GRWM— featuring LiXin

Issue #14

Apr 30, 2025

GRWM (Get Ready With Me) is a new (and dare I say sexy!) segment where I'll be interviewing writers retro-style-- cute little questionnaires about what writers are wearing, listening to, snacking on, etc. We want to know what they're into and what gives them the ick. We want writing prompts based on their books. We want to know their favorite song, the worst writing advice they've ever received, and you better believe we want to know their brunch order.

It's time to stop asking writers the same boring questions and start getting REAL.

LiXin is a memoirist whose work explores love, ambiguous loss, and socially-engaged Buddhist practices to transmute suffering. Her book project, I Love You, Do You Know That?, is a lyrical record of the letters she shared with her immigrant mother while her mother was an incarcerated firefighter in Los Angeles County. She is an award-nominated researcher of oral history, a 2024 Periplus Fellow, and 2024 Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow through the Aspen Institute. Click here to hear her name pronounced.

Writing Rituals

Set the Mood: Start by choosing a playlist or ambiance (lo-fi, classical, coffee shop sounds?)

I react to this song like Pavlov’s dog. It’s the first on my writing playlist, which I’ve been listening to since I started my book project years ago. When the track comes on, the instinct kicks in. I sit, write, and disappear into an unhurried loop of film scores and Sufjan Stevens.

Pre-Writing Necessities: Show us your go-to drink or snack before you start writing

Inspired and uninspired by those overpriced electric mugs that forever keep your drink warm, I’ve jerry-rigged a fire hazard (a candle-lit burner, see below) where I balance a glass teapot. It’s a cheap risk so I can enjoy hot tea as I write.

Inspiration Boost: What’s your inspo? Do you flip through a favorite book, reread your outline, or glance at your mood board?

Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, pg. 97, para. 3, the line beginning with “And above that, his eyes…” Gets me to the page every time.

Writing Space Setup: Light a candle, adjust lighting, tidy your desk—what helps you focus?

I write by candlelight and black out curtains. It makes for a bit of a cave no matter the time of day. The ebb of sunlight otherwise plugs me into a sense of time, and I don’t want any pressure to produce something per hour or per anything on my days off. Slightly neurotic but I’m trying to shield a tender creative process from becoming too aware of itself.

Warm-Up Writing: Share if you do morning pages, journaling, or freewriting before diving into your WIP

By no means am I an expert meditator but a mindfulness practice helps usher me into writing sessions.

Goal Setting: Do you jot down your word count goal or scene outline for the session?

I write toward a felt sense of completion. It could be a mood or a line or a motif, but if I’ve finally captured some fractal of the whole, I let myself stop. I can pick up next time in the middle of something that excites me.

Favorite Writing Quirk: Do you type, handwrite, or dictate? Any lucky pens or notebooks?

I write in my notebooks back to front. Writing forward makes me feel like the story needs to unfold linearly, as well. Starting from the back end disrupts something for me (order? perfectionism?) so I have more freedom to explore, backtrack, discover, mess up.

Don’t Miss This!

Experimental Essay Forms: All Prompts, ALL THE TIME with Kristine Langley Mahler

Dates: Monday, May 5, 2025

Time: 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM (EST)

Duration: 2 hours

Location: Live on Zoom

You need a class so you can tell your partner or your kids “Sorry, I have a class rn” but really, you just need the focused time to write? This is the class for you. Two hours. Eight prompts. Four mini craft-talks on experimental essay forms.

Curious about experimental essays and want a crash course in the practice of writing them as well? Or maybe you're just looking for inspiration. Either way, this course is a blistering HOUR AND A HALF of 8 (eight) sprint prompts, dispensed every ten minutes and supported throughout by yours truly, who will provide brief (but effective!) introductions to four different experimental essay forms (speculative, constraint, erasure, and visual) before each set.

My good friends, y’all are gonna WRITE. And when the class is over and you have carpal tunnel, you’ll also have EIGHT ESSAY STARTS. That you did! Good for you!

At the end of this workshop, writers will:

Be exposed to four experimental essay forms via four mini 5-min craft talks
Practice writing in four experimental essay forms
Have written eight (8) experimental essay starts which can be expanded upon or refined for publication

Students will have written in response to:

three speculative essay prompts
three constraint essay prompts
one erasure essay prompt
one visual essay prompt

Additional info

This workshop will be recorded for the convenience of those unable to attend live. The recorded session will be emailed to participants the following day.

ENROLL TODAY