Here's a piece I wrote back in 2010, while teaching English to international students in New York City. Based on true events, with names changed and some minor embellishment. “Will you read my diary?” he asks me. “It help me write English better, and you can tell me what is more natural way of saying things like this.” My Japanese student Yoshi presents me with his daily journal for revision and explanation every day after class during my lunch break. I teach English to im

Everybody has something to say, and everybody has a right to be heard. The traditional model of submitting your writing to agents and editors is slowly crumbling, and that’s a good thing. You don’t need permission to be heard. You don’t need somebody else’s stamp of approval to say what you need to stay. Just say it. There’s too much bullshit related to the craft of writing. Sure, it matters how you weave a paragraph together, but it’s also possible to put writing technique o