Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew's Blog, page 4
June 3, 2023
The Rough Draft Self
For how many years now—twenty? thirty?—I’ve quoted Anne Lamott’s snarky bit of writing advice, gleaned from Bird By Bird: “You’ve got to write a shitty first draft.” I teach it to students and recite it to myself (even as I write this!) as a balm against revulsion at my mess of bad prose and half-baked …
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May 2, 2023
Passing Along the Gift
Despite five years of plugging away on a new book, I still feel tongue-tied whenever anyone asks me about it. Here’s my usual elevator speech: “The Release helps writers navigate the period after they finish a project with integrity, creativity, and grace.” Adequate, except the book likely will not be called The Release and most …
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April 4, 2023
Happy Camel
When I turned fifty I did a ten-day silent retreat at the Benedictine monastery at Snowmass, Colorado, an immersion in a Christian form of meditation called Centering Prayer. The retreat was hard. At 5:15 a.m., under a black bowl of stars, I trekked a quarter mile up an icy hill banked by snow, huffing from …
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March 8, 2023
Hannah, Delivered ebook on sale now!
March 7, 2023
Mothering Instincts
In honor of International Women’s Day I dug back into Hannah, Delivered, my first attempt at long fiction. The plot’s shaggy, Hannah’s voice a tad cloying, her transformation predictable, and even so the pages radiate enough novice enthusiasm for the wild and wooly subculture of traditional midwifery that I keep turning pages. Hannah’s apprenticeship and …
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February 7, 2023
Relax! Relax! Relax!
At my daughter’s swim lesson a few years ago, an enthusiastic teacher stood hip-deep in the pool with a plastic clipboard, laminated sheet, and wax pencil. The eight-year-olds water-wheeled by, chins awkwardly raised above the surface in desperate attempts to doggy paddle their way through the crawl. As they passed he shouted, “Relax! Relax! Relax!” …
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January 10, 2023
The Sly Muse’s Guises
With some regularity I’m overtaken by timely, pretty-darn-good (I almost wrote “brilliant”) inspirations bursting with agency—that I don’t want to heed. The first time this happened, I’d submitted my MFA essay to the editor of my memoir, hoping she’d publish it as an afterword. “The memoir should stand on its own,” she insisted. “Why don’t …
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December 5, 2022
On Rest and Lying Fallow
Snow began at 8 a.m. and is coming down fast and furious. My thirteen-year-old languishes upstairs with a head cold, missing school, although I suspect the kids will be sent home before the day is up. My creative work is also at a welcome standstill, one writing text under an editor’s review and my middle-grade …
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November 8, 2022
Already Mediocre!
Nine p.m., Gwyn and I drive from her second Park & Rec volleyball game through the night toward home and she’s bouncing with energy. I’ve just told her how proud I am. “I know!” she enthuses. “With tennis, it took me years to be mediocre. Volleyball’s much easier. I’m already mediocre!” Thus my pride. …
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October 4, 2022
The New Plot
I’ve read two books recently that are knocking over some of the great pillars of craft supporting my writing practice. I’m both disconcerted and thrilled. First, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping. Matthew Salesses, a Korean American novelist, explores how culturally bound our contemporary literary standards are, which is why they …
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