Yanyi .'s Blog

Yanyi, how do you begin writing again after a prolonged spell of not-writing? In many ways, I see writing kind of like a muscle — one that needs to be worked out in order to grow stronger. I’m also aware, though, that people need rest. That you need to live life, touch some grass, earn money, and just do other things that can enrich the writing practice. But I’m wondering, after you’ve done all that, how do you begin again? How do you get back in to the writing life?

Things change. Times change. ...

As someone who likely won't be able to do the usual rotation of summer writer’s workshops and so on due to financial and work constraints, some guidance on how to carve out a week and structure it in favor of writing would be greatly helpful.

Marie Kondo has her method for a reason. In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she emphasizes that tidying should not be done in a slow, piecemeal way, but all at once. She explains that this is because being able to feel the immediate benefit of a tidie...

How did you decide to return to software engineering and how has that shaped your days and wellbeing? I feel like I have unfortunately over-invested in the idea of ‘being a writer’ as ‘your primary day job is adjacent to writing.’

Primarily, I had stopped writing my own work. I wrote over 100 drafts in 2019, the year I left my job. In 2020, the year I started teaching, 25. In 2021, the year I went on the academic job market, 20.

Writing careers are just as you say: your primary job is adjacent to ...

Dear reader,

This may be the first time you’re hearing from me—or maybe you’ve been following my work for a while. Either way, I’m Yanyi. I’m a poet, critic, and a lifelong lover of literature (and alliteration, clearly). At some point in time, you subscribed to this newsletter, The Reading, where you can learn why I write or why you’re not missing talent.

For two years, I wrote an advice column for writers trying to get beyond craft into the heart of why we write—and why we can’t write. It’s been...

The Reading is going on hiatus on July 31, 2022. — Paid memberships will be paused. — Why this is happening. — A last piece of advice. — Near and possible futures.

On July 31, 2022, The Reading will go on a long hiatus. All letters, Writing Space sessions, and Hotpot session will cease. All paid memberships as of that date will be paused and resumed only in the event of my return with a paid tier. All posts will remain up. Paid posts will remain visible to anyone with a paid membership. The last ...

Hi there,

I hope you and yours are taking care, wherever you are in the world. I am feeling the weight of these past few weeks, so my note today is short.

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of The Reading, I’m having a short sale this month! Get 24% off a yearly membership until July 31.

This month, Writing Space is happening every Tuesday except the week of July 18th.

There are still a few spots left in Ida Yalzadeh’s Foundations of Asian American Studies class! Sign ups close on July 7th and cl...

Letter: ‘I’m So, So Tired of Having to Justify My Writing.’

In rural New England, when summer finally starts in late May, tag sale announcements pepper message boards and signposts across the town I live in. It’s one of my favorite times of the year, thrifting being, of course, the last great treasure hunt.

At one of these sales, which are mostly on people’s lawns, I followed a “sale continues” sign into a sunroom full of random objects. I heard the seller, a white woman, tell someone to follow me...

Dear Yanyi,

I studied creative writing in undergrad and graduated in 2015 with 15,000 words of a memoir that I continue to be proud of. The book focuses on the loss and grief in my childhood, through the lens of the suburban neighborhood I grew up in. It’s written as a collage, where multiple important people in my life are shared with the reader through everything from script-like conversations to short scenes, before many of those important people pass away. It is also still far from being a co...

Hi there,

May was discombobulating for me. Just ask my therapist—I managed to completely forget about my appointments three weeks in a row. I hope you have done better. Or can commiserate. A special thanks to the regulars who keep showing up at Writing Space. Writing quietly with you all has been unexpectedly grounding as my practice, like me, has been thrown around a bit. I look forward to writing together again this month.

Tomorrow, I am giving a lecture on the making of Dream of the Divided Fie...