Vela Writers On: Doubt
We know it so well: that familiar feeling slinking up to assail us as we fight our way through a piece, as we send…
Read MoreThe Writing Life
Additions and Subtractions
I’ve tried a lot of different subtractions over the years: selling my plasma, going without health insurance, living in a house in the woods with no indoor plumbing…
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On Value
About a year and a half ago I wrote something that I’m really not proud of, for a reason I’m even less proud of: for money.
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Announcing: Vela’s First Nonfiction Contest
You know what there’s not enough of? Money for writers. Especially women writers. So we’ve got a little something to help counter that. We’re…
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Hopes and Fears of the Writing Life
Fear that in the end, no matter how hard I work, no matter how many doors I bang on and with what frequency and obstinacy, no matter…
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The Non-Bravery of Bearing Witness
It’s happening again: I’ve published a highly personal essay and well-intentioned readers are calling me brave.It’s meant as a compliment, I know…
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Learning to Float
It was gray, raining, but a narrow ribbon of cornflower blue ran between the stormy patches to the north. The ribbon ran over the long rolling hills…
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Goodbye to All This
So, I’m balking on my grad school apps. It’s not because they seem arduous—in fact, they seem surprisingly streamlined.
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On Change
A few months ago I started swimming in the morning. I used to think I hated swimming in the morning. I thought: I’m not a morning person.
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A Digital Notebook on Invisible Borders
Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…
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Women We Read This Week
Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah’s “If He Hollers Let Him Go” on The Believer How do you write a profile about someone you never get to…
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On Empathy and the Novel
To love someone is to put yourself in their place, we say, which is to put yourself in their story, or figure out how…
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