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What Endings Really Do
A writer and editor's guide to shaping the last lines of your work — from Rilke to The Great Gatsby.
Jan 30
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Meghan O'Rourke
35
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Endings (and the Writers Who Love Them)
Ask not what your ending is, but what it might do for your book.
Dec 14, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
17
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The Art of Writing More than One Thing at Once
On children, writing, and the strange discipline of carrying more than one project in your head.
Nov 25, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
19
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Creating the Conditions for Deep Creativity
What does it take to write a book?
Nov 21, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
21
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The Uses of White Space
When form becomes avoidance.
Oct 28, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
22
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The Story of the Body, The Story of Time
Why some writers thrive on deadlines while others need playtime—and how we all have to invent our own relation to time.
Sep 16, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
28
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How to Revise a Personal Essay (and What is a Personal Essay, Really?
The kids are back to school, and it's time to write.
Sep 9, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
50
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How to Submit Work, Pitch, and Understand What You’re Pitching
Are you getting ready for open reading periods? This office hour post's for you.
Aug 16, 2025
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Meghan O'Rourke
28
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Meghan O'Rourke's Substack
Essays about literature, the craft of writing, the body and illness, and other obsessions.
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Maya C. Popa
Maya C. Popa
The Elif Life
Elif Batuman
To a Green Thought
Garth Greenwell
Medical Detective
Richard Horowitz
Story Club with George Saunders
George Saunders
Website
Meghan O'Rourke's website
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The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
Sun in Days
Poetry
The Long Goodbye
A Memoir
Halflife
Poems
Meghan O'Rourke's Substack
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