From the monthly archives:

March 2011

Reading Is the Introduction

March 30, 2011
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When my students hand in their final drafts, I ask them to include a paragraph describing the workshop experience. Most of my students tell me that workshop does nothing to help them revise, and that they usually just wait for my comments because mine are the most helpful. Again and again, workshop fails them. I need the workshop model to work.

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On Being Honest with Yourself

March 21, 2011
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In my perfect world, I would hire an on-call editor to critique every draft of everything I write. However, I can’t afford an editor, and I haven’t yet found someone I trust enough as a reader. A handful of my friends read my work, but they aren’t trained to push me in the direction that I want to be pushed as a writer.

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On Giving Up Caffeine

March 9, 2011
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Late last year, my anxiety became so unbearable that I found it was affecting my ability to be myself. Normally a confident young woman, I was suddenly afraid to speak in front of groups. Even normal, everyday tasks like driving were making me incredibly anxious, to the point that I was going out of my way to avoid doing them.

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