Though there aren’t many times I necessarily feel “stuck” in my writing practice—because I’m mostly in a perpetual state of being inspired by so many things around me—I am currently experiencing what I call an “astonishing nothing” when I attempt to write into my new nonfiction project, “The Hauntology of Slavery.” I can only describe it as being so overwhelmed by the research on the contemporary effects of slavery that I feel like I almost have nothing else to say or write. To get through this I have to find community and focus on what can be helpful to others in my writing. It takes a lot of music, mostly old-school R&B. Sleeping. Dreaming. Bowling. Breathing.
—Jonah Mixon-Webster, author of Promise/Threat (Knopf, 2026)
Photo credit: Aslan Chalom