Subtle Maneuvers

Last month, I wrote about Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story, a slender manual for writers of personal narrative that contained so much literary and human wisdom that I wanted to re-read almost as soon as I finished. Now I’m doing exactly that—and looking forward to discussing it with you all for our next Book Club meeting this Sunday, July 26…

Welcome to the 190th issue of Subtle Maneuvers. Please note: I’m moving our next Book Club meeting back one week, to Sunday, July 26, at 11am PT / 2pm ET. We’ll be discussing Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story, which I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since reading it last month. There’s so much wisdom (literary and otherwise) contained in this slender book; I’m really looking forward to discussing it with you all. Find all the details and the Zoom link here.

Quick reminder that Worm Zoom, my virtual coworking club, reconvenes this week, Monday–Friday, from 6–8am Pacific / 9–11am Eastern / 2–4pm UK time. I started Worm Zoom two years ago when I was struggling to finish yet another draft of my never-ending book project, and it proved to be an absolute lifeline.

Last week, I learned that Kazuo Ishiguro wrote The Remains of theDay in a month.

When Michael interviews a writer, it feels like psychoanalysis, but the writer is the analyst, and Michael the confessor, and it’s very relaxing because you sit and listen to him give this rich interpretive testimonial about your novel, and you find moments to intervene.

Welcome to the 187th issue of Subtle Maneuvers. Last time, I shared a magnificent pep talk from the artist Sol LeWitt to the perpetually self-doubting sculptor Eva Hesse. This week: Some further thoughts on doubt inspired by a recent interview with the filmmaker Ira Sachs.

Welcome to the 186th issue of Subtle Maneuvers. Today, after 458 mornings hosting Worm Zoom, I’m announcing some changes to my virtual coworking club starting in June. But first: a magnificent artist-to-artist pep talk that I never tire of reading. Eva Hesse, 1963 (Barbara Brown/Zeitgeist Films via the New York Times) In March 1965, the German-born American sculptor Eva Hesse wrote a letter to her friend and fellow artist Sol LeWitt, venting her doubts about her work and asking for advice.

Welcome to the 185th issue of Subtle Maneuvers. Previously: Do bad bosses make for great art? Last February, the novelist Helen DeWitt declined a $175,000 writing prize because she found the publicity requirements too onerous. Subsequently, she accepted a no-strings-attached grant of the same amount from a libertarian think tank financially supported by one of the Koch brothers. Welcome to literary funding in the twenty-first century.

Hi, everyone — Just a quick reminder that the next meeting of the Subtle Maneuvers Book Club will take place tomorrow (Sunday) at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern / 7pm UK time. Join us on Zoom here:

Welcome to the 184th issue of Subtle Maneuvers. This week: an outtake from my new book that I had to cut due to space but hated to leave out, because who can’t relate to the experience of coping with an awful boss? Keep reading for a seventeenth-century iteration of this eternal dilemma—and please tell us about your own bad bosses in the comments.