To write well, we must read well and take a break
After a two-day break from dissertation literature review writing, I’m back at it today. It’s amazing the clarity we get from stepping back, focusing on other things, and returning with fresh eyes. I would have loved to take a longer break to let the words accumulate a good thick layer of dust but deadlines and NYC Climate Week next week demand otherwise.
I spent the last couple days doing work for clients, reaching out to potential collaborators for interviews, finally hanging up art in my apartment, and reading two beautiful books that I highly recommend: Unreasonable Hospitality by top-notch restauranteur Will Guidara and Look for Me There, Luke Russert’s stunning memoir about the life he’s built in the wake of the sudden and untimely passing of his larger-than-life dad, Tim Russert, whom I still dearly miss, especially in these trying times of U.S. politics.
Now with a more colorful space, inspired by the writing of others, some items off the to-do list, and my top-tier dream collaborators booked for the project, I’m re-writing, editing, and honing what I hope will be a decent first draft for my supervisor to review. As my first year tutor Angus always said to me, we’ll see how it goes in prose.
Will Guidara so beautifully writes, “Most important, we have an opportunity — a responsibility — to make magic in a world that desperately needs more of it.” I’ll do my best to make good on that opportunity and responsibility in my writing.