On Writing: When the "Dark Place" Has You by the Throat

Here’s an essay I wrote about a dark writing time in my not-so-distant past, originally published in the Delmarva Review, and now online, thanks to their partnership with the Spy publications:

Enticing excerpt:

For several years, I had been in a different sort of dark place, the one where every other writer in America had a new book being rave-reviewed and winning A Major Award. I had written a beautiful novel that had been rejected by every publisher in America. This was actually the second novel in a row I had written to be rejected by every publisher in America. The notes from my agent were getting brief. Because I’d focused on writing novels, I didn’t have many short stories to send around for a possible hit of lit journal publication, and anyway, the short stories I did have had been rejected by every literary journal in America. My favorite things about my writing life then were leading workshops, making pronouncements about writing, and watching students improve under my sharp eye. I can still teach, I thought, at least there’s that.

Read the rest:

https://talbotspy.org/delmarva-review-dark-vs-darker-by-leslie-pietrzyk/

(And I'll add that the story in question is included in THIS ANGEL ON MY CHEST: "Chapter Ten: An Index of Food (Draft).")