“That day of ‘solitude’ taught me that…I can also put [my laptop] down, engage with my notebooks, sketch out my plots in colored pencil…and end the day feeling like I was fully productive.” Read @laurenharkawik.bsky.social's writing experience without the pull of technology: at.pw.org/ComputerFree

The reason we have art is because artists' experience of humanity is that they (themselves) must create. You seeing/reading/hearing/loving/experiencing their work is a byproduct, not the point. The point is that for an artist, to be in the mode of creation/breakthrough/holy beauty is to be alive.

X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications

I said to someone the other night that, "January felt like it was 10 years long and now February will never end." Reader, when I said this, it was January 28.

My 6th-grade teacher is my best friend’s mom, but I knew my teacher before I knew my bff, so I think of her more as my teacher than I do his mom. Whenever I post about a win, she cheers me on, and it’s just so special. It’s like that 12 y.o. me still has the same team after all these years.

“I could go to the office and spend the day inside without my computer. This option felt, quite honestly, the least logical. What was a workday without my laptop?” Writer Lauren Harkawik forgets her laptop on a mini writing retreat and discovers new paths through creativity. at.pw.org/ComputerFree

I have an essay in the most recent issue of Poets & Writers, on newsstands now. It’s all about a day when I didn’t have my laptop, kept at the work of engaging in creativity anyway, and found all sorts of new pathways into what I call “a productive day.”

If your resolution this year is to support more independent bookstores, hi!👋🏽 We’re Bookshop.org, an ethical alternative to Amazon for buying books online where every purchase supports indie bookstores all over the U.S. 😌📚 (And our CEO has never gone to space, just saying)

A new piece by me is part of today's newly-released edition of Same Faces Collective. I am honored to be in such good company in this gorgeous online volume. www.samefacescollective.com/post/if-i-cl...

My kid has been talking about taking DVDs out from the library like it's special, new, and exciting. It's not what we had with Blockbuster, which was just the norm (the wonderful, lovely norm). It's something much better.

Over the weekend I finally got a chance to watch Will & Harper, which I found to be beautiful, enlightening, poignant, and so warm. I highly recommend it.

One reason I recommend moving to Vermont is that sometimes you get a call from an unknown number and it is a recording of Bernie Sanders inviting you to a telephone town hall.

I like to think my “purpose” is that of a storyteller, and perhaps it is. But strand me on the top of a mountain road in a snowstorm with my kid and it becomes real clear real fast that my purpose is keeping her safe forever and always. (We are home and safe, now).

I'd been excitedly forwarding the email about this class happening again to my writer friends without clicking its link myself, and I now see that my praise of the class is the banner on the landing page 😂 I do indeed recommend this class, for the reasons stated in big bold text at the top!

From my living room this morning, I can see snow on the ski mountain’s trails. Which is obviously the work of Mariah Carey.

Hey artists Just keep posting. Last post didn’t get many likes? Keep posting. Not 100% happy with what you made? Post it. Feel like you aren’t getting anywhere? Keep posting. You never know who will find you and when.

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

BREAKING: Two men have been arrested in connection with the heist of France's crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Call for trans zine recommendations: my Trans Studies students are going to be doing a unit on zines next month, and one activity we're doing is looking at as many physical zines as I can get my hands on. If you know of cool trans zines that ARE PURCHASABLE ON PAPER, please let me know!!!

I’m reading The Wizard of Oz to my 4 y.o. We’ve just passed the part where Oz has absconded in a balloon lest people find out he’s a humbug, and strangest thing, I keep saying, “ballroom” instead of “balloon.”

During the lit fest, I went to The Humble Mug, a new tea shop in Brattleboro, and witnessed a group of three teens: laptops out, drinking tea and discussing the poetry they were writing. I share this just in case my last post didn't make clear how bursting with joy my writerly heart is, today.

Attended + was inspired by several panels at this weekend's Brattleboro Literary Festival, including a few inside The Stone Church, a venue in what was (obviously) once a church. I wish we could pack in here every Sunday to talk about literature and the art of creating with words. Writer church.

I realize it’s been out for a bit, but I started Anderson Cooper’s podcast about grief yesterday. I’ve already found great comfort in it, both as someone who’s lost people I’ve loved and as someone who is a human continually attempting to best navigate life and its emotions. I highly recommend it.

The absolute joy of being edited and it making your work stronger. I cannot believe how fervently some writers resist this.

whenever i encounter people who say they can't understand shakespeare verses I always send them this clip from the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing

Felt myself developing a parasocial relationship with the guest on this week's Film in Vermont podcast but then remembered I am married to him in real life podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bri...

This was a wonderful listen. talkeasypod.com/terry-gross/

What does it predict about the week ahead if you go to get your bag out of the car and spy this creepy porcelain doll staring at you from the back seat? Asking for a friend.

Delighted to announce that I have finally arrived at the part of my writing life where I've found a way to employ index cards as part of my creative process.

Well, I, for one, would like to thank Sal Saperstein.

My nine year old and I just very randomly improvised a mime bit that ended in an incredible punchline by her. Pure joy.

Each paragraph is more terrifying than the last. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...

As someone whose writing is regularly in newsprint, the opening sequence to The Paper is one of the most relatable things I've seen in a long time. I distinctly remember the first time I saw my words being used as wrapping. It was so, so, so humbling.

A silver lining to people posting that upsetting email about the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship is that it offers some transparency about the fact that writers we interpret as successful/established rely on things like fellowships and grants to make ends meet and make the whole thing possible.

Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival

Do you ever just log into Submittable and admire the amount of times you've been willing to put yourself out there, open yourself to possibility, dream?

Re-upping this sentiment for today's NEA news, which is upsetting, scary, and overwhelming.

Support your public library. Defend your public library. Slay the enemies of your public library.

Keep writing. Don't stop. You never know who you will impact. Who you will inspire. Whose day you will change with your words. Who you will haunt. Just keep writing.

Hear me when I say: we have earned a night of indulgence (in silly radioactive shrimp GIFs).

This is your reminder that short fiction is: a: a stirring art form b: something that doesn't take long to read c: will infuse your morning / lunch hour / evening with some magic (d) all of the above

Meanwhile, in the Facebook group my Vermont community uses to update each other on winter road conditions

if you are overwhelmed, I highly recommend: -making a list of things you don't care about being out of the loop -cutting down on alcohol -cleaning, organizing and decluttering your home instead of doomscrolling -making plans with friends -weekly therapy -charging your phone away from your bed

The main thing I learned is that in order to write a book, you have to write a book and there's nothing that's going to prepare you for writing a book until you write a book so you should write a book

My child: “We found this show when we were at Grandma’s, or, was it Grandma’s? Well, we were somewhere where the tv had a thing called ‘channels.’” ☠️

My 9 y.o. is a voracious reader and I am starting to be able to pass along some of my favorite books to her. It feels like I’m getting to hand her a pamphlet for how to download a piece of my soul into hers and no one prepared me for this joyful part of parenting!

My wedding was 13 years ago today. I’m grateful for my partnership with my husband obviously. But what I want to talk about is photos. If you’re having any sort of big event where a ton of people you lobe will be there, HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER!

We are at the point in summer when I start pitching myself the concept of cold air and sweatshirts like I’m actively inventing them. “Imagine if you were somewhere frigid but it was actually great because you could wear something soft and warm and cozy and just curl up and read your book”