What we are afraid to say
Last month I wrote the first draft of my recently published essay, The Shape of Shame. The initial draft was over 3,500 words and included paragraphs of research, quotes from psychologists and spiritual teachers, as well as threads of a story that formed the final essay.
The initial draft was academic, poetic, and confused. Each time I went back to review the writing something felt off. As I read each section of the essay it became clear that the confusion was caused by writing in two different voices. Or, rather, two different parts of myself showed up on the page.
This is not the first time I’ve noticed two voices in my writing. The original book proposal I wrote in 2017 to query literary agents was received with similar feedback. I was told by multiple agents that the proposal was two books in one. It was a memoir and a self-help book.
The two agents I was most interested in working with wanted to represent different books. One wanted me to rewrite the propo…