52 Writing Prompts

52 Writing Prompts

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52 Writing Prompts
52 Writing Prompts
Advice #2

Advice #2

Love and Loss

Suzanne Roberts's avatar
Suzanne Roberts
Mar 01, 2022
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52 Writing Prompts
52 Writing Prompts
Advice #2
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Hi Friends,

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it hard to concentrate with the state of the world as it is. I’m deeply concerned about the people of Ukraine, the rest of Europe, and the world in general. And sometimes when I’m feeling like that, I wonder what I’m doing, sitting here in my office, writing stories. But also, I know that stories are important. That maybe right now, there is nothing so important as making art, being creative, using the work I know how to do to make a difference, trying to give the broken world something small and beautiful.  And making a connection to other humans, and I suppose that’s what I’m doing here. 

And here’s an event tomorrow you don’t want to miss:

May be an image of text that says 'Ilya Kaminsky Katie Farris Carolyn Forché Boris Dralyuk Boris Khersonsky Lyudmyla Khersonska Iya Kiva Oksana Lutsyshyna Oksana Maksymchuk Dzvinia Orlowsky more Voices for Ukraine Poets & translators from Ukraine & the US Hosted by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach & Olga Livshin Tue Mar. 2022 12:30 PM New York 7:30 PM Kyiv words together worlds apart'

It is being organized by my dear friend Carolyn Forché, among others. The zoom link is here. 

A question that came up this week was about how to convey our sadness (or any other emotion, really). It’s here:

I’m not sure how to convey my grief about a lost loved one without just saying how sad I am, and I’m guessing that’s not going to accurately convey how I’m feeling. Do you have any advice?

Do I have advice? I love to give advice, especially when it comes to craft, and this is definitely a craft question. If you say you are sad, that’s not going to make anyone feel your sadness. While it’s true that when we see someone crying, we might produce tears

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