The Writing: Going back to where it started
Today is the last edition of The Writing. Starting next week, I am releasing, instead, one more letter a month just for paid subscribers like you.
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The Writing was a weekly craft Q&A newsletter from 2020-2021 for paid subscribers of The Reading. You can read these posts by making an account at The Reading.
The Writing: When are you going to get a real job?
There was a point in time that I assumed that writing was just one job: to get the thoughts down and out. But as so many reader letters reflect here at The Reading, art is at least two jobs. The first is to resist; the second is to make.
Read moreThe Writing: Antiracism and the classroom
My fundamental work in the classroom is building a new trust for my students, however it is they have lost trust in their own power.
Read moreThe Writing: Some examples of unproductive writing spaces
Last week, I wrote on the importance of unproductive writing spaces and some initiatives I’ve started to make them. I also asked readers to contribute their own examples of gathering with other writers.
Read moreThe Writing: The price of admission
Almost two weeks ago, I posted a question on social media for Asian American writers: “What do you really, really wish was available to you that would help you as a person and writer?”
Read moreThe Writing: If The Reading were a book…
I’ve tried many possible forms—a memoir, a how-to book, and even fiction. But every iteration so far has felt hollow in its delivery.
Read moreThe Writing: On designing a writing life
There’s a distinction between the years in which you are figuring out what it means to pursue writing professionally and the years when you actually start navigating it.
Read moreThe Writing: Making the work visible
The moment I feel momentum in a project, all I want to do is regiment the number of words I will add in a day and stack them in a timeline until I know the exact day I will reach my goal. I want to know the future. And you probably know how that ends.
Read moreThe Writing: Is this the beginning of a new book?
Perhaps third time's the charm.
Read moreThe Writing: How did your summer writing go?
Back in May, I did a check-in with myself on my yearly intentions and set some goals for summer. I also asked about yours.
Read moreThe Writing: Between seasons
Living in the end and a secret announcement.
Read moreThe Writing: On writing where you are
[W]hat happens when one’s emergency impulse is made the attitude toward life? It involves transfiguring places from what they are into what I want them to solve.
Read moreThe Writing: Vacation mode
Hello, I am on vacation! The Writing will return next week. In the meantime, here are two threads I have noted in the recent past on getting a writing education outside of an MFA. Meant for poets but useful for all.
Read moreThe Writing: On finding one’s own measures (Part 2)
On Sunday I began a postscript detailing my most vivid memories of emerging in my career thus far. It turned out to be larger than a postscript. Here’s the next leg of the journey, on my first fellowship and my first book. My first fellowship. The same year I
Read moreThe Writing: On writing spaces
Once upon a time I had a strong impulse to throw parties and arrange meetings. There was something in the air for me around bringing people together. I had many reasons: the thrill of the crowd; the mystery of strangers coming together; the desire to buy the flowers myself. But
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