15 Comments

I too lead this non-linear life--loved your post. "lodged in my body" resonated with me. Your post helped me to see I am indeed not alone. And the drive to write, to create, to face that white, empty page is both harrowing and fulfilling. :)

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so true, thank you!

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I loved this and needed this. Thank you for sharing it. <3

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Aw of course friend

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Admire your ability to roll with all the changes Emma, and also guessing that some of those changes didn’t feel so easy to roll with at the time? A wild projection based on my own writing experience 🙃

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You imagine correctly!!! Thank you Danielle, admire you as well

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This is really inspiring, thank you.

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I'm so glad. What are you working on?

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I finished my MFA in June so it’s a little predictable - a linked story collection that came out of my thesis work, a novel I have about 1/3 written. I love how your novel came from a need to explore a specific dynamic; my novel comes from my parents telling a story about how someone once showed up at their house and said “I think I used to live here, but we were doing a lot of drugs back then.” And I always wanted to know more about these people who were doing drugs in the house I grew up in before I was born.

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This story sounds like a fascinating place to begin <3

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”Chaos” is such the right word for all the stray thoughts and notes and weird alleys that go into making a piece of writing - especially something as large scale as a novel. It made me look up the definition and I liked what I found: “the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe.”

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Debra this is incredible! “The formless matter.” Thank you so much for this

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Loved reading about your creative journey. I always find it difficult when people ask: How did you come up with this book? because it is never a straight forward answer!

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Oh ha, well, I’m currently in a more kicking and screaming phase myself re change right now so this is truly inspiring! Can’t wait to read Housemates!

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