Cover of Write of Passage by Vanessa Riley

Write of Passage by Vanessa Riley

Write of Passage by Vanessa Riley

By: Vanessa Riley
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Join bestselling author Vanessa Riley as she delves into untold histories, reflects on current events through a historical lens, shares behind-the-scenes writing insights, and offers exclusive updates on her groundbreaking novels.

vanessariley.substack.comVanessa Riley Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Right to Write

    Right to Write
    27 Oct 2026
    What do a ballot and a blank page have in common? Both require you to believe your voice matters. And both are absolutely useless if you never do anything with them.This is my writing quarter.Everything—and I mean everything—should be focused on writing.My job during this season is simple: to encourage you, motivate you, and get you into those chairs. Whether you’re transcribing, dictating, punching keys on a keyboard, or riding around with a notebook tucked into your bag, I want you writing.That’s my commitment to you.But as always, we live in a world.And this world has ups and downs. There are wars, political diatribes, disasters, and the everyday frustrations that make us want to scream into the void.And then there’s The Cheesecake Factory.Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: LPETTET / Getty (from the Atlantic asking to leave the Cheesecake Factory out of the fight)Yes, it still exists. It’s gaudy and gold and over the top, like former President Obama alluded to this past weekend in Cleveland. New York Times spent time on Cheesecake Factory!We go for the spectacle, the oversized plates and, the cheesecake. It’s still delicious. And yes, sometimes a slice of cheesecake seems like the only reasonable response to the madness happening around us.But since I would still like to fit into my wardrobe, I have to find another way to process my feelings.For me, that way is writing.And maybe it can be for you.Writing Through the MadnessOne of the reasons I talk to you every week is that I need a place to channel my emotions. Sometimes that emotion is joy. Sometimes it’s frustration. And sometimes, it’s rage—hot, burning lava.I need a place to spew about my perspective on the world. Not because my perspective is more important than anyone else’s, but because I’m a writer.And a writer has to write.The emotions I experience need somewhere to go. If I don’t process them, they’ll occupy every corner of my brain until I feel like my head might explode.So I write.I write about what troubles me. I write about what inspires me. I write about the things I cannot change and the things I desperately wish I could.Sometimes I pour those feelings onto the page. Other times, I consider pouring them into a cheesecake.But again, the wardrobe must work.So writing wins.Now, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with today’s lesson.That’s a fair question.I know it sounds as though I’m rambling, but I promise I have a point.You do not have to wait for the perfect moment to write.You do not have to wait for the perfect words, the perfect atmosphere, the perfect inspiration, or the perfect alignment of the planets.You simply need to write.Free Your Mind by Filling the PageI’m a tremendous proponent of journaling.Take a notebook, a notepad, or even an artist’s sketchbook and put your feelings on those pages.They don’t have to be beautiful.They don’t have to be organized.They don’t have to even make sense to anyone but you.The point is to release the thoughts that have taken up residence in your mind without paying rent.Think about how much mental energy we spend replaying conversations, worrying about current events, or imagining everything that might go wrong.Those thoughts take up space.Writing them down can help free that space.And once you’ve released some of that emotional clutter, you may discover that you have more room for the creative work you actually want to do.Your novel.Your short story.Your poem.Your next great idea.Sometimes, before you can create the world you imagine, you have to make peace with the world you’re living in.And that brings me to something else that’s been on my mind.Your Voice Matters Beyond the PageWe’re in an election season.So I’m going to take this opportunity to say something important.Make a plan. Get informed. Go vote.Exercise your civic duty.People have fought, suffered, bled, and died for the right to enter a voting booth and make their voices heard.That is not an exaggeration.Think about the generations of people who were denied the ballot because of their race or sex. Think about the suffragists who marched, protested, and endured imprisonment. Think about the civil rights activists who faced violence while demanding equal access to the polls.Think about the people who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965 and were beaten for demanding voting rights.Think about Jimmie Lee Jackson, whose death helped inspire the Selma voting rights campaign. Think about Reverend James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, who were killed during that struggle.These were real people who paid extraordinary prices for the freedoms we exercise today.And yet, I still hear people say, “My vote doesn’t matter.”Really?Look at your gas prices.Look at the cost of beef.Look at your grocery bills, your taxes, your schools, your roads, and the policies that shape your everyday life.No single elected official controls all those prices or ...
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    23 min
  • Your Lying Manuscript

    Your Lying Manuscript
    20 Oct 2026
    Walter Mosley said it a month ago on a Zoom for The Center for Black Literature’sSummer Series. And in his MasterClass. I say it all the time. To get your novel finished, you need to have your butt in a chair and write every day. Whom are you going to believe—us or your lying unfinished manuscript?Putting Yourself and Your Words FirstWhen you’ve written a lot of books, people want to know how you do it. They ask about plotting techniques. Are you a pantser? A planster? Do you bounce between scenes or write straight through? What craft books do you recommend? Are you a morning writer or an evening writer?All valid questions. I enjoy talking about the work.But the advice I give that seems to generate the most consternation is this: write every day.“Now, Vanessa. When you say every day, do you mean every day? Don’t you take Sundays off? Don’t you go on vacation? What about Christmas? Surely you take off for Christmas.”Some of you are already looking at your work calendars, making me your HR rep trying to get me to approve your days off.Here’s what I mean by writing every day: take those words as literally as you need to take them to establish, in your own mind and spirit, that your writing matters.You need to believe that writing deserves a respected place in your routine.Your words don’t always have to wait until another month of research. Until you read another craft book. It doesn’t need to wait for a new, different notebook. You shouldn’t have to wait for a weekend when nobody needs anything from you.If you’ve allowed your writing life to build up excuses, forgive yourself. Begin anew. But let’s begin with vigor and consistency.But Write Every Day?Yes, there are days when—clutch the pearls—I don’t work on a manuscript. But I’ve written something, probably an essay for a podcast. Hint, hint. Or a little reflection for social media. Or something in my journal.Does that finish my novel?No. And I have to be honest with myself about that. A beautifully written caption will not resolve the emotional conflict or lack of tension I left my characters in three chapters ago.But every bit of writing keeps my writing muscles taut. Stringing coherent words together are like calisthenics. Arranging sentences are yogo. Any attempt at trying to get what’s in my head onto a page is a useful one. For me, daily writing makes returning to the manuscript easier.I’m telling you that writing is a muscle. And I want mine limber and strong, ready to work when I need it.Have you ever joined a gym or bought exercise equipment?In the beginning, there’s so much excitement. You have plans. You have goals. You have sneakers.Naturally, the sneakers need to be cute.Maybe you buy athletic wear. A matching set. Something that announces you are a person who intends to take this exercise business seriously.Then you do the workout.And the next morning, your legs have questions. Parts of your body angrily ask what are you doing.Eventually, the excitement of buying the equipment and icy heat lotion wear off, and you have to decide whether you’re going to keep at this.Writing asks that question, too.You bought the notebook. You downloaded the software. You found the perfect pen, the best journal. But, will you return to the work when the first burst of excitement wears off? How about when a scene is difficult? What about when you see words on a page and none of it comes out bearing any resemblance to the beautiful ones you imagined?That’s where I believe many stop, when they need their muscles to push through.This past week, I was at the Writing Sisters Summit, hosted by Nina Foxx, in Taos, New Mexico.The air was fresh. The mountains were magnificent. The dirt roads were scary.I want to be clear: I appreciated the scenery. I have lingering questions about the roads.But the sisterhood at the treat was amazing.Wanda Morris, Pamela Samuels Young, Sheila Williams, and I joined the faculty, bringing our experiences to a vibrant group of women writing across genres and at different stages of their careers. Some were working toward their first books. Others had been at this for years.We had time to talk about the writing and industry challenges. To ask questions and stay for the answers. To hear someone describe a struggle and recognize a little of our own.And yes, I got up early. I know. Another revelation.I walked the trails outside, feeling the crisp morning air on my cheeks. There was a slight breeze that smelled of sage. I took pictures, lots of pictures. I want to remember and treasure this experience.Then I switched from my camera to my Notes app and dictated thoughts about the project I’m working on.A phrase. A possibility. Something I was beginning to understand about the next new book.That counts, boys and girls.Was it the most productive writing session of my life? Word count-wise, no.But I was able to work out and articulate the premise of my next book. Something I’d been reaching for ...
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    17 min
  • A Writing Life You Can Actually Live

    A Writing Life You Can Actually Live
    13 Oct 2026
    I believe in writing every day. Sometimes that means a hundred words. Sometimes 2500. Did you hear me say good or great words? No, I didn’t say that. Today, let’s talk about the actual writing life we should achieve.A Writing Life You Can Actually LiveThree proposals, a Vermont retreat, and figuring out the writer I want to become.Before I get started, this week’s download, the writing goals calculator, is available in my resource shop for free. Get the link at Substack or my website. I just turned in three book proposals. One new idea. Two reimagined, tires kicked, engines inspected.And absolutely no pages of an actual story.I need my agents buy-in and I don’t know those people yet. We’re still being introduced. I’ve just stocked piled articles in Newspapers.com, Wikipedia and YouTube Rabbit holes, and the occasional ancient tome on my shelves.But in Vermont—the writers who shared that retreat with me—gave me space to think about what I want my writing life to look like over the next three years. The answer kept coming back to multigenerational stories that tie our present to a vibrant, often hidden past. I want to focus on sisterhoods carrying love, ambition, secrets, and unfinished business across time.Apparently, even after all these 31 books, I’m still asking: Who do I want to be when my writing life grows up?Truthfully, that’s a question that all of us need to ask and keep asking. Heck, it’s the secret to staying young.Everyone’s trying to figure themselves out. Writers do it on the page and in front of an audience.As we figure ourselves out, we ask:What do we want to do?Whom do we want to become?All while balancing the real world: Those other occupations that pay bills. And what about our relationships? Do we have them? Are we keeping them: Family, friendships, peers, romantic and platonic coexistence—all of this makes up our complicated and gloriously messy thing called our lives.Did I mention the money? Most of us need it—unless we’re nepo babies, but sometimes that gift doesn’t work out. We all do need the money.But I digress.I’m not a writer who can sit still. You may have figured that out already. Yet every time I commit to a book idea, I need it to do more than sound interesting. It has to stir something inside me. It has to give me a reason to say: Yes. These are the people, the questions, the history I want to spend the next year or two researching, writing, revising, promoting, and talking about.A proposal can be a few pages. The commitment behind it is considerably larger.As authors, we spend a lot of time worrying about our brands. Some of us are still trying to figure out what that word means when applied to a human being who occasionally writes in pajamas and tiaras.My slightly Type A personality has helped me think about the direction of my work from the beginning. I knew I wanted to tell historical stories. My first avenue was Christian fiction. Then came Regency romances. My work expanded into historical fiction that brings the Caribbean diaspora into view—a history my very Southern American education too often skipped or downplayed. Or obliterated—thanks to United Daughters of Confederacy.What I like to write or read changes as my curiosity grows. Each book has helped me see more clearly what I want to explore in the next.Vermont gave me time to listen to that curiosity without immediately demanding a word count from it.Which brings me to this week’s lesson: Get comfortable in your own writing skin.It’s tempting to want to be the writer who sits down and produces a 80,000-word book in three or four weeks. Sounds enviable, but often we miss the preparation that it took to get there. Some writers I know who work at the speed of light have already spent months deeply studying their subject, developing their characters, and figuring out the story—before sitting and writing.We as voyeurs see the words arriving. We miss the months of work that made it possible.My friends call me a fast writer. We’ll sort of. I can produce a lot of words when I’m sufficiently caffeinated, the research is done, the characters are clear, and I know where the story needs to go.There have also been times when my Type A personality took the wheel and I checked myself into a hotel with room service to crank out ten or twenty thousand words in a day.That habit can get expensive in more ways than hotel bills.Sleep deprivation. Health. Family time. Isolation. Everything leaning out of alignment with that elusive word: balance.Even if I can do this pace, I must consider what it costs me.This week’s writing tool is the word-count chart. Download it. Keep it displayed. It shows how steady effort adds up and gives you a realistic sense of how long a draft might take at your current, realistic pace.A hundred words a day.A thousand words a week. Whatever fits the life you actually have—these numbers help you make a commitment and understand how long it will take ...
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    14 min
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