world to attend film school, another involved moving to a whole new city where I had no friends or family and eventually met my now husband, and my latest swerve involved quitting a job with a company I was at for 16 years in order to get my first novel published. It was terrifying at first, but now 2 months in and a month out from completing a Certificate in Creative Writing from UCLAx, I feel like I'm finally finding my groove and adapting to my new life as a full time writer. I'm still learning what it takes to completely revise a novel, but I know that I won't regret taking the leap, I'll just wonder why I hadn't done it sooner. 🥰
That's usually how the swerve feels -- a nagging feeling of why didn't I do this before! I also went to film school... and found it invaluable in learning the pacing and structure of good storytelling. We have a lot in common!!!
I feel this is also true of smaller (but still big) normal changes. I'm in university and I went through all the same things. I live in the same house as I have since I was 6 but it feels so different. I think every big change in life adds a new layer to who a person is. Yeah we all look back and think of our old lives differently, we see our younger selves as strangers or ignorant. Eventually you'll go through another change and go through it all again, and that's ok. When it happens you'll be able to look back on this diary and see the good in change. I haven't listened to Beyonce's new song, but I totally understand how you'd get to this message from hearing a well established artist with a well established sound doing something new. Life is one new thing after another. New is hard at first and then it gets easier and then it becomes old and another new begins.
what it brings to mind (as if you and i are having a conversation every week with these posts!) is:
but what if living in a shiny nyc skyrise writing faerie tales IS the dream?
i'm open to a swerve (i'be been attempting the swerve via "pivot!!" mode for 5 years now).... but i'm still trying to get there.
i've been praying for the clear closure of the yellow brick roads that aren't meant for me-- eliminating distractions & superfluous efforts-- doing "what feels good" (i.e. following my passions and callings and giftings)... but like you and marvel (&&&&...!!) there's only so much we can control. which is kinda refreshing, but also heartbreaking sometimes.
i'm leaning into the peace of "opportunities meant for me," and just continuing to wish and hope and pray that someday that looks like publisher and agent meetings at the bowery, lunch with the editors, book tours (a signing at books of wonder!!), and around-the-world writing retreats {heavens forbid an actual vacation}... and maybe an LA red carpet or few after a substantial {superficial} make*over. :)
so is being OPEN to the swerve the point? following new paths until something better-for-you manifests?
scattering wildflower seeds to the breeze is exhausting. i'm ready to make intentional bouquets.
:)
*hallie
also: i still haven't listened to the new queen bey song... i'm not a country fan, so.... why? ;)
{but also, the only beyoncé song i really know is "who run the world [girls]" because i probably heard it on "glee?"
The swerve only comes once you've really settled into a path, I think. Then when it comes, it feel like an intentional detonation somehow. So for now, you're looking for that path and know what you want, which is exactly where I was at as a writer for many many years!
Yesss!!! I absolutely love this. I'm not a Beyonce regular either but for some reason that song hooked me. And here's the thing about swerves...I actually think there are some logical reasons why they make sense, even if it might not seem so on the outside. I think ALL the time about the quote from Walt Disney, where everyone was telling him to make more and more Three Little Pigs cartoons, and he said, "You can't beat pigs with pigs." Yeah they made more of those, but they never did quite as well as the originals. In your case, maybe there's simply an element of "you can't beat Manhattan skyrise fairytales with more Manhattan skyrise fairytales." I really, really admire people who've done what you've done and are not resting on the laurels of the epic amazingness they've already achieved, because creatively I do think resting on our laurels starts weighing them down.
All this is basically just to say, creative swerves keep us going! They keep our creativity alive! Swerve on, and hug those goats!
I think that's it. And your body and brain are designed to keep making more pigs!!! That's what you're conditioned to do. But somewhere in side, the elves are saying no no no no......
This is super interesting to think about! I always find myself gravitating towards the same ideas and characters and worlds, which is great because that's what I'm interested in, but I wonder if I should try going in a completely different direction sometime and see what comes of it!
Try it and see if you find new versions of yourself in it!
I haven't heard Beyonce's new song yet.
But personally I have been having a huge swerve in music tastes, and beliefs that I wouldn't have imagined when I was 10 years old.
Also, my writing style has swerved from mostly innocent and lovely, with veiled ugliness to being more raw, dark, and sometimes very violent and jarring. It’s kinda a swerve and breakup to the person I tried to force myself to be. (It’s maybe while I found the Fall alignment switch from your prequel interesting, actually).
Fall was an interesting book, wasn't it? It just had a vibe I wasn't expecting. I read it now and think, huh. interesting. Which is further proof I have no control over my own work, ha ha.
It was interesting! I thought about the story for days after reading it. Also, sometimes my own work also surprises me too, lol!
Wait... are you writing a contemporary thriller or was it just an example in your diary entry??!
This really resonated with me! I am contemplating a huge swerve in my life. One where I leave everything familiar and comfortable behind. That isn't necessarily what scares me. It is who I will be after the swerve and what will happen when I try to return to the person I was before this big change. I have so often wanted to be a different person than I was. Someone who wrote more, exercised more, loved myself more, basically just this ideal person that I can never attain. But I guess maybe by taking such a huge swerve and starting over from ground zero I can start to become this person I strive to be, like Professor Manley says. I'm praying that this swerve is in the right direction and will lead me to many new places where I can rediscover myself.
Don't judge the swerve! Just live it and see how you feel. Follow the feelings more than what you think of how you're doing. Sometimes it has to start very very badly in order to turn right later. In my case, my first YEAR of the swerve was... not good. Then things took a turn.
I love this post and can relate whole-heartedly. 💜
I've swerved so many times in my life that it's just become a way to designate the end of different chapters and the beginnings of new journeys. One involved leaving my family and moving across the world to attend film school, another involved moving to a whole new city where I had no friends or family and eventually met my now husband, and my latest swerve involved quitting a job with a company I was at for 16 years in order to get my first novel published. It was terrifying at first, but now 2 months in and a month out from completing a Certificate in Creative Writing from UCLAx, I feel like I'm finally finding my groove and adapting to my new life as a full time writer. I'm still learning what it takes to completely revise a novel, but I know that I won't regret taking the leap, I'll just wonder why I hadn't done it sooner. 🥰
That's usually how the swerve feels -- a nagging feeling of why didn't I do this before! I also went to film school... and found it invaluable in learning the pacing and structure of good storytelling. We have a lot in common!!!
Yes! Film is an amazing tool to learn the structure of good storytelling. 🫶🏻
I feel this is also true of smaller (but still big) normal changes. I'm in university and I went through all the same things. I live in the same house as I have since I was 6 but it feels so different. I think every big change in life adds a new layer to who a person is. Yeah we all look back and think of our old lives differently, we see our younger selves as strangers or ignorant. Eventually you'll go through another change and go through it all again, and that's ok. When it happens you'll be able to look back on this diary and see the good in change. I haven't listened to Beyonce's new song, but I totally understand how you'd get to this message from hearing a well established artist with a well established sound doing something new. Life is one new thing after another. New is hard at first and then it gets easier and then it becomes old and another new begins.
And imagine if you can succeed in various incarnations of yourself... I think it would lead to us feeling invincible and like superheroes...
this is another GREAT post, soman.
what it brings to mind (as if you and i are having a conversation every week with these posts!) is:
but what if living in a shiny nyc skyrise writing faerie tales IS the dream?
i'm open to a swerve (i'be been attempting the swerve via "pivot!!" mode for 5 years now).... but i'm still trying to get there.
i've been praying for the clear closure of the yellow brick roads that aren't meant for me-- eliminating distractions & superfluous efforts-- doing "what feels good" (i.e. following my passions and callings and giftings)... but like you and marvel (&&&&...!!) there's only so much we can control. which is kinda refreshing, but also heartbreaking sometimes.
i'm leaning into the peace of "opportunities meant for me," and just continuing to wish and hope and pray that someday that looks like publisher and agent meetings at the bowery, lunch with the editors, book tours (a signing at books of wonder!!), and around-the-world writing retreats {heavens forbid an actual vacation}... and maybe an LA red carpet or few after a substantial {superficial} make*over. :)
so is being OPEN to the swerve the point? following new paths until something better-for-you manifests?
scattering wildflower seeds to the breeze is exhausting. i'm ready to make intentional bouquets.
:)
*hallie
also: i still haven't listened to the new queen bey song... i'm not a country fan, so.... why? ;)
{but also, the only beyoncé song i really know is "who run the world [girls]" because i probably heard it on "glee?"
*shrug* :)
The swerve only comes once you've really settled into a path, I think. Then when it comes, it feel like an intentional detonation somehow. So for now, you're looking for that path and know what you want, which is exactly where I was at as a writer for many many years!