Letters From Libby James

Cormac McCarthy barely bothered with acknowledgment pages. Plenty of books—great books—don’t have them. The Clinic uses its acknowledgment page not to list names, but as a subtle extension of the book’s process. It offers insight into the journey, showing the labor behind the words. Cate Quinn used that page to add depth (and was probably my favorite part of the book). If you decide to write one, start working on it early. Keep a document open from day one. Gather names and moments. This is...

I return often to a piece by Nick Cave, a brief response he wrote about creativity, and how it demands brutal honesty, especially when the subject is love. What draws me back isn’t the solacious celeb gossip of it—it’s the sharp insistence that writing about love requires a clear-eyed refusal to romanticize. This is not easy comfort. Instead, it’s an unflinching commitment to seeing love with all its tensions and failures laid bare. Writing, especially memoir, can’t afford the luxury of...

I went away on vacation and never saw my husband in person again, and for over a year my body kept waiting to go back, like it hadn’t been informed of his infidelity. I was mid-trip visiting my parents out of state when I woke up to a text from my husband’s lover. I had known he was capable of such things, but as far as I knew, it had been seven years since his last affair. I had believed, with all the work we had put in to rebuilding after his last one, that part of our life was over. I got...

Look, I get it, you are just trying to get your book out there on a limited budget. You need some techniques you can use, maybe super easy ones because you don’t have a lot of time or energy, to market your books that won’t cost you anything (except maybe a little dignity). Here are a few ways to get your book in front of new readers that you can do all while binge-watching your favorite comfort TV show (for me, that show is Community). Reddit Method: Step one: Create a Reddit account. Or if...

One of the first poems I ever published had a glacier in it. I was eighteen. I’d never been to Alaska. I had a photograph clipped from a magazine and the kind of instinct you don’t question when you’re young and writing what’s true to you before anyone else tells you what truth is supposed to sound like. Years later, one of my clients brought me a project that included writing about glaciers. Her glaciers were real locations, field notes, history, and erosion, they too were a poem in a...

I watched this film two days in a row. I am hesitant to call Sinners a masterpiece, because I hate that word, but it’s something wicked awesome alright. The music – I love music of a wide variety, and the use of it in this film is excellent.Two Michael B. Jordans – You can’t take your eyes off that man, and now there are two of them.The cinematography – I don’t know how they do it, but the colors are so rich.Fresh vampires – It’s the same old story, but it felt new (remember when I wrote...

I am in Arizona for the next couple of months. Leading up to my travels, then driving here, then trying to get settled—it became clear I’m good for nothing without a consistent routine. I’m a creature of habit, and when my routine’s messed up, nothing gets done. Now that I’m settled in, I’ve been able to get back to work. I have a friend who can write her books while watching SVU marathons. She has two young kids now and still manages to find time to write and watch SVU. Her brain can do many...

I was at the No Kings protest last week in Chandler, Arizona. People showed up with their kids, their water bottles, their handmade signs. No one was screaming. No one needed to. The message was steady, deliberate: we are here, we see you, and we don’t like what you’re up to. If you make art—and if you write, you do—then you’re already part of the conversation whether you like it or not. You should already know the violence of silence. You already know the systems that swallow voices whole. I...

I was talking to a friend about how I felt my memoir had stalled the last couple of months. My life has more stability after the divorce, a far cry from the throes of the separation, but I don’t feel I’ve had my big moment yet, the one that ties everything together and proves to the readers that I made it through. I didn’t have my cheetah moment (Untamed). I didn’t get in anywhere fancy (Educated). I didn’t publish a poem that led to a book deal, that saved my house (You Could Make This Place...