How many of us associate big, monumental birthdays with nervous breakdowns? In her exquisitely raw advice column Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed attempts to console 26 year old Elissa Bassist, a disheartened aspiring writer who wonders how she can “reach the page” when she can barely “lift her face off the bed.” Like many of us, … Continue reading
French-Russian novelist Francine Du Plessix Gray always begins her writing classes by asking students to compare the following sentences, the first from Nabokov’s memoir of his youth in pre-Revolutionary Russia, Speak Memory, the second from Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. “She turned on the steps to look back at me before descending into a jasmine-scented, … Continue reading
As I focus more on my writing, I find myself more concerned with whether or not my work is original. Reading my writing, I see the glaring marks of other authors: the figurative language of Plath, the gorgeous but conversational musings of Anais Nin. I turn to my blog and I see most of my … Continue reading
“‘It must take so much discipline to be an artist,’ we are often told by well-meaning people who are not artists but wish they were. What a temptation. What a seduction. They’re inviting us to preen before an admiring audience, to act out the image that is so heroic and Spartan-and false. As artists, grounding … Continue reading
e.e. Cummings once said that “to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best—night and day—to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” Journaling is the greatest bulwark in this battle. Writing and reading, everyday, is how … Continue reading
Yesterday was a productive but frustrating writing day. I must get out of the habit of looking to other writers for examples. Yes, it’s helpful to look to other writers as a guide but-when you’re thinking about submitting to a publication-it can be creative suicide. Suddenly, we’re writing for a market, tailoring our ideas and … Continue reading
What does it take to be forever immortalized amidst literary gods: talent or motivation? Though our culture often emphasizes the significance of innate talent, I am here to debunk that popular myth once and for all. Determination-the sheer inextinguishable will to get things done- is (and always will be) the better predictor of success. Desire precedes … Continue reading
Too often do we make art a serious business when art becomes work, when it becomes a source of income. Do not let the expectation of an editor or reader stifle your imagination, your conception of what is interesting and possible. Create with the refinement of an expert, but with the verve and passion of … Continue reading
The Blank-Faced Confidante 