Stuff worth reading

“Becoming a Mapbuilder” by Danielle Lazarin

What you notice as a writer isn’t an accident, nor is it objectively interesting. This sense of recognition, of compulsion toward a subject or character or storyline, is the layering of the lenses of your childhood and your adulthood, your jobs and your relationships, the series of small and large decisions we make, life’s little accidents constructing our fictions as much as they make our real lives. By indulging yourself in these raw materials, allowing them to be the match to the kindling of the world you walk through every day, you’re likely to start a story that matters to you, one that you can’t help but write, because it comes from your gut.

“The Fear of Not Saying Interesting Things” by Kimberly Bunker

For a long time I wrote because I thought of interesting things. I didn’t identify myself with it, and I didn’t think about it most of the time. As soon as I changed methods—when I started chasing after ideas, when I started “perspiring,” because that’s what real writers do—the words became more elusive. I had become a writer, but I’d changed the methods that let me write in the first place.

This isn’t to say I plan to sit around waiting for lightning to strike. It’s certainly more nuanced than that. For instance, I think it’s possible to cultivate a mindset that’s receptive to but not obsessive about ideas, and to be methodical about pursuing the ideas that seem worth pursuing—i.e., finding a balance between waiting for lightning to strike, and getting behind the mule.

GoodReads Q&A with Laini Taylor

But it boils down to priorities and believing that you deserve it. If it’s a dream of yours to write, then don’t let anybody—yourself included—diminish its importance in your life. When you’re “prepublished,” it’s hard to feel like you’re a “real writer.” It’s really hard to ask other people to prioritize and possibly sacrifice for your dream. But you have to.

“Stop Reading My Fiction as the Story of My Life” by Jami Attenberg

Fiction is a magic trick of sorts. But at its best it doesn’t just conjure up an imaginary world; it makes the real one disappear, it makes the author disappear. Only a book can do this — let you lose yourself so completely. So, if you can, forget about everything else. Just be there with the book.


4 responses to “Stuff worth reading”

  1. T. S. Bazelli Avatar

    Ahh, so relieved to see Laini Taylor’s interview and how she was a late bloomer (writing wise). Sometimes it feels like this writing thing will never happen… but, just gotta keep at it, I guess. Dreams are worth fighting for.

    1. Kristan Avatar

      Yep. It’s hard to have patience for all these years — and to not feel like you’re failing — but not succeeding *yet* isn’t the same thing as failing, and fortunately writing is one career path with no expiration date.

  2. Browsing the Atlas Avatar

    As always, great food for thought. I especially liked this collection you posted.

    1. Kristan Avatar

      Thanks, I’m so glad to hear that!