July 3, 2021

Something I thought about:

• I’m still trying to figure out how the pieces of the chapter I’m writing fit together. The shape isn’t quite right yet, and I think I just have to keep writing until it starts to click. I can't rearrange what isn't on the page.
• Along with that, I thought about the rather long list of things I want to write (currently two new picture books, two picture book revisions, two essays, and two novels) on top of my dissertation, and I have no idea how to get all that’s in my head into written form. Right now I have notes and notebooks. It’s… a lot.

Something I did:

• Worked on my diss.
• Planned the next academic year — work, schedules, etc. That was both necessary and overwhelming.
• Wrote quick snapshots of diss chapters comprising 1) what I need to do to complete each one and 2) central questions/arguments for each chapter to help me stay focused.
• I did the same for these other writing project ideas so that when I have a minute, I have enough to get me started.
• Posted to DiverseVerse about poetry, beauty, and resistance.

Something I read:

• I’ve been going through Guernica’s Back Draft interviews. I really love these conversations about revision, and the slider that moves from the first to final draft is really cool.
• This essay by Jess Zimmerman on personal writing is great.

When editors ask you to be vulnerable, what they really want is for you to be permeable, for the windows you place in your defenses to offer a sense of the area beyond. The walls don’t need to be breached, and they don’t need to come all the way down in a way that puts you in danger.