Category: Writing
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stories and possibilities are always multiple, infinite
Wonderful essay here at LitHub by Ellie Robins. I was sold from this moment: The truth is, there can be no such thing as a monomyth. Stories are alive, and like all living beings, they exist in ecosystems. In the living world, a monoculture always spells death. Ellie Robins https://lithub.com/how-to-go-home-on-resisting-a-very-english-heros-journey/ TFW someone totally nails, with…
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palpably anxious authors
Interesting and accidental juxtaposition in these two bits from very different scenes and sources, which nonetheless rhyme strongly: In my most cynical moments, I wonder if the return to literary moralism isn’t an evolutionary tactic of publishing’s extant power structures, substituting real-world issues of employment and portfolio identity representation—which do matter—with equitable representation within individual…
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[x] springs eternal
If a poet wants to say anything meaningful about the world, he must not push the world away from himself or seek in any way to avoid it. Despite the best of plans and intentions, the world is more chaotic than ever, and this chaos is pushing it with increasing speed toward self-destruction. The poet must…
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days when the number of words isn’t that great
Synchronicity, thy name is INTERNETS. Two academics reflecting on the frequency and quantity of their writing practice, published so close together that it can only have been accidental! In order of posting, it’s Dave Beer first, discussing a newsletter by Irina Dumitrescu in which she… … gently pushes against more oppressive notions of productivity. This…
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delete after writing
Greetings from the midst of what seems to be an enduring motivational slump, and/or a mismanaged case of burn-out which is still smouldering, and/or a resurgence of a well-entrenched fear of uncertainty regarding (un)employment which, while understandable in terms of its formation, is profoundly maladaptive nonetheless. I can’t write right now. I mean, OK, sure,…