Finding a Writing Life of One’s Own by Seema Reza
February 20, 2024
We are delighted to share this essay by FAWC faculty member and past student Seema Reza, published today in LitHub.
This is a reflection on the experience of the Summer Workshop Program for one particular student and all that it offers writers at critical moments in their lives:
During my week in Provincetown, everything I did was about my own needs: the walk on the boardwalk, the reading, the two showers, the naps, the spooking in the cemetery. I laughed at my own jokes and I made myself cry.
In Provincetown I was not writing because I had to squeeze in time to process what was happening in my life. I was not writing as an act of defiance or service or claim to myself. I was writing because I wanted to, because I was curious, because I could. It was my first glimmer of another way.
I came home and wrote on a post-it: “Your writing is not meant to be useful to anyone.” I stuck it on my bathroom mirror.
