i don’t think that we artists are capable of conjuring up work that is wholly original. we are a mirage of references. our work, especially as young writers, is often a mimicry of those who came before. the difference here though is when we consume work, we digest it until it mixes with everything else we’ve eaten, all of our own memories and fears... See more

making art is hard. there is no cheat code that would make it easy. excavating the soul should be hard; it would be alarming if it wasn’t. the satisfaction you feel, however, when you see the words trooping along the page exactly as you dreamed them up, melodic and honest; it is heaven made real.

the truth they do not want you to recognize- because to acknowledge it is to give away power- is that all you need to do to be a writer is to write sincerely about yourself and all you see. to run around naked, stripped of all that is pretty and polished and put on display your heart for us passersby to examine. all you need is a pen, and yourself.

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making art is hard. there is no cheat code that would make it easy. excavating the soul should be hard; it would be alarming if it wasn’t. the satisfaction you feel, however, when you see the words trooping along the page exactly as you dreamed them up, melodic and honest; it is heaven made real.

ai is the one issue in our modern politics that feels representative of all that is bankrupt and ugly in the world. it’s an environmental issue [the substantial energy consumption for training and using these machines averages the energy consumption of what multiple american households would over the course of a year, emitting tens of thousands of ... See more

to love something enough to be moved to fire and upset in your defense of it is proof of that love.