Marginal Notes: "Do Your Research"

Applying journalistic skills to fiction writing

When I transitioned to full-time writer life one thing I did to feel less like a fraud—because I still don’t quite believe I’ve pulled this off, even temporarily, the impostor syndrome is worse now than ever—was subscribe to a couple of seminal publications the more established writers I knew often referenced in conversation. Professionalization is a tax deduction and helps me feel a little less alone in this particularly scary moment to being doing this particular job. So I signed up for The Paris Review, Publisher’s Weekly, and Poets & Writers.