writing

Voice as ongoing observations of the living world and the relationships that bind us together within it. Voice as autonomy. For a long time I didn’t really know how to write in my own “voice.” I had to learn I could just say the thing I felt : that I was alienated from the discourse around me, thought that all the things people claimed were real... See more

As for me, I have several “whys”... Why didn’t I have enough courage to publish until a few months ago? Why did I avoid the only calling I’ve ever had: writing? For years, fear held me back – fear of judgment, of not being good enough, of exposing my vulnerability to the world. Writing, my truest form of expression, felt too raw, too personal to... See more

I don’t mean, like, that it’s easy to write immortal masterpieces—there are heights of aesthetic perfection that can only be reached when the right material meets a well-trained set of hands. But writing a decent enough first draft—something to fuck around with until it’s readable—should be fairly simple. Sure, it takes discipline to open the... See more

The faulty narrative I always tell myself is that someday I'm going find enough pieces in books that I'm going to put the puzzle together into an answer for all of these questions that I have —not just about terrible, sad things, like why people have to suffer or why our lives are diminished by the arrangement of the world, but also the wondrous... See more

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

But the process of writing — especially writing a first draft — should resemble quickly sketching what’s inside your mind, not squeezing words out of yourself.

my question is why you think productivity and artistic practise should be viewed as anything other than the conflicting, oxymoronic ideals they are. the purpose of writing or creating isn’t to tout a finished product; the value of what we do isn’t in having a sellable thing to make us a profit. it is to fuel our curiosity and reflect who we are in... See more

what makes a writer? i don’t think a creative writing degree makes you one, neither does acclaim or fiscal success. i think a writer is quite simply someone who does not know how to navigate this world without putting pen to paper, someone who is preoccupied with words and sentences and story.

This is why it’s very difficult to teach people how to write, because first you have to teach them how to care. Or, really, you have to show them how to channel their caring, because they already care a lot, but they don’t know how to turn that into words, or they don’t see why they should.