writing process

“I wish I could simply walk into an office every day and feel ready to go, but that’s just not the case for me, and I know that by now.” —Marianne Chan, author of All Heathens

“What’s most fundamental is being able to listen.” —Lauren Russell, author of Descent

“The uneven rhythms of grief don’t allow you to do or to feel life as you did before.” —Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Seeing the Body

“Just opening the document each day keeps it on track.” —Rebecca Dinerstein Knight, author of Hex

“I always write better from a place of joy than I do from a place of discipline.” —Emily Temple, author of The Lightness

“Writing is supposed to be fun. Enjoy yourself.” —Kyle McCarthy, author Everyone Knows How Much I Love You

“The book didn’t announce itself to me until 2017, when I went looking for it. I scanned over the poems I had been writing, scanning to see what my brain had been up to without me noticing.” —Danez Smith, author of Homie

“The biggest challenge for me to accomplish any project is working to keep myself out of the way.” —Krista Franklin, author of Too Much Midnight

“I had a substantially different version of this book that just wasn’t working, scrapped it, did that again, and then the third time was a charm.” —Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown

“I didn’t understand how important Chicago and South Shore were to me until I left.” —Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don't Belong