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Eileen Pollack
Eileen Pollack

3.5K Followers

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Featured Book

Maybe It's Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of Woman
Maybe It's Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of Woman

Darkly funny autobiographical essays about growing up in a time when women's lives changed radically ... for the better

2022

·
Eileen Pollack
Eileen Pollack

Stories

May 11

WHY MY MOTHER WAS DEBBIE DOWNER

Photo by Steinar Engeland For years, I tried to figure out what my mother must have suffered to make her so obsessed with her bodily functions and those of the ones she loved, why she was so compulsive about keeping our modest ranch house in the Catskills so neat and…

Mothers

2 min read

WHY MY MOTHER WAS DEBBIE DOWNER
WHY MY MOTHER WAS DEBBIE DOWNER
Mothers

2 min read


Published in

Index

·Jul 26, 2021

Love (Really) Is All Around

What ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ taught me about the life and death of the office family — Stir-crazy during the wintry months of the pandemic, I found myself gobbling up two or three episodes of the old Mary Tyler Moore Show every night. When the series originally ran in the 1970s, I was too wrapped up in my own teenage travails to really care. The lead character…

Work

12 min read

Love (Really) Is All Around
Love (Really) Is All Around
Work

12 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Jul 31, 2020

How Sweet the Sound

After years of silence, I’m finally conquering my fear of singing in public — We sat in a circle at the 92nd Street Y, recounting the traumas that had silenced us. “My music teacher told me to move my lips but not make a sound,” the first woman said. The rest of us nodded in recognition. Half of the fourteen members of that class…

Music

17 min read

How Sweet the Sound
How Sweet the Sound
Music

17 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Jun 10, 2020

On the Awkwardness of Talking About Creativity

Americans have always been suspicious of people who spend too much time in their heads — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Dear Draft, When someone asks what I do, I never know how to respond…

Life

7 min read

On the Awkwardness of Talking About Creativity
On the Awkwardness of Talking About Creativity
Life

7 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·May 27, 2020

How to Be Edited Without Losing Your Mind

You may disagree with your editor, but they’re (probably) right — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, I’m using the lockdown to…

Writing

9 min read

How to Be Edited Without Losing Your Mind
How to Be Edited Without Losing Your Mind
Writing

9 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·May 13, 2020

Why Endless Free Time Can Be a Curse for Creativity

If you want to write, give yourself some constraints — and, maybe, a day job — This is The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, Can you talk about how…

Writing

7 min read

Why Endless Free Time Can Be a Curse for Creativity
Why Endless Free Time Can Be a Curse for Creativity
Writing

7 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Apr 29, 2020

It’s Okay to Be Irrelevant

Advice for promoting your work in the midst of a pandemic — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, What I write doesn’t have…

Writing

7 min read

It’s Okay to Be Irrelevant
It’s Okay to Be Irrelevant
Writing

7 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Apr 15, 2020

The Best Thing You Can Do Is Keep Going

Don’t worry about being productive right now. Just be aware. — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, For the life of me…

Life

7 min read

The Best Thing You Can Do Is Keep Going
The Best Thing You Can Do Is Keep Going
Life

7 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Apr 8, 2020

You Don’t Have to Write About the Virus

But if you do, here’s how to find something new to say — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, I feel as if I…

Creativity

9 min read

You Don’t Have to Write About the Virus
You Don’t Have to Write About the Virus
Creativity

9 min read


Published in

Human Parts

·Apr 1, 2020

How to Finally Finish Your Creative Projects

If you’re stuck at home, dig up a half-written draft and commit to completing it — Welcome to The Draft, an advice column about writing and life from Eileen Pollack, former director of the University of Michigan MFA Program. We’re here to answer your questions about storycraft, writing, and telling the truth. Have a question? Share it with us. Dear Draft, Even when I have an…

The Draft

7 min read

How to Finally Finish Your Creative Projects
How to Finally Finish Your Creative Projects
The Draft

7 min read

Eileen Pollack

Eileen Pollack

3.5K Followers

Book Author

Eileen is the author, most recently, of Maybe It's Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of Woman

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