Writing is a studio practice. And, much like any studio practice, there is no single way to establish that practice. There has been a lot written on the how-to. Some say write every day, for one hour. Some say schedule your writing time, like any other occupation. I say listen to these suggestions, but do not be dismayed if they don’t work for you. There is no single way of writing. Experiment with all kinds of habits, until you find the one that suits your sensibility. For me? I need to have a whole day with nothing planned, usually, even if I write for only two hours. That typically affords me one good writing day per week. I’d like more, but we have to make a living, absorb experience, and give love to our friends and family. All of it is necessary, since writing is a total practice, informed by the observed tensions of our lives.
Oh, and embrace revision. In fact, think of revision as writing something new every time. Re-vision. See again. And again. Because it is something new, every time.
—Miah Jeffra
Miah Jeffra’s story “Growl” won the 43rd New Millennium Award for Flash Fiction in 2017, winning $1,000, a certificate to mark the success, and publication online and in print.
Jeffra is the author of The First Church of What’s Happening (forthcoming, Nomadic Press, Fall 2017), and has been awarded the Sidney Lanier Prize and Clark-Gross Award for fiction, and a 2014 Lambda Literary Fellowship for nonfiction. Jeffra is Editor of queer literary collaborative, Foglifter Press.