These posts aren’t really the top in terms of hits or anything. They’re just the ones that I liked the best.
Writing-Related
- Eight writing manuals that are not a waste of time
- How I would try to get a story published in the New Yorker
- Why you should never get an MFA
- How I got my agent
- The reason that MFA programs do not encourage their students to publish
- The primary negative outcome of the existence of the institutional method for succeeding as a writer
- One of my biggest pet peeves is when writers hide the race of their characters
- In order to be successful, an author needs to write stories that compel people to talk about them
- Why I am not blown away by George Saunders (even though I like his work just fine)
- Anatomy of a semi-mystical workshop experience
- A taxonomy of readers
- The importance and unimportance of the conceptual breakthrough
- There cannot be any genre distinction more finely-grained than that between women’s fiction and literary fiction
Other
- Reflecting on my third year of sobriety (the first sobriety post that I made on this blog!)
- After losing 106 pounds, I am finally, for the first time in my life, at a healthy weight
- Our plans for the future will eventually become straitjackets
- Why it’s sometimes a good idea to use a negative tone against people who agree with your political opinions
- A few of my thoughts on the existential crisis you are having regarding your career
- There are no insects in California
- Why I am such a promiscuous Facebook friender
- My generation’s primary countercultural impulse is the desire to remain free of our society’s sins while still partaking in its fruits
- Why I sometimes leave parties in a rather abrupt fashion
- The purpose of life cannot be to pursue your own happiness