Category Archives: Writing

Beautiful Boys

Today at the college, a freshman hunched over the form I handed him, checking off boxes. Male. Under 25. Native language Mongolian. He shouldn’t have had to fill it out again. The writing center where I work had misplaced his file, and the young man was understandably frustrated. But this wasn’t your average freshman sulk.Continue reading “Beautiful Boys”

Responsible Fiction: Toe to Toe with Difference

Writers have to get outside their own skin. But sometimes I get overeager to inhabit differences. And I write about characters I have no chance of understanding. So I just finished revisions on a short story about an Ethiopian immigrant who runs into his past. At the grocery store, he comes across a woman who witnessed anContinue reading “Responsible Fiction: Toe to Toe with Difference”

Revision as Sculpture

A lot of students have come to me lately with papers deep in revision. “I’m really sorry for the mess,” they say. They set down a packet of stapled pages, all scrawled over with notes. Entire lines crossed out. Marginalia thicker than printed text. “Can you still read it?” “Are you kidding?” I ask them. “ThisContinue reading “Revision as Sculpture”

Beyond Tragedy

In her final lecture on Shakespeare’s tragedies, Clare Kinney posits that the Bard, in his late plays, “writes beyond tragedy.” An aging Shakespeare takes the material of his earlier plays–usurped thrones, suspected infidelity, a banished daughter–and reworks it. Classic tragedy is all about choice and the irrevocable consequences of those choices. Time unfurls in onlyContinue reading “Beyond Tragedy”

Meaning As a Collaborative Act

At the University of Washington-Bothell writing center where I used to work as an undergrad, all the tutors had to make class visits. I dreaded these. It meant I’d interrupt a class–sometimes graduate-level–and take three minutes to tell them about the writing center. At the time, I was 23 years old. But I looked aboutContinue reading “Meaning As a Collaborative Act”

Trauma and Compassion

What if the value of our suffering–its use–is that it gifts us with compassion? I think all along I have taken the wrong approach. As a writer, I believed I was writing about my suffering. But the truth of suffering is that it is the collective, common experience of our species–and indeed of life. Akira Kurosawa wrote,Continue reading “Trauma and Compassion”

Extreme Sport: Facing Your Fears

So I’ve been on a writing retreat with my novel the last few days and am glad to get back to blogging! And from the quiet space of that retreat, I return to say yet again: one of the most terrifying things about the artistic process is its vulnerability. If you’ve ever seen The King’s Speech,Continue reading “Extreme Sport: Facing Your Fears”