At the Guardian, the author recounts how it takes “hundreds of drafts” and “thousands of incremental adjustments” to form a story into a “hopeful thing.”
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Read a letter from Coretta Scott King and stories by Lizzie Presser, Kathryn Schulz, Michael Friscolanti, and Mitchell Sunderland.
No Más Fantasía
What happens when you’re sentenced to life in prison as a teenager, then released 19 years later and sent to a place that’s supposed to feel like home?
The Doctor Will See You Now
Sarah Miller eulogizes a close (but not close) relative.
Helping My Son Choose Between the Cub Scouts and His Beliefs about God
Kate Abbott thought the Cub Scouts would be a great place for her son to make friends. Then they came across the ‘Duty to God’ requirements.
Cruising Through the End of the World
What happens when cruise ship tourism descends on the communities of the Northwest Passage?
Helping My Son Choose Between the Cub Scouts and His Beliefs about God
Kate Abbott thought the Cub Scouts would be a great place for her son to make friends. Then they came across the ‘Duty to God’ requirements.
Take Me Home
While teaching English to communist party officials in post-war Laos, Kathryn Kefauver Goldberg reflects on silence and the legacy of trauma.
Percy Ross Wants to Give You Money!
He was was a self-made, blue-collar millionaire in Reagan’s America. But when Percy Ross decided to give away his fortune, he made things simple: all you had to do was ask for it.
How to Stop Apologizing for My Stutter, and Other Important Lessons
At a convention for stutterers, for the first time Rachel Hoge finds herself among many just like her.

