LitFriends Newsletter: The Personal Essay and Resistance
Are You Making Writing Harder Than It Should Be? (I am)
LitFriends, every time I overcome resistance to writing, I feel better. I wish resistance would go away, but it never will. I wanted to write this little intro days ago, but I was working in my head and not on the page. My head worried that if I didn’t compose the right subject line, readers would unsubscribe and nick my email delivery rate just when it’s being established. I worried that the very accomplished subscribers would find this too simplistic, and the beginning writers might not understand why I am promoting posts focused on unpacking essays and researching topics rather than just writing essays. While we all strive to be generous to our readers, we can never predict the outcome of the messages we send to the world. We try our best to produce and distribute the message that fulfills our artistic mission. Overthinking is a paralytic curse. I should have just begun putting words on the page. And remembered to be myself. I love Jon Batiste's take on the creative.
LitFriends/from JackWalkerPress.com and AmyLouJenkins.com
Every time I overcome resistance to writing, I feel better. We all wish resistance would go away, but it never will. I wanted to write this little intro days ago, but I was working in my head and not on the page. My head worried that if I didn’t compose the right subject line, readers would unsubscribe and nick my email delivery rate just as it’s being established. I worried that the very accomplished subscribers would find this too simplistic, and the beginning writers might not understand why I'm promoting posts focused on unpacking essays and researching topics. While we all strive to be generous to our readers, we can never predict the outcome of the messages we send to the world. We try our best to produce and distribute the message that fulfills our artistic mission. Overthinking is a paralytic curse. I should have just begun putting words on the page.
Our work is usually writing, but it sometimes is reading and studying. We read for inspiration. We walk or meditate to calm our minds. We never make progress by staying entirely in our heads. Get words onto the page. Resistance is normal and for me, it’s tied to overthinking. There we go. Two paragraphs later, and I feel better. What are your points of resistance?
This month we’ve published a series on personal essay writing. If you haven’t yet studied the personal essay –begin with those posts that help you to study the craft. If you are not writing personal essays right now, make note of this comprehensive series on studying and writing the personal essay. You may want to come back to them. Perhaps you’d rather do the exercise on rewriting sentences. It’s a fun way to shake the cobwebs off your muse.
Here's our concise email with three sections to bolster your lit life a few times each month.
1. New Articles
🗒️ Three Personal Essays About Existence For Writers
Three Personal Essays About Existence And the Act of Reading and Researching to Stimulate Novel Thinking "What the really great artists do is they're entirely themselves..."
🗒️ Better Writing Practice: Original Phrasing
Ignite Your Writing with Fresh Original Phrasing All artists study and practice.
Flex your skills in fresh, original phrasing.
Let's take a journey through ten mundane sentences, followed by ...
Crafting a Satisfying Ending and Polishing Your Personal Essay Welcome to this installment of our series on crafting a publishable personal essay!
🗒️ The Beginning of Your Personal Essay
Crafting a Captivating Opening for Your Personal Essay Welcome back to our series on crafting a publishable personal essay.
Now that you’ve read classic essays and chosen a subject ...Read more
The post The Beginning of Your Personal Essay appeared first on Amy Lou Jenkins.
Timeless Lessons: Learning from Classic Personal Essays With academic links to essays Let's dive into some classic personal essays.
These aren't old and boring tales, nope!
Find Your Perfect Personal Essay Subject Part of the First-Person Writing Series on Writing the Personal Essay Writing a personal essay can be an incredibly rewarding experience.
2. #WriterNews
Subscribers can list their news on our FB page, or message us through our Contact Us form.
Anneke Bender of Atlanta won the Short Memoir Prize from Fish Publishing. She will be published in the annual Fish Anthology and receive a cash prize. Read an excerpt of her essay.
JWP Courses coming this fall.
Think about what kind of anthology you might buy. JWP is exploring subjects for the next anthology in the Voices series. Let's write an anthology that people would like to buy, give as a gift, and read.
3. #CallsForSubmissions
Herstry /The Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize contest opens October 3rd & closes December 15th. Personal essay contest. Submission fee. Cash prizes. Details
Narrative Magazine welcomes submissions of original, previously unpublished manuscripts of all lengths, ranging from short short stories to complete book-length works for serialization. Narrative publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including stories, novels, novel excerpts, novellas, personal essays, humor, sketches, memoirs, literary biographies, commentary, reportage, interviews, https://www.narrativemagazine.com/submission-guidelinesand features of interest to readers who take pleasure in storytelling and imaginative prose. Submission details.
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