A Letter from Me....

...on getting stuck.

Dear Story Club,

First, I just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear that we lost the great Alice Munro this week.  Her stories and their tremendous compassion will live on for a very long time, offering that particular brand of consolation that great stories provide those of us who love them. 

I never met her, only knew and loved her through her work, an example of which we’ll get to soon, I hope.

Speaking of which…

You may notice that I seem to be delaying starting a new story discussion.  I am.  I’m not sure why.  But I think it’s because I’m at a critical point in this piece I’m working on and am feeling a little protective of…my brain.  I almost never feel that analysis of someone else’s story might mess with my process, but I must be feeling this now, based on my procrastination. 

So, I hope you’ll indulge me as I continue to procrastinate, by talking a little more today about a particular aspect of process.

One of the first things I learned about teaching the high-level writers we get at Syracuse is that a bit of honest craft-based confession, even if its self-incriminating, is always appreciated. 

So, I want to talk about one way I tend to get stuck.