15 Lit Mags That Want to Stare at Your Belly Button With You

Personal essay publishers and some advice from our guest, Hannah Grieco.

Dec 01, 2023

∙ Paid

Announcements!

We have new events for December listed in our Introductions & Accountability Thread here. In case you missed them, this week, we put out lists about contests closing in December & top-ranked fiction magazines that are currently open for submissions.

This week, Hannah Grieco, writer, teacher and editor whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Brevity, Craft, and more, provides us with some strategies. Check out her essay below on overcoming writer’s block in your essay writing by making lists, using creative nonfiction prompts, and experimenting with different perspectives and structures.

You want to write an essay, but it’s been a while. Or maybe you recently finished edits on an amazing piece and it’s time to start something new.

You sit at your desk, or maybe at your favorite coffee shop. A laptop in front of you or a spiral notebook and pen in hand. Here you go. Any minute now!

It feels like a lifetime since you’ve put true words on the page. How do words even work? What is nonfiction and why would anyone write such a thing?

Sound familiar? Even the most prolific essayists find themselves here. Call it something other than Writer’s Block, Imposter Syndrome maybe, but whatever you call it, it’s there, resting deep in your stomach. It whispers in your ear. Unkind things about your (lack of) talent. Suggestions about folding laundry or searching online for holiday gifts.

For a moment, you’re sure it’s permanent.

I’ll never write again.

The great thing about creative nonfiction is that you have a bottomless well inside you, full of stories from your life. Sometimes they’re hidden, waiting for a memory jog, and other times you talk yourself out of writing about them. It’s too personal. Nobody wants to read that.

Ignore the doubting whispers. The key to getting “unstuck” with writing is to push through and start, allowing yourself the luxury of no expectations at all. Maybe you’ll write 250 words of trash! Maybe you’ll say the same thing over and over and it’ll end up in a file that you don’t open again for three years. Or maybe this becomes your next big essay. Who knows? Whatever happens, you’ll have words on the page. You won’t be stuck.

Easier said than done? Let’s get creative.

First, make a list! (Actually, make three!)

No complete sentences or descriptive paragraphs allowed! Number your paper #1-5, then repeat that three times. Write as fast as you can, without thinking too hard about it! And remember that nobody will see these lists but you.

For the first list: Write down 5 times you got very mad in the last year.
For the second list: Write down 5 things you would never want a romantic partner (or best friend) to know.
For the third list: Write down 5 things/people/activities/etc. you love, but you wish you didn't.

Now what?

Circle two things that catch your eye right now. (And save these lists for later, when other events might interest you!) Pick the one that feels easiest or most compelling to write about right now, then choose one of these three creative nonfiction prompts to try. The goal is to keep the draft under 1000 words, if possible. Focusing on flash-length memoir can help you ease up on self-imposed pressure and stay in the moment.

Repeated Word/Phrase

Pick one of these phrases:

If I had
If I hadn’t
If only
When
After
Before

Start to write about the event you chose from your list, but each sentence must begin with your repeated phrase! Or you can make the piece one long breathless sentence, so each section will begin with the repeated phrase!

Examples:

I learned about this incredible piece in a class I took with Melissa Febos.

It inspired my own very different (yet similarly-styled) piece!

A repeated phrase offers an unexpected, confining structure—and this can help jog your memory and force you to try new things instead of following in old patterns.

Text Message (hermit crab)

Pick a person involved with that event from your list. Now pull out your cell phone! (Your actual phone!) In the notes section, or even as a series of texts to yourself, write a five-minute text conversation between you and this person. We’re heading into speculative nonfiction territory here, because this isn’t a real conversation you’re having. But it’s a conversation you want or need to have, based on a true event in your life. Imagine their response(s), but don’t write their words down. Just write your own. (You can picture them ghosting you or you can respond to imagined texts back.) This work can push the boundaries of what nonfiction is, but your feelings, your explanation, whatever it is you want to say – THAT is true. And that is where nonfiction can be playful and stretchy and creative!

When you’re done, re-type the piece onto your computer. Look at it as a whole. What have you created?

Shifting Perspectives

For this final prompt, we’re going to continue leaning into speculative nonfiction. That line between true and untrue is such an interesting one, and it can really help you get unstuck when nothing else works!

Go back to a short work of memoir you’ve already written. Something you haven’t looked at in a while! Pick a piece that involves you and at least one other person. Now rewrite this piece from their perspective. No matter who they are, or how wrong they were, put yourself in their shoes and become them. Don’t write them knowing the things you know. Write what happened 100% as them, knowing only what they know to be true. Really go for it and see what happens!

This type of prompt often leads to significant memory jogs about events you thought you knew like the back of your hand. It can become its own beautiful piece, or it can help you write a different, more traditional work of memoir with new layers of awareness.

These three writing prompts probably won’t lead to a standard personal essay, but they will lead someplace new and interesting! And all of a sudden you might just find yourself excited about writing again!

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, Hannah is teaching an upcoming workshop with Write or Die, 2 Essays in 2 Hours! In this workshop, you'll learn to break through writing barriers and produce two nonfiction drafts in two hours, using prompts for a flash memoir and personal essay, along with techniques for brainstorming, structure, and editing in creative nonfiction. *Scholarships are available.