Field Notes.
Water from the Deepest Well
When my font of energy for writing and editing runs dry, I sometimes turn to ancient words. With the publication of Cascadia Editors Collective member Gillian Jerome’s book of poems, titled Red Nest, and the continued success of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe, I...
Retrospective in the South Seattle Emerald
After attending the protests in Seattle, such as the Capitol Hill Organizing Protest at Cal Anderson Park, I decided to write up some reflections on the mass movement. From conversations on the protest, it became clear to me that people didn't understand where the...
Getting the Words Out
A few years into editing full-time, I came to realize that the publication process bewildered most of my writers. Not only did they not know what hoops to jump through, they very often didn’t know that editors could help them in the leaping. I was in a similar...
Navigating Writer’s Guilt
Our self-talk is important and writers have a very particular way of speaking to themselves. The words we direct towards ourselves when we fail to put pen to paper are a long way from the ones we would choose after running out a gallon of ink. If you wrote a column of...
The Art of the Publisher
Roberto Calasso has amicable connections among literary luminaries in Europe because, well, that’s what publishers do. They seduce writers. And they seduce them through their wit and intelligence and, above all, taste. All of these are on display in Calasso’s slim The...
The Cure for Contract Vertigo
One measure of arriving as a writer is how many hours you’ve sweated over a legal contract in the brutal process of selling your art. It feels so desperate, so momentous, and yet so futile. Thankfully, some local lawyers felt pity for beleaguered artists and formed...