To give everyone a glimpse at SCN's member benefits, we've made this article from the December 2025 issue of our members-only Journal available to the public for a limited time. Enjoy!
by Jeanne Baker Guy
Bring It to the Forefront
Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don't want to take.
~David Whyte
Credit: “My Man, Quinn,” ChatGPT
I’m writing this article ADHD-style. Tush in cush? Not working. Set a timer? I did and then heard it go off as I exited the nearby laundry room. Again.
Back in chair . . . Inhale . . . Exhale . . . Reset timer.
So, what’s going on? What’s on my mind? My heart?
It’s a call to take that step; that step I don’t want to take—face and explore today’s muddy mind in order to write, to show up at the page.
Let’s just bring it all to the forefront. Let’s talk about my recent dark thoughts about whether I’m a writer. I wrote an award-winning memoir, published in 2021. I gave serious thought to writing a sequel. (Readers asked for it; can you imagine?) After hiring a fabulous developmental editor, I abandoned the whole idea six months and 40,000 words later. I thought writing a sequel was what I was supposed to do, a necessary misstep perhaps.
A fallow writing period followed. Took Len Leatherwood’s class, “Writing 20 Minutes a Day,” and did it for four months. Loved it. Stopped. Also stopped reading except for periodically perusing Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening. Nothing seemed to float my boat. All felt weighty. Stopped going to the gym. Got weighty.
I brought it to the forefront and wrote to my SCN Work-in-Progress Roundtable (a.k.a. chat group) writing sisters who share and support each other weekly through email:
It seems particularly relevant right now to “start close in." I feel like I’m going through a transition/transformation deepening into my teaching work, while wondering about my writing life. The two are obviously intertwined. I’ll be starting on my column piece for the SCN Journal and working on the syllabus for my upcoming six-week series, “The Words Beneath the Words” reflective writing circle. Writer friend Barbara Terao and I will be doing a memoir presentation tomorrow at the Oak Harbor Library. Such fun!BTW, I just have to say how much I enjoyed the SCN Online Conference. The facilitators were excellent, and the subject matter inspirationally spot on. Made me want to pull out my last WIP, dust it off, and see about finishing it. Maybe that’ll pass if I ponder it long enough. But not working on a WIP while participating in (and loving) this group doesn’t feel quite right for me. More pondering.
Enter Susan Albert, SCN founder, Roundtable group “mom,” and personal mentor. Here’s her response:
But you ARE working on a WIP, Jeanne: your WIP has morphed into your teaching, which is a natural place for it to bloom into the life you're creating there on Whidbey. We all move on in our lifestory, from one chapter to another. I know I have and so have all of us. We're all simply (and amazingly!) redefining ourselves in new and lovely ways.
Her words were like a hot cup of cocoa with marshmallows on top.
I realized I am a teacher and a writer. To not honor that would be a betrayal to my very being.
I’ve also learned with ADHD, I need “the first step” on a daily basis. That first uncomfortable step brings my distracting thoughts to the forefront for observation and serves me well when it’s time to write, though I do get a lot of laundry done.
Your thoughts? First steps? Laundry suggestions?
Jeanne Baker Guy lives in Langley, Washington on Whidbey Island and is the author of You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir, the true story of how her children were stolen from her and how she stole them back. Past president of SCN, Jeanne also co-authored Seeing Me: A Guide for Reframing the Way You See Yourself Through Reflective Writing. Learn more about her books and writing workshops at jeanneguy.com.
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