About 30,000 people receive my newsletter. I send it every two weeks. Subscribe and get a free list of my favorite digital tools.
Share
[Electric Speed] Swipe type | Failure of nerve
Published 3 months ago • 6 min read
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here.
A note from Jane
As I wrapped up my undergraduate degree in creative writing in the late 1990s, I decided to apply for a Fulbright. I can’t remember if I was encouraged to apply, or if I sought it out for myself. Either way, I didn’t have the slightest idea what to research or study—but I sure liked the idea of being a Fulbright scholar.
Rather than ask challenging questions about what I wanted to accomplish, or consult with a mentor, I instead researched which country would be the easiest to get a fellowship for, based on the ratio of applications to awards. That country was Jamaica.
I had no knowledge of Jamaica or its writers, but I put together a proposal anyway, focused on Caribbean poetry publishing. I tried emailing the one publisher I found in Jamaica, hoping for a letter of support. They never responded.
There is no twist ending to this story. I predictably did not get selected for a Fulbright, and thank god I didn’t.
When I pitch or pursue projects these days, I always think about why this project now and why me? I look for a clear and direct line from the work I’m doing or have demonstrated care about, and what I propose to do next. And I look for the story that might persuade others to support my work.
Join industry editor Kate Brauning & a team of agents for across-the-desk guidance & editorial support in a flexible online program—whether you’re unpublished or bestselling.
Career planning. Advanced craft. Market advice. Ongoing book development. Come write compelling novels from the inside out. Visit Breakthrough Writers.
Here are some of the latest things I’ve discovered. (I am not paid to mention any of these resources; there are no affiliate links.)
Just discovered “swipe type” on the iPhone (!)
I’ve been pecking out texts with a single finger since 2010, and it never occurred to me that technology has progressed beyond this clumsy method.
This week I discovered you can use your finger to swipe from letter to letter (not lifting your finger), and the iPhone will automagically know what you’re trying to type. Here’s a full explanation. I doubted it until I tried it. It just works.
You can also buy a disc stylus that works well with this method. H/t Nicole Klungle.
I loved this profile of a script doctor
This New Yorker profile of Scott Frank has so many nuggets of wisdom, I hardly know where to start. The overall gist is that Frank has made his name and his money by rewriting others’ work, despite launching his career with an original, stunning screenplay (Little Man Tate) at the age of nineteen. Only now, late in life, is he focused on his own material.
He says, “My career is probably best defined more as a failure of nerve than anything else. I used to book myself up three years in advance, out of fear.” Writer Patrick Radden Keefe comments, “Such anxiety can be a great motivator, but it can also amount to a life of safe choices.”
AI tool to auto-rename your screenshots
Do you take countless screenshots during the day? It’s a huge pain to rename and organize them to remain useful later, so if this is a continuing problem for you, consider Keep It Shot. For Mac users only.
Stop the annoying Facebook sounds
Anyone else notice that Facebook now chirps as you scroll down the newsfeed on mobile? It drives me bonkers. Fortunately, you can turn off the sound effects. Click on your profile picture/menu > tap on Settings & Privacy > tap on Settings > tap on Media > toggle off In-App Sound. 😅
NEXT ONLINE CLASS
Feb. 21: Find the Memoir Structure That Works for You with Lisa Cooper Ellison
Have you started a memoir only to get lost in a sea of stories that never seem to end? Structure, and its sidekick narrative arc, are the two concepts writers grapple with most, and nailing them can help you craft a satisfying book with the best chance for publication. This webinar will introduce you to the most common memoir structures, help you better understand your story, and give you the tools needed to choose a structure that marries your talents with the form that best suits your narrative arc.
In the last issue, I asked you to share with me a documentary you’ve seen and appreciated that is under-recognized or not well-known. So many wonderful suggestions came in—here is a selection of what you said.
The King of Kong is my all-time favorite movie and happens to be a documentary. It’s about competitive video gamers from the heydays of 1980s arcades. As a character study, it cannot be topped. Hilarious. Highly recommend. —Catherine Baab-Muguira
Paper Tigers: documentary about a high school in Walla Walla, WA, where the faculty engages with students in meaningful ways by understanding the complex trauma from which many of the students suffer. —Dave Malone
I just had the absolute pleasure of stumbling across the 2022 British documentary Hello, Bookstore while on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester to New York. Matt Tannenbaum owns a used and selectively curated new bookshop in Lenox, Massachusetts, that falls upon hard times during the pandemic. But Matt is determined to keep his community resource open despite mounting debt. This documentary is a gem and Matt is a literary treasure. —Megan McDonald
I enjoyed watching Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time, a documentary that is about the 25-year friendship that developed between the person who was filming the documentary and Vonnegut. Lots of footage shot in and around Indianapolis on trips when Vonnegut came back to see the house he grew up in, the high school he went to, etc. —Carol Michel
The Farthest: Voyager in Space: a documentary about the scientists who experienced the thrill ride of the Voyager spacecraft mission starting in 1977. Even if you’re not a space or science nerd, the emotional testimony of each scientist just might make you cry. I recommend watching it with a loved one now. —meier_link
A State of Mind: the first British crew allowed to film in North Korea, the movie traces the path of two child gymnasts to participation in the Mass Games, the world’s largest patriotic pageant. It’s the best example I’ve ever seen of “show, don’t tell” because they could not criticize the government or bring up anything political. They don’t have to—we see the empty storefronts outside the bus windows, the joy of the family getting an extra chicken to feed their gymnast daughter, and the propaganda speaker inside their home that can be turned down but not off. I’m still waiting for it to be safe enough, but this is the film that made me want to visit the DPRK. —Allison K Williams
Jane recommends: Look Away, Look Away, about the fate of the Mississippi state flag, the last one to incorporate the Confederate flag
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane The best quality books are not the ones that typically sell. The most talented writers are not always well known. The worthiest information rarely spreads the farthest. Or: The cream does not necessarily rise to the top. This is a message I repeat across my classes and writings, not to discourage people, but to reassure. It applies to...
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane One of the best literature classes I ever took was called Shadow Literature. It focused on texts that subtly expressed the Jungian theory of the shadow self, or the parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable (whether emotions, thoughts, or personality traits). While the shadow self isn’t inherently negative, it’s what we repress or...
Electric Speed is a biweekly newsletter that shares resources for creative people (since 2009!), brought to you by Jane Friedman. Sign up here. A note from Jane I’ve had a trick shoulder for a decade now, the result of a pinched nerve that was never treated properly. Due to a mixture of laziness and hopelessness, I gave up on achieving normalcy. Recently, someone questioned why I wasn’t seeing a therapist for it. So I began reflecting on why I’d given up on healing. When it comes to a few...