Essays
On Writing Badly Every Morning
Three pages before breakfast, and permission to make them terrible.
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Essays
Longer pieces about life, attention and place.
8 articles
Essays
How I Outline Without Killing the Story
Index cards, a corkboard and a rule: the outline is allowed to change.
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Essays
The Year I Stopped Reading the News Before Noon
What happened to my attention — and my sentences — when mornings went quiet.
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Essays
Revising: The Three-Pass Method I Actually Use
Big picture, then paragraphs, then every single word.
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Essays
Finding Your Voice by Copying Others (Yes, Really)
The old exercise of typing out sentences you love.
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Essays
Fall on Route 1, Mile by Mile
A slow drive up the Maine coast, and the notebook I filled on the way.
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Essays
A Writing Desk That Costs Almost Nothing
A door, two trestles and a lamp — my favorite workspace yet.
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