“Survival is insufficient”
Emily St. John Mandel
The Writing Life
May Sarton: Plant Dreaming Deep
A journal about Sarton's search for a perfect environment in which to write. Her move to a small town in New England precipitates thoughts about home and writing and what it means to live well.
May Sarton: Journal of a Solitude
The darker side of the creative process, told with piercing honesty. If your thoughts and work feel like they make you an outcast, Sarton's journal may make you feel less alone on your journey.
Alexander Chee: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
An exploration-in-essays of becoming a writer in a country that is, at best, ambivalent about its immigrants, often hostile towards queer people, not exactly supportive of young men who want to be writers, and not beyond electing a multi-millionaire as president. If you’d like to learn how a collection of essays can both hold on to a “throughline” of a developing writer as the main protagonist and still function as a collection of essays that can stand alone, this is a great place to get an education.
Virginia Wolf: A Room of One’s Own
A long essay based on two famous lectures given by Virginia Wolf in 1928 about the stifling of women’s creativity by the circumstances of their lives and unjust distribution of resources between men and women. If you think this might be out of date, just take a look at the zillion social media posts by women about the lack of support for mothers who want to write.