In Phase 2, it went into a more creative outlook. Instead of writing an essay, we did live updates or tweets that was towards a specific audience. I choose the Maggie Nelson article, “Writing With, From, and For Others” which spoke on how writers begin to start writing.

Thesis Statement: In “Writing With, From, and For Others” Nelson structures her essay with quotes embedded into her writing from other authors, she relies mainly on ethos to create credibility for her thesis. Nelson uses analogies and personal anecdotes, to argue that self-reliance, dependence on others, and “leaning against” other writers is an important aspect of a writer’s path.

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Update #1:

Maggie Nelson has just come out with her new book, it’s all about writers and her journey of becoming the writer she is today. It’s composed of multiple essays one I’m currently reading is “Writing With, From, and For Others.” She uses the phrase “leaning against” meaning that when she was first finding her writing style, she had developed others to get her point across. Nelson says, 

“’Leaning against’ can’t be an excuse that saves one from doing the real thinking and writing” 

To rebuttal others’ opinions over copying writers’ work, Nelson wants readers to know that she used the other writers’ work in context and gave credit to them. Using other’s writers’ work would make her claim stronger and gain credibility for her writing, it would give her a foundation to build her ideas upon. 

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Update #2:

Nelson embeds an Alice Notley poem in her essay and relates it to the topic of dependency or “leaning against” as the text would state. The idea of poverty and the need for food and warmth is being compared to a writer’s actions to rely on others at first and then branch out after being cared for.

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Update #3:

There are stereotypes or assumptions a writer faces that being writers have an “active imagination” or writers can create “great images” with their words. Nelson struggles with the imagination aspect that a writer “should” have, not all writers are the same. It isn’t as easy as it seems coming up with an idea to write a whole book about.  

À la Keats wrote, “Axioms are not axioms until they are proved upon our pulses.” 

Everything must be proved by our own words and thoughts. 

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Update #4:

Nelson speaks about a quote that was on her wall for many years it was by a chinese poet Mo Fei and read:

“Poetry has to do with a satisfaction with limited things, a paring down. It is the acceptance of a certain form of poverty. It is not endless construction.”

With seeing this everyday Nelson resonated with the quote and it held her accountable for her writing. She became encouraged to let loose and write as she pleases, to let all her creative energy out. Nelson is not writing for a specific audience, she writes for herself. The Mo Fei quote can be directed towards non-fiction writers who tend to write with a generative writing style/prompt in mid. She encourages them to defy limitations and do as they please.

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Update #5:

Mo Fei and Notley both speak on poverty and attempt to venerate the idea of interdependence. Nelson being a writer who defies classification links the idea of poverty and feminism using “leaning against.” The idea of poverty is about “leaning against” being seen as an ethical in Mo Fei and Notley’s works, Nelson agrees but the term has a deeper meaning it has to do with not only ethics but has a spiritual and political background. Leading to feminist who have worked for at least fifty years to support women’s rights, and have yet to see change. Women are dependent on one another to create change and difference. The idea of feminism can be connected to a ourselves and our bodies. We come into this world and are given bodies that we depend upon to thrive, if our body is weak then we are weak as well. We are dependent upon anything or everyone in order to be alive. As a baby depends on their mother to be able to survive. We all “lean against” one another. 

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Update #6:

 Psychologist Adam Phillips wrote, 

“We depend on each other not just for our survival, but for our very being. The self without sympathetic attachments is either a fiction or a lunatic period. [Yet] dependence is scorned even in intimate relationships, as though dependence were incompatible with self-reliance rather than the only thing that makes it possible.”

One has to depend on others in order to survive but in today’s society it’s looked down upon. As conflicting as the idea of dependency is it’s understandable and Nelson agrees. There are certain moments/scenarios where dependency is seen a positive viewpoint and then where self-reliance is seen in a positive viewpoint. The positive connotation being linked to feminism and empowering one another. While the negative being people are dependent because they must be in order to live, or people are dependent on one another because it is beneficial towards them, as stated by Phillips. Nonetheless, the ideas of self-reliance and interdependence are two opposites that coexist together to create a dynamic duo.

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Update #7:

The idea of being compared to others is both a positive and negative feeling depending on who the person is and in what context the comparison is being taken in. Nelson dislikes being compared to writers because the whole point of her writing journey is to find her own writing style with the help of others along the way. But she still wants to be seen as an individual writer who incorporates other writers’ phrases/quotes in her writing to become like “evidence.” The reason she incorporates other writers’ work is because it creates common ground, more for someone to relate to, and creates credibility where readers would be more prone to believing what she writes.

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Update #8:

The meaning of Nelson’s title, “writing for” is an attempt to please others however she disagrees because a writer knows that his/her writing is meant for his/her liking. Nelson is writing for herself when she writes a piece, including this essay. The idea of “writing with” is not a collaborative work rather a team of her own ideas. The title begins to form “Writing with, from, and for others” and Nelson makes it clear that the essay she has written, she is satisfied with and all her ideas and thoughts on the subject matter. The idea of “leaning against” is clear, she agrees that writers’ can start off with using another’s style and develop their own.  

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