Semicolons, Standing Stones, and the Sounds of Silence

Plus a creative writing prompt at the end. I hope you’ll be inspired!

Welcome to my first official newsletter. If you’re receiving this, you’re a friend, a student, a neighbor, a fellow writer, a reader of my previous work, or just someone kind enough to have signed up.* Thank you for being here! I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. We’re all busy! But I hope you’ll be inspired. Here goes:

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Literary (Docu) Drama with Semicolons

Have you seen TURN EVERY PAGE, the remarkable documentary about editor Robert Gottlieb and author Robert Caro’s working relationship? It’s an intimate portrayal of an incomparable collaboration with fascinating insights into the editorial process. Caro's serious, deep research makes my own efforts feel frivolous! And both men’s mutual striving for the writing’s truth, including heated arguments over semicolons, brought tears to my eyes. The short clip below shows just the start of the semicolon conversation. You must watch the whole film to get the rest. It’s an argument that I have had often, and with a lot of passion, something my non-writerly offspring think is bizarre. Perhaps only another writer or editor can understand? (Thanks to my first professional editor, Carole Desanti, for recommending the film!)

Still Researching After All These Years

I’m a research nerd. If I wasn’t, I doubt I could write historical fiction. The problem is that I never stop, not even after the novel has gone to type-setting. So when ARCHAEOLOGY OF BRONZE AGE MONGOLIA: A Deer Stone Diary by William W. Fitzhugh showed up on my doorstep last week, I ripped open the envelope and dug right in—pun intended. It’s a chronicle of new research on the ancient, carved “deer stones” of Mongolia that figure prominently in AKMARAL. And Dr. Fitzhugh is the director of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. He made it possible for me to be part of the Smithsonian’s Vikings exhibition many years ago, even before THE THRALL’S TALE was published. (Thank you!)

The truth is I’m never really done researching. Along with sheer curiosity (and a touch of anxiety that the research I based my creative assumptions on will be proved wrong), I become deeply attached to the landscapes and cultures of my characters, including their contemporary forms. I still keep close tabs on what’s going on in Greenland—the setting of my first novel—as if I were an ex-pat who misses her home. (Check out this gorgeous essay from Jessica Plumb, The Edge of Ice and Sea, published last year in Orion Magazine.) I’m sure I’ll do the same with the countries of the distant Altai Mountains long after AKMARAL is launched: Mongolia, Tuva in Southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Xinjiang in Northwest China, homeland of the oppressed ethic minority, the Uyghurs.

Speaking of Years…

My recent essay in Next Avenue is all about how the years go by, whether we like it or not. It was originally titled “The (Other) Third Trimester,” though for SEO reasons, it’s now called As You Age, Meet Yourself Where You Are. Either way, I hope some of you see yourselves in the story. (Some of you actually are in the story. If you recognize yourself, let me know!)

Creative Writing Prompt: The Sound of Silence

I promised a creative writing prompt in each post. It seems appropriate, given that many of you know me through my classes or other programs at The Writers Circle. Here’s one I’ve loved for a long time. It was inspired by an episode of On Being with Krista Tippett. She interviewed Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist who has made his career recording the sounds of silence. Silence is endangered in our overpopulated world. But “Silence is not an absence of sound but an absence of noise.”

The prompt: Listen to this recording by Hempton (link goes to Spotify).

Close your eyes and just experience the sounds. Once you get settled and a vision starts to appear in your mind, start writing about what you are hearing. Where are you (or your character)? What is around you? Start opening up your senses beyond sound to color and light, shapes and movements, textures, temperature, smells, and even tastes. Simply describe the journey that the sounds take you on, and maybe consider why you’re there.

As with any prompt, there’s no right or wrong response. Just let your words flow onto the page without judgment and see what comes. Most of all, have fun with it! Writing is supposed to be fun. Otherwise, why would we work so hard at it?

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Forthcoming by Judith Lindbergh

AKMARAL: a nomad woman warrior on the ancient Asian steppes must make peace with making war - May 2024 from Regal House Publishing

"A gripping saga, a love story, and a convincing portrait of a time and people lost to history” —Christina Baker Kline, #1 bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and GoodReads. (I'm also on Twitter, but not often.)

Or visit judithlindbergh.com.

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*Most of my subscriber list was compiled long before double opt-ins. If you prefer to unsubscribe, please do so below. But I truly hope you’ll stay with me, especially as I get ready to launch my new novel, AKMARAL, next year. I will do my best to keep things interesting!