Don’t Despair

In his excellent book How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee at one point compares writing to being sequestered in jail by your own story: “You in a small dark room with no answers to any of your questions, and no one seems to hear your pleas, not for days, months, years. Indifferent the entire time to all requests for visits or freedom. Hard labor too.”

Or, as my student Christola puts it: “I’m writing at writing.”
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Your Life as a Picaresque

You know what might help you see the coming year in an exciting light? Picture your life as a picaresque.

A picaresque is a type of novel where a hero, often low-born or somewhat roguish, hits the road embarking on a series of adventures, encountering various characters, living by their wits, and after many highs and lows generally reaches a happy ending. (The term comes from picaro, Spanish for rogue.)

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