writing

On the late American poet’s irrepressible confident weirdness

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Source: Getty Welcome to the 125th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter…

​ ​ ​ In your own way Back when I was researching my book The Antidote, about the pitfalls of positive thinking, I found myself in a giant sports arena in Texas, participating i...

#Blocktober continues

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Getting in on the Pumpkin Spice trend? This version not actually available lol.

16 votes and 15 comments so far on Reddit

"Of course, all the practical details are still to be worked out...but I jot down my splendid idea in an exercise book."

Small and independent blogs are always full of …

Venkatesh Rao's answer: I just published a book and a friend, another book writer, privately complimented me on the "poetic grace" of my book. The comment made my day. So I'll take that as my claim to being an "medium advanced" writer. But though I will offer some sincere tips here, I would neve...

"You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal."

Or, How Speaking Your "Why" Can Help You Write - It's been proven that if you give people reasons why they should or shouldn't do something, they'll be more likely to do it. Here's how you can use this bit of psychology to help you write more.

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Source: Wiley Welcome to the 120th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter…

Rabih Alameddine’s The Wrong End of the Telescope is out now in paperback from Grove Atlantic, so we asked him about writer’s block, the best books to re-read, and procrastinating. * Ho…

Or, How You Can Turn a Horrific Meme into a Terrific Means - It's hard enough to battle imposter syndrome, but now we have to worry about a million monkeys outwriting us, too? Here's how we can turn the tbles and get the monkeys writing for us!

Hey, you. You're doing great. Click here to read this on the web. Source: Getty Welcome to the 119th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter…

1,475 votes and 322 comments so far on Reddit

“I’ve been collecting these theories of why writers write because so many writers have written about it.”

Like it or not, your hook is the most important factor in whether your thread sees success or goes nowhere. In this deep dive, we'll show you how exactly to craft viral-worthy Twitter thread hooks.‍

Strangely, the opposite of his advice works wonders

3 Steps to Shock and Awe your audience.

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling [Dicks, Matthew, Kennedy, Dan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Name: Jack Butcher Timezone: CSTContact: hello@visualizevalue.comTwitterWebsiteYouTubeVirtual GalleryVV Archive Relevant Link (GitHub, Behance, Substack, LinkedIn, Notion, etc) What I do: Simplify complex ideas into shareable, memorable visuals. What I’ve done 10 years of creative di...

I am a short-form writer. A thousand words or so. Sometimes more, often less. I like to think I like tight prose and succinct thoughts, but I also know I'm impatient and have a short attention span. Over the years, familiar article structures and narrative flows have repeatedly crystallized into f

Are you a writer? Do you like learning about the creative process, either for your own projects, or just cause you think it’s interesting? This post is about to make your day. As I’m su…

Jean Rhys on writing her masterpiece, the novel Wide Sargasso Sea

Office hours, week #2

Wisdom from Susan Sontag’s journal.

Last spring, I wrote an essay for The New Yorker about a notable habit common to professional authors: their tendency to write in strange places. Even when they have beautifully-appointed home offices, a lot of authors will retreat to eccentric locations near their homes to ply their trade. In my piece, for example, I talked

Self-editing isn’t an optional, supplementary stage of writing. It is writing. It is in the edits, in stripping away all that is superfluous, self-indulgent or unclear, that truth begins to emerge