“Writing blog posts is totally freeing in a whole new way for me. I'm not writing it for any editor, and I'm not being paid, so I can say whatever I want. I don't have to justify the cost of a book to readers; they get it for free, so expectations are naturally low. (And no one-star reviews!)” WayWantWritingI CanBookWholeStarsReaderCostLowsExpectationsPaidPostsJustifyEditorsReviewsNew WaysBlogs Author:Kate Christensen
“Starting the blog was a way for me to generate this nonfiction first-person voice naturally, gradually, without feeling performance anxiety. It felt a bit like keeping journals when I was younger, but connecting to an instant readership without having to wait for publication made it also immediately satisfying.” WayFirstsPersonsMadeFeelingsFeltBitsWaitingVoiceAnxietyPerformancesStartingMade ItInstantSatisfyingNonfictionJournalConnectingBlogsPublicationFirst PersonReadershipKeeping A JournalPerformance Anxiety Author:Kate Christensen
“Now that I no longer feel lonely, and now that my own past feels resolved in a whole new and very deep way, I am excited to write about the real world, to stay in it. Fiction is an escape, a parallel life, and it was a powerful source of comfort for me when my own life was raw and uncomfortable. I don't feel the burning need to disappear into a fictional character these days.” WorldWayNeedsFeelsWritingRealWholeCharacterPastMy OwnPowerfulFictionSourceComfortLonelyExcitedDisappearBurningThese DaysUncomfortableReal WorldParallelsMy Own LifeVery DeepFeeling LonelyFictional CharacterParallel Lives Author:Kate Christensen
“So many of my memories are generated by and organized around food: what I ate, what people cooked, what I cooked, what I ordered in a restaurant. My mental palate is also inextricably intertwined with the verbal part of my brain. Food, words, memories all twist together, so it was the obvious way to structure my life. Each memory of food opened up an entire scene for me, it was the key that unlocked everything.” PeopleWayTogetherMemoriesBrainKeysSceneStructureObviousOrganizedRestaurantsTwistsPalateIntertwined Author:Kate Christensen
“When you're sixteen and struggling to forge an identity out of a morass of hormones and daydreams, remarks like that cut a deep groove in the brain. I trace the ongoing, victorious-feeling semi-starvation of my twenties directly back to adolescence - as a way of showing those assholes that I could control my appetites... Which is so sad, in retrospect, because of course no one cared.” WayFeelingsCoursesBrainStruggleCuttingIdentityTwentiesAppetiteAdolescenceOngoingRemarksStarvationDaydreamingSixteenHormonesRetrospectGrooveSo SadNo One Cares Author:Kate Christensen
