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4 entries · last tended July 2026
A living collection — it grows as the room's conversation does
Creative nonfiction's license
You may shape and heighten to signpost a theme — but spend the license on emphasis, not on the load-bearing facts.
July 2026
Write for the venue and its reader
Genre is a contract with a particular reader; let the venue decide what is essential and what is ornament.
July 2026
Make moves, not templates
"Always start with a thesis," "every paragraph needs a topic sentence" — rules built for grading, not communicating; choose the move the reader needs instead.
July 2026
An essay changes understanding, not action
Op-eds and white papers persuade readers to do something; an essay has a different job — to help them understand something better. Confuse the two and you fail both.
July 2026
Other collections
Writing for the Reader
Voice & the Human Hand
Where the Reader Looks
Restraint & Cutting
The Abstract Made Concrete
Making Something Change