So, so helpful, Jeannine! Iām new to your community but am already feeling so grateful for all of the great guidance you offer. I canāt wait to dive in further and learn from you! Thank you so very much.
You're doing the work, Penni. You are one of the most curious, open people, willing to try things you have not considered, things that feel foreign and illogical to you based on your previous experience with writing. It's very inspiring and will serve you incredibly well.
Going to echo others here Jeannine. Saved this post and will come back to it from time to time.
As an essayist, I struggle with endings! I don't know why, I think it's because I overthink what I want the last words to be in an essay. "Surprising and inevitable" going to be thinking about that as I lay on my pillow tonight lol.
Read it. I had been thinking of ending on an image for my next essay and this makes me excited to do just that. The other methods are intriguing too. This is great.
Thank you for posting these again, Jeannine. When I'm under a time constraint and I find myself in the weeds and have lost my way, I love coming back to this list because it gives me a sense of grounding, a sense of where I started and possibly need to be. By having the list, my mind can stop focusing on what it is I hate about the particular piece I'm working on, and I can refocus on the aboutness, the internal vs external, and anything else that I like about the piece so that I can work off the good in order to make it better. Thank you again, for this.
I'm printing this off today, Jeannine, so that I can absorb the points you make and strive to implement incremental changes in my writing. I'm always looking for ways to sharpen what I write, eliminate redundancies or "extra" words that add no meaning to the context of my message or story. I am grateful that you are so generous, every day, in imparting what you have learned from editorial and writing experience.
ā In these times, the pursuit of truth in any and all of its forms may be the most radical act of all. In order to succeed with making language capable of telling the truth, we must get very close up to words themselves. We must love the words for their own sakeāfor their shapes and sounds, their strangeness and quirksā THIS!! xoxo.
So, so helpful, Jeannine! Iām new to your community but am already feeling so grateful for all of the great guidance you offer. I canāt wait to dive in further and learn from you! Thank you so very much.
Such great insights. I hope I apply them well, seeing your points and approach.
Thank you. Iām excited to do this for the first time in forever!
You're doing the work, Penni. You are one of the most curious, open people, willing to try things you have not considered, things that feel foreign and illogical to you based on your previous experience with writing. It's very inspiring and will serve you incredibly well.
Such fabulous reminders, thank you Jeannine š
Thank you, as always, Vicki xo
Going to echo others here Jeannine. Saved this post and will come back to it from time to time.
As an essayist, I struggle with endings! I don't know why, I think it's because I overthink what I want the last words to be in an essay. "Surprising and inevitable" going to be thinking about that as I lay on my pillow tonight lol.
I feel this! āSticking the landingā, as I think of it, is something I struggle with too.
Endings are so hard. One strategy is to look elsewhere in your essay for the ending. Sometimes, we tack on, when we should leave off.
I dig that strategy, will keep in mind.
You might appreciate this post on endings, which also links to two other terrific craft essays on endings:
https://writinginthedark.substack.com/p/the-writer-has-done-their-job-when?utm_source=publication-search
Read it. I had been thinking of ending on an image for my next essay and this makes me excited to do just that. The other methods are intriguing too. This is great.
Thank you, thank you.
Thanks for being here, Cathie!
The best!
ā¤ļø
This is GOLD. Printing. Thank you Jeannine!
Thanks, Kelly. I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for posting these again, Jeannine. When I'm under a time constraint and I find myself in the weeds and have lost my way, I love coming back to this list because it gives me a sense of grounding, a sense of where I started and possibly need to be. By having the list, my mind can stop focusing on what it is I hate about the particular piece I'm working on, and I can refocus on the aboutness, the internal vs external, and anything else that I like about the piece so that I can work off the good in order to make it better. Thank you again, for this.
Thanks, Steve, I'm glad to hear it's helpful--and I love the idea of working off of the good to make it better. That's the spirit!
I'm printing this off today, Jeannine, so that I can absorb the points you make and strive to implement incremental changes in my writing. I'm always looking for ways to sharpen what I write, eliminate redundancies or "extra" words that add no meaning to the context of my message or story. I am grateful that you are so generous, every day, in imparting what you have learned from editorial and writing experience.
I'm always glad when this is useful. It really did feel urgent to write it all down when I got back from that retreat!
Taping to the wall next to my desk. So glad you reshared. thank you!
Thanks for saying so, Kim ā¤ļø
ā In these times, the pursuit of truth in any and all of its forms may be the most radical act of all. In order to succeed with making language capable of telling the truth, we must get very close up to words themselves. We must love the words for their own sakeāfor their shapes and sounds, their strangeness and quirksā THIS!! xoxo.
ā¦.. quirks. THIS! Particularly today, and all of it, always.