Love Gornick's work and this: "Vivian Gornick expands this point in The Situation and the Story. When writing fails, she says, it’s because the writer doesn’t know who they are or what they are about within the constraints of the essay. The writer can be confused, adrift, and otherwise a mess in their personal life, but craft requires them to “know who they are at the moment of writing.” xx
Love Gornick's work and this: "Vivian Gornick expands this point in The Situation and the Story. When writing fails, she says, it’s because the writer doesn’t know who they are or what they are about within the constraints of the essay. The writer can be confused, adrift, and otherwise a mess in their personal life, but craft requires them to “know who they are at the moment of writing.” xx