Writing in Rome .04

Stay the course or….listen to myself and pivot

this week was a bit of a macello… photo of a macelleria or butcher’s store front and you know me always looking for cool typography, Rome 2026

This week was un macello, a slang word used by Romans to describe a chaotic situation or a big mess (derived from the word for slaughterhouse and the root of the word macelleria) which is how this week felt.

It was a hard week. I had trouble sticking to my plan, that is, sticking to my manuscript and to my daily schedule. News flash: The manuscript bores me… and I can’t really see the book anymore.

I am heart-broken. I realize that might sound like too much but it’s true; I feel like I have just broken up with my first love. I have cried, a lot.

I think what happened is that I spent so much time refining this book concept into a book proposal back in 2024 that now I feel there is nothing left to say. I feel as though I have distilled it in me, and now I am having trouble expanding it. Like, I’m over it.

I think I am really at a crossroads. There have been days in which I’ve been gripped with fear