why I write

Being at the edge of something means that there’s something new ahead. You’ve come up against the wall of the proverbial box, whether that’s your own capacities, your own knowledge, your expertise of a medium. You can either retreat away from the edges and stay in the box or tear it down and build a new one. Or decide that boxes actually aren’t you

Writing has taught me to carry myself more lightly. I notice what patterns recur, I notice that I write things down and think I’ll believe them forever and I rarely do. Living lightly means: we have a long long life but it’s also really short and it’s okay to change our minds to live in the fullest, most vibrant way. I see that now we’re playing ou

Annie Dillard calls the writer’s life colorless to the point of sensory deprivation. That fits. But, as she also knows, there is another kind of color that can only be discovered three years down a writing hole. It is a subtle, nightly color; your eyes need time to adjust to the dark before you can see them. You wouldn't believe their beauty if I t

An essay is not a vehicle of knowledge transmission; it is a landscape to think in, and a path to get there.

On shortcuts and longcuts

I started realizing that the way to get outside myself was to go further in.

We don’t have control of certain forums, but we can do a lot on a page.

My difficulty is that I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot.

Virgina Woolf