Getting back to braver writing

plus pitch Huff Post, Fast Company, Tech Review and more

Hi writer friend,

I recently received a bunch of messages about essays I wrote years ago for a now-defunct column about being single. Perhaps the publication is recirculating them—I’m not sure how or why readers are suddenly finding these. But the messages prompted me to go read things I wrote, from a very different time in my life, when I was a very different writer.

I’ve cringed and dragged my hands down my face for much of this reunion with my past writer self, cliches and clunky sentences bouncing around my brain with self-criticism and shame. But also… not all of it was so bad. Some of it was even good? And eventually, reading through these old essays, I was able to look past the imperfections and found myself struck by how often I put myself out there at that time in my writing career. In considering how much I was writing, present-day me was actually impressed.

Essays about love and relationships used to be my thing. And I was always working on a new one, always sending them off to new editors, and eventually, often having them published. Sure, some of them are little cringey. I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words since then, and inevitably, my style has become more polished. But younger me was writing honest, vulnerable stories—and I loved writing them!

This reunion with past essays was a reminder that flawed writing is so much better than a blank page. Imperfect words lead you somewhere you can’t possibly know until you’ve written them. Clunky sentences lay the path to better ones.

It was also a reminder of how much I miss writing personal narratives. And I’d like to get back to more of that, even if it’s not the kind of work that typically pays my bills. I’ve made so much progress in establishing a sustainable career as a freelance writer since penning those essays, but I’ve also veered away from the type of writing that used to really light me up. That’s not entirely a bad thing; there are times when we all have to focus on the skills, the niches, and the types of projects that will earn us a decent paycheck. (Creativity tends to die off in the face of a dwindling bank account.)

But damn, that writer who wrote all those essays and pitched constantly was brave. I’d like to get back to embracing those risks and those types of stories.

That time in 2016 when I booked myself a night at a fire tower in Central Oregon to just read and write.

So, part of getting back to more personal essay writing will be focusing more on the short essays at the beginning of this newsletter. You’ll notice the subject line is no longer, “Good Stuff for Writers,” even though Tuesday’s emails will still include pitch calls, funds, and educational opportunities. I’ll be spending a little more time on the personal, vulnerable aspect of this newsletter—sharing my own journey, lessons and experiences as a freelance writer. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Is there a type of writing, or an aspect of your less-experienced-writer self you’d like to return to? If so, I’d love to hear about that in the comments.