In a three person centipede, it’s two butts sewn to two faces. So I’m counting 512 butts to 512 faces, unless you sew them up ouroboros-style. Which is a possibility for another sequel
This is wonderful! In all my years as a writer and writing professor (too many to list here and it's no one's business), I think this might be the best writing advice I've seen. Perfectionism is my drug as well--I'm still recovering. Now, I just want to be as nasty and mean as possible, to drive my point like a stake to the heart of the readers.
Hilarious AND helpful, and I’m also slapping my head from your OCD therapy comment as my teen is in the thick of therapy for their OCD and I feel like I’ve been reading and saying “you gotta sit with it” (the discomfort) - all the while they are banging on about my own self-deprecating comments. (It’s my best coping skill!) and yet NEVER THINKING to apply it to my writers block. Thank you.
Another brilliant/hilarious piece as always! A writing teaching once told me “let yourself write bad” and this piece reminds me of that. There’d be no Dry Humping if I didn’t let myself write bad enough to eventually be good.
Elissa, thank you for resurrecting Human Centipede! Unrelatedly I thought for a second that Timothy Chalamet was single today and this was your chance! In truth, I just mixed up two of the Kardashians. (One just split with Bad Bunny...)
There’s some overlap between this “write like an idiot” and Kenny Werner’s book about jazz improvisation where you have to stop caring about sounding bad. His book didn’t have any of the taint-to-mouth content, at least in the chapters I read.
In a three person centipede, it’s two butts sewn to two faces. So I’m counting 512 butts to 512 faces, unless you sew them up ouroboros-style. Which is a possibility for another sequel
This is wonderful! In all my years as a writer and writing professor (too many to list here and it's no one's business), I think this might be the best writing advice I've seen. Perfectionism is my drug as well--I'm still recovering. Now, I just want to be as nasty and mean as possible, to drive my point like a stake to the heart of the readers.
Hilarious AND helpful, and I’m also slapping my head from your OCD therapy comment as my teen is in the thick of therapy for their OCD and I feel like I’ve been reading and saying “you gotta sit with it” (the discomfort) - all the while they are banging on about my own self-deprecating comments. (It’s my best coping skill!) and yet NEVER THINKING to apply it to my writers block. Thank you.
Now I keep thinking about how semicolons make me an asshole 😂
I needed this! And for whatever it’s worth this newsletter and your book are forever on my “best of” list
Another brilliant/hilarious piece as always! A writing teaching once told me “let yourself write bad” and this piece reminds me of that. There’d be no Dry Humping if I didn’t let myself write bad enough to eventually be good.
Elissa, thank you for resurrecting Human Centipede! Unrelatedly I thought for a second that Timothy Chalamet was single today and this was your chance! In truth, I just mixed up two of the Kardashians. (One just split with Bad Bunny...)
This was amazing, and even more hilarious listening to it with the audio option!
Thank you for this!
Your book was my favorite book of 2022 and this post was very helpful and you are a great writer 💗
There’s some overlap between this “write like an idiot” and Kenny Werner’s book about jazz improvisation where you have to stop caring about sounding bad. His book didn’t have any of the taint-to-mouth content, at least in the chapters I read.