I hesitated before writing this one. It’s feels really revealing of an intimate part of my process that I don’t often discuss. But when I thought of how I want this newsletter to be a space to share process, craft essays, and practical tools, it’s this tool that I kept returning to as the one that helped me more than any other. Because this issue shares such a personal part of my process and experience writing A PLACE FOR US, it is behind a paywall. However, I hate clickbait articles, so for those of you who aren’t paid subscribers but want to look into it, the tool is: sankalpas, or working with affirmations and mantras.
In this issue, I write about creating and working with a mantra specific to the project at hand, and how mine helped me write A PLACE FOR US. It’s about my fears while I wrote and how working with a sankalpa helped me face them. I’ll take us through how I found this tool, used it, adapted it over time, and at the end I include a step-by-step blue print and tips to writing your own. I also share photos of my writing process and my desk over the years (clearly my way of procrastinating was taking photos of the work I should have been doing…).
Before I dive in, an exciting announcement! The next book club pick for First Draft is Theophanies by Sarah Ghazal Ali.
I’ve been returning to this beautiful debut book of poetry ever since I heard Sarah Ghazal Ali read from it on her book tour. I can’t wait to read it again now to see what writing prompts and discussion questions it inspires. Check it out from a library or buy the book and stay tuned for the book club issue dedicated to Theophanies, as well as fun announcements in the weeks to come (which may even include First Draft’s first virtual event, fingers crossed!)
As ever, thanks for reading.
xx Fatima Farheen
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