The art of creating is a secret art.
My favorite readings are when a writer gets up at the podium and talks to me about how they made something, why they made something. It is an opportunity to look past my own understanding of what is on the page and see into the secret art of how a person comes to telling a story the way they did—a second story, of sorts, if you think about, just as compelling as the end product.
We don’t always have opportunities to talk about why we make something and why we choose to seek publication either. Some of the stories are tender, though. Here I am, leaving myself an encouraging note on my novel draft when all else seems bleak.
And some of these stories are funny, too. Here I am, leaving myself a kind of, sort of mean sidebar on the same draft just days later, knowing I’d be able to laugh at myself and tackle this section with good humor later.
This is a newsletter about telling you how and why I made something. It’s about finding a page for the secret story, and uncovering, with you, all the ways that we understand ourselves through the making and unmaking. Subscribe to get this in your inbox, along with updates on my writing, events, and classes.
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