Status Updates From Making a Literary Life: Adv...

Write freely.

Let the draft rest.

Return with ruthless clarity.

Cut unnecessary words.

Strengthen structure.

She stresses that good writing emerges from many revisions, not from first drafts.

Key idea: Editing is where the real literature begins.

See advocates meditation as essential to creativity.
She describes how stillness and self-reflection clear mental clutter and help access deeper layers of imagination.
Meditation becomes a partner to the 1,000-word habit, giving the mind the space to create.

Writers should send one “charming note” a day — brief, warm, handwritten acknowledgments to authors, editors, teachers, or acquaintances.

Not to manipulate, but to build genuine human connection and goodwill in the literary world.
See believes literature is a community, and generosity keeps it alive.

'This book. . is intended to cover the writing process from the first moment you decide.. that you want to write. . to the 3rd month after publication of your 1st novel, when you get to think. . about whether or not you want to. . devote your life to this writing. . It tells you how to deal with rejection as a process, to see it as a kind of courtship that keeps your mind engaged and your heart from being broken."