David Beckham, The Boys in the Boat, and Me
Tapping into my competitive spirit, even with a Type B+ personality
Happy 2024, all! And welcome to January!
I’m not trying to one-up you, but January, for me, has historically been a very productive month, probably because there is literally nothing else to do but write — except read, drink, and watch movies.
My Productive and Extra Wet January tradition began in January of 2020, when I embarked on my first solo writing retreat, finding an adorable Airbnb in Newport to hunker down in. The place is walking distance to everything in town and super charming, and bonus, it was practically free — because who in their right mind goes to Newport in January? Me and my red wine, that’s who.
Not to one-up you again, but I'm happy to report that I have been quite productive so far this January as well. My writing workshop is back in-person (!!!) in Boston for the first time since 2019, when I workshopped the first 100 pages of what was to become DAUGHTERS OF NANTUCKET. Returning to writing workshop last week was momentous. I got choked up walking into class. It felt really big, because I know now what I didn’t in 2019: that my story would find an agent and a publisher and a home with fantastic readers.
I am so happy to be back talking about the craft of fiction with such whip-smart, funny, and kind human beings.
I also got choked up after class because I suddenly remembered how freaking hard it is to write a novel. Can’t I just go on tour forever with that one-hit-wonder of mine? Touring is fun! I get to wear dresses! When I write novels, I wear old sweatpants with a long, moth-eaten sweater on top and fingerless gloves, lighting a favorite candle next to my computer and feeling very much like I’m Mimi’s understudy for La Boheme. (True story: the other day, I put on jeans, booties, and a sweater, and my daughter was like, why are you so dressed up?! Oh, how far I have fallen from those glorious spring and summer book events!)
But, really, thank goodness for my writing workshop. There is nothing like being told you must have 50 pages ready for others to read on January 21st to motivate you to write 50 (hopefully good-ish) pages by January 21st. (Of which I have 43 so far. Yay!)
Some people are Type A. They will just go, go, go for the heck of it, always chasing that next great challenge. I am not that person. I have a decidedly B+ personality. Mostly, I’m content to, like, hang out. I lack both the competitive spirit needed to out-do others on the soccer field, tennis court, or standardized testing situation, as well as the hand-eye coordination necessary for literally all of the above as well. I have been known to swing and hit air with my tennis racket and to mis-bubble an entire column on a Scantron form for an SAT exam.
But you know who IS competitive? David Beckham, that’s who. And what does he have to do with me? Turns out, quite a lot.
When I’m actively writing, I try to surround myself with great reading-listening-viewing content that is somehow topic-adjacent to what I am working on, that supports and inspires me in my mission to invent and put to paper an entirely new story. I don’t want to read about the exact same world as the one my characters are inhabiting, but rather, find thematic connections to help me explore the psyches, personalities, tics, and motivations of characters like mine. And I also like to think about the arc of a story and what moves the action forward.
In the case of my next novel, which is largely set on a merchant clipper ship that sails from Nantucket to San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush and then on to China, what I need is an injection of competitive spirit.
Without saying too much, I have characters who know what they want and will do just about anything to get it. I also have some who have to fight through adversity to regain control of their own destinies. My characters are in it to win, or survive, to be the best, or make the most money, to close the deal, to sail across the globe unscathed, to love and be loved, and even to overcome grief.
Enter David Beckham.
I stumbled upon the Netflix doc about him (titled, thoughtfully, Beckham) because I had watched all of The Gilded Age and The Great British Baking Show and was desperate to find my next series. Turns out, Beckham is great — and, for a person like me who knew almost nothing about the guy’s career before watching this — surprisingly filled with edge-of-your-seat drama and twists and turns — and heart. It’s like the real Ted Lasso! Posh Spice wife Victoria also helped me think about my own (pretty hot) husband-and-wife duo.
Speaking of drama and heart, I highly recommend the film The Boys in the Boat, based on the book with the same name by Daniel James Brown, in which a rowing team from the University of Washington tries to make it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This, too, is centered around sport and made me think about character and competition and a compelling story arc. About being the underdog, and digging deep with perseverance and grit. The Boys in the Boat is a decidedly American story, and a feel-good classic, and in that way reminded me, too, of some themes I’m trying to tap into and goals I have for my new project.
Speaking of boys in boats…my last inspo pick is David Grann’s sensational work of nonfiction, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder. I know, I know, everyone has already read it and I’m late to the game. But let me just say - wow. I had no idea that’s what happened when you got scurvy. The Wager is set around an 18th century British naval man-o-war in search of a Spanish galleon filled with treasure, on which basically everything goes wrong (see subtitle for spoilers). In that way, it is the closest in subject matter to my new work, because it takes place at sea. However, my characters will be sailing by clipper in 1850, more than 100 years after The Wager was a total fail in 1742, and the plan is that no one in my novel will have to eat anybody else.
But, oh, to be at sea! To feel the waves crash and the wind howl around Cape Horn! And to learn enough nautical phrases to not feel like a total imposter — that’s worth it’s weight in gold. Or Spanish silver, in this case.
Next up, I’m ditching the boat completely and swimming along with Nyad!
This year, I wish you a life of adventure, with the wind at your back and the spirit of competition in your heart.
xo
Julie
P.S. Inhaled any great content yourself recently? Send titles my way!
Yayy!!!! I'm so thrilled that our workshop is back in session, too -- it is such a joy. Can't wait to make our next novels HAPPEN together! ONWARD! (Love the extra wet January, btw. Heh. Mine, meanwhile, is mostly dry, which, while annoying at times, is proving to be good for my productivity. Sigh.)
(Sorry for the typo all -- that should read worth its weight in gold, no apostrophe. Ughhhhh.)