Catapult | Don't Write Alone

Cover Photo: A photograph of a blank notebook open to a lined page. Resting on top of the page is a metal pencil sharpener, a yellow pencil, and pencil shavings.

I Found My Literary Community by Writing Book Reviews

My goal wasn’t to become a career critic, but to get the word out about books I felt deserved the attention.

Erin Flanagan

Oct 13, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: A photograph of a baker's hands over a pile of flour on a table. Grains of flour drift down from their hands into the pile. The table also contains some eggs, a whisk, and a bag of flour.

Publishing Your Debut Book Is Like Baking Croissants—Messy, But Worth It

Outside the publishing industry, I don’t think we spend enough time discussing the labor behind writing a book.

Pyae Moe Thet War

Oct 06, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This photograph shows palm trees rising up out of a dense gray fog. In the background, we can see the top of a mountain rising above the fog.

Loss, Uncertainty, and Love Brought Me to Literary Translation

I often think about translation as a standalone language—without it, we all become our own islands, floating on a vast ocean without ever coming across each other.

Jenna Tang

Sep 13, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: Photograph from Canva/Illustration by Leah Johnson

Setting Boundaries is the First Step to Becoming a “Real Writer”

I wanted to be a writer, and I thought my work-life balance was the price I had to pay. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Rainesford Stauffer

Aug 30, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This photograph shows a pair of hands clasped in casual prayer. The fingernails are painted with sparkly polish and the hands wear several rings. A rainbow, as if cast from a prism, shines across the thumb of one hand.

Writing Will Not Save Us

There is true, gut-wrenching grief in learning that sometimes even our wildest dreams aren’t enough to save, heal, or absolve us.

Jen St. Jude

Aug 12, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This is a photograph of one of the author's bullet journal pages. It's a calendar drawn out in dark blue marker, with flowers around the edges and a section for goals, to do's, gratitude, and notes

Bullet Journaling to Save a Life

After being diagnosed with bipolar II, I resolved that a soft-cover turquoise journal and a set of brush pens would guide me back to myself.

Ravynn K. Stringfield

Aug 09, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This photograph shows a man sitting inside a study cubicle with his laptop. He looks frustrated; his hand is clutching his hair and he is staring at his computer with intensity.

On Writing (with a Day Job)

There are many kinds of writing lives, and yours includes a day job.

Richard Mirabella

Jul 19, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: Photograph by Green Chameleon/Unsplash

The Joy of Writing Got Me Through the Pandemic

I decided I was going to write something just for me, something I loved, to keep me company during the hard, lonely months of 2020.

Jasmine Guillory

Jul 15, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: bright illustration of a figure in a yellow shirt and dark blue pants standing on a green ridge overlooking a waterfall flowing down over mountains made of books, a rainbow and white birds in the distance

My Heart Is a Bibliography: On Being a Writer Without a University Degree

A part of me fears that my writing community will take me less seriously if they find out my highest academic honor is a high school diploma.

Daniel Allen Cox

Jul 13, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: A photograph of many rows of seats in an empty auditorium. All of the chairs are in shades of brown.

The Impossible Ideals of the “Writer’s Life”

This was the pact I made with my now and future self: to become the most successful writer that it was possible to be.

Tabitha Blankenbiller

Jul 01, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

As a Journalist, I Thought I Wasn’t Precious About My Work—Then Someone Tore Apart My Novel

I could see that my editor's notes were going to make the book better, but I had to get over myself and implement them first.

Jessica Goodman

Jun 25, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This photograph shows a close up of the actor Jess Thom's mouth as she performs in Beckett's short play, 'Not I'

On Beckett and Writing with a Brain Disease

When you’re sick, it’s tempting to yearn for how you once wrote. But thanks to Jess Thom, a British actor who performs in Beckett’s short play ‘Not I,’ I have begun allowing who I am today into my writing.

Emma Smith-Stevens

Jun 21, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This image shows a hand reaching out over white-capped waves to a pair of hands, reaching into the air as if asking for help. It looks as if the painting was perhaps painted on a wall, as the texture of the background is rough and adds to the emotion of the image.

Journalism Taught Me to Ask for Help

As a journalist, I’ve learned that isolation is damning—something I don’t think the writer in me fully recognizes.

Akanksha Singh

Jun 15, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: An image of the Anna Steidel award hanging on a wall of blue that Kris found

My Name Is Not Anna Steidel—But Her Name Is On My Wall

There is an award in my office that does not belong to me.

Kristopher Jansma

Jun 10, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: Photograph by Thomas Renaud/Unsplash

I’m a Nervous Wreck When I Write Prose

I am yet another poet writing a novel. Which is to say, I find myself in hell.

Ben Purkert

May 06, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Writers of Color Reflect on Isolation

Since the onset of the pandemic, isolation has been, for good or bad, a major feature of life. Here you’ll find reflections from several writers of color, shared by POC United.

POC United

May 04, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: This gif shows a person signing the ASL symbol for "write." They are wearing a black T-shirt and we only see their hands and their chest.

Learning to Write My Truth as a Deaf Queer Writer

The best thing that writing can do is to replace a shallow illusion with something more nuanced and closer to the truth.

Ross Showalter

Apr 26, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Cover Photo: In this still from Missy Elliott's music video for "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," we see Missy Elliott posing in front of a strange silver spiral--like an entrance to a wormhole. Missy is wearing a hat and sunglasses, reminiscent of a biking helmet and racing goggles, and a large puffy black jacket. She wears dark lipstick and her mouth is open, as if mid-lyric

Writing Is Time Travel

My writing gives the validation my younger self will need to believe in me, for me, during the years between now and when I won’t know how.

Minda Honey

Apr 19, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life

Don’t Write Alone: Writing Life