The Minutiae: Direction

turns out she loves the arts!

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter, the minutiae. Today’s post is entirely more personal than I thought it was going to be (promise they won’t all be like this!), but it seems I had to get it out my system. We’ll be back to the books soon. Talking about a few artsy things I’ve done recently, like going to a screening of the play Prima Facie, attending the Sky Arts Awards, and taking a trip down memory lane watching a performance of Mnemonic at the National Theatre.

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I. writing the ending

This morning I read an article by Katie Ward about the things her mentor, Hilary Mantel, taught her about writing and life in their years of knowing one another. One of those pieces of advice was that you should write the ending of your story first, and then work towards it. As Ward puts it, “Knowing how your story ends will serve as a compass, while leaving you with enough latitude to explore your imaginary world.” I didn’t know how much that image had planted itself in my brain until it appeared to me again this afternoon, collapsing back on the sofa in a moment of overwhelm and exhaustion.