The whole essay is worth reading, but the bottom line is:
> So maybe one answer to how to write now is to teach yourself what you might need to be relentless. To ask yourself how do I tell the truth while I’m alive, and how do I keep telling the truth after I die? How do I keep showing up for what I believe in in ways that cannot be stopped? How can I keep making people feel possible? And so I try every day to live there until the day my books carry on without me.
I haven’t been able to write (long form fiction, specifically) for three years now. The author is largely correct in their diagnosis. It’s hard to believe anything matters when every day brings fresh evidence of waxing nihilism and cruelty sans justice.
But if I have to wait until those conditions abate in order to take up writing again, then I probably never will.
The whole essay is worth reading, but the bottom line is:
> So maybe one answer to how to write now is to teach yourself what you might need to be relentless. To ask yourself how do I tell the truth while I’m alive, and how do I keep telling the truth after I die? How do I keep showing up for what I believe in in ways that cannot be stopped? How can I keep making people feel possible? And so I try every day to live there until the day my books carry on without me.
I haven’t been able to write (long form fiction, specifically) for three years now. The author is largely correct in their diagnosis. It’s hard to believe anything matters when every day brings fresh evidence of waxing nihilism and cruelty sans justice.
But if I have to wait until those conditions abate in order to take up writing again, then I probably never will.