THREAD

I get asked for writing tips a lot. Of all the ones I’ve given, here are a few of the ones that seem to hold true and remain somewhat universal or at least mostly unobjectionable:

#amwriting #writingtips

1. If you are a fast writer (i.e., if you compose first drafts very quickly) then you absolutely must become a slow editor. Much of what I call “writing” is really, for me, editing.

2. If you don’t read you cannot write a lot or well. Sure, maybe you can read like a maniac for a decade and then read less after that, but without some large volume of intake, there will never be a meaningful output.

2.1 I sometimes say that I feel like writing without reading is like trying to run a marathan on a cracker. And sadly I see many students struggling to write when they have simply never read enough to fuel that demand of the task at hand.

3. All writing is writing if one decides to treat it that way. If one takes some degree of intentional will when sending emails, posting on social media and writing notes and marginalia, then all of that can count as meaningful daily writing.

A thread of appreciation for Gloria Purvis:

This past year, I was blessed to be in dialogue with many people within the Academy and the US Catholic Church. I mean no offence to anyone, but, amongst them all, Gloria Purvis was easily the most edifying and impressive. She soared.

I had never met nor spoken to Gloria before my interview with her. I sent a few prompts and questions beforehand to show respect and honesty, but we did not agree to anything too formal in terms of the conversation or content of the interview. We had a time set and that’s it.

The moment the Zoom call connected, we got started, with no chit chat. I felt bad initially for this oversight, but she took to it like a duck to water. I opened asking about framing the conversation around anti-Black white supremacy, citing Du Bois. She took flight.

Not only did she accept the frame, she extended it, citing a far less known, and more radical, essay by Du Bois, weaving it into common associations like Our Lady of Guadalupe. She did this with great enthusiasm, but also humility and even a certain pressure on my chosen source.

Seeing this range in her very first response, I realized I needed to dig deeper. Every move I made she accepted on its own terms but then extended and enriched and even subtly challenged or subverted with great joy. But none of this was even the most impressive part for me.