Creative Waiting
Choosing to Write on Substack in 2021
Dear Fellow,
Yes, you didn’t make a mistake. You read the title right. It says creative waiting. I got the term from an essay by Tim Bascom entitled “The Creative Process: Seven Points to Ponder”, where he reflected on the process that culminated in his book The Comfort Trap to show the kind of attitude and habits a writer should have in life and towards their work. Here, he acknowledged that some projects come to fruition over time, with many phases that seem unrelated to the project in view. What to do? The anthology’s editor labels a section of Bascom’s piece as Point #5: Creative Waiting Is Active Waiting. To explain the term, here is the labelled paragraph—as a writer waits for the pieces of any project to come together, he says
We must give up control. But not passively. Our part is to ransack ourselves as we wait, pulling out every drawer in our soul, examining what we find, taking inventory of everything we really know and care about. Our part is to “take note,” to literally record what we find. There is little difference between us, as writers, and those who don’t write. It is not that we have more moments of recognition, more flashes of insight. The real difference is that we record those flashes. And so they are always ready for use.1
About three months ago, a dear friend asked about this newsletter. She asked if I generate revenue from it, and if I don't, she also wanted to know how I am able to sustain it so far and how it benefits me. I told her that this is a training ground for me, a field of practice as I look forward to the major league which is a traditional publishing deal, and so I do not ask subscribers for a subscription fee yet.
It didn’t make sense to her because I was awarded, in recognition of my book The University Library, the Plateau State Author of the Year plaque for 2023 in January this year; I was the publication director for a writing fellowship that produced an anthology called The Twelfth Despatch: On Writing and Becoming, which was released in May; and I have contributed to publications like the 2024 Jos Book Fair magazine. It just didn’t make sense to her that I was assuming the place of an amateur with all of these achievements listed in my bios. But my answer to her question remains the same for the rest of this year and beyond.
Besides my birthday on every 21st, August holds significant memories for me. This newsletter launched as RANDOM DESPATCHES on Saturday, 14th August 2021; my debut book The University Library was released in electronic format on Sunday, 21st August 2022; my Facebook page (Tongjal WN – LetterMan) was launched on Tuesday, 1st August 2023; and my first piece on Medium was published on Thursday, 1st August 2024.
August, also an adjective which means “marked by majestic dignity and grandeur” in another sense, is a season of wonder for me. And I look forward to it every year since launching my practice here on Substack—to share the journey of the previous 365-cycle with you, good Fellow.
I have now spent three years in this space. My decision to write on Substack was twofold. First, I needed somewhere to write often. Second, I wanted a space with great aesthetics for my pieces to shine. These two conditions met, and I now have a goal for the long term.
A despatch on Saturday, 16th August 2026 will be the next major milestone for me in this space if I continue to publish a piece every Saturday here, God willing. That will mark my fifth year on Substack. If a traditional publishing deal comes before then, as a result of the thinking ongoing here, that will be the next major milestone. If it comes after, it is what I am craving. Regardless, I will continue to ransack and pull out every drawer in my soul, analysing, and sharing my findings with you here, and continue to practise. I am doing this—creative waiting.
Thank you for tagging along so far, good Fellow. I hope we get to the fifth year together in good shape.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
Tim Bascom, “The Creative Process: Seven Points to Ponder,” in Creative Writing, ed. Susan Martins Miller (Illinois: Interlit Imprint, 1996), 3-5.