Podcast: Behind the Essay No. 1
In this episode of the Exhale podcast, Abbie and Sonya kick off a series they plan to add to from time to time: “Behind the Essay”. They take a deep dive into different C+C essays and how they came to be, to give you the whole process from idea to first draft to edits to polished, final draft up on the website. In this first episode, they take a look at Sonya’s essay title “Will the Mom Know What To Do?”
The essay we’re talking about: Will The Mom Know What To Do?
Just in case our crew doesn’t know: you can follow Sonya on Instagram, read her blog, and sign up for her new monthly newsletter.
That quote about first drafts being sandboxes and subsequent drafts being castles comes from Shannon Hale.
If you like this “walk through an essay” type of episode, Sonya recommends Writing Class Radio’s Episode 30: How to Write Your Story with Joyce Maynard.
Our prompt for you:
When you have a prevailing emotion or sense of something in your life and need to write about it, here’s an exercise to try: use a journal, or in your morning pages, write down stories where you felt that same emotion. Over the course of a week, keep track of small things that happen that could be descriptions of that emotion -- these are potential entry points for your essay to help give it some structure. This puts the ingredients on the counter, so to speak -- and then when you need to write the story, you have somewhere to start.
Our quotes we shared with you:
“Love your reader.”
“Just like the new mother, what do I feel growing inside of me? Let me bring that forth, if I can. For its own sake, and not for what it can do for me or how it can advance my standing.” -- Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art
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