Expensive Writers,

Every June, we glance again at what’s been revealed through the previous twelve months on The Brevity Weblog. And we’re at all times amazed by the depth and breadth of the essays that make up this far-reaching dialogue of inventive nonfiction writing—an umbrella time period for the myriad methods true tales are instructed. Right here we spotlight a number of essays from the final yr to showcase the numerous fascinating concepts and insights you’ve contributed and what we’ve realized from you.

Ratika Deshpande’s considerate Weblog submit tackled the query What’s an Essay, Precisely?, and he or she found it’s typically much less about the reply and extra about how the essayist will get there. (We agree!)

Natalie Serianni shared a revealing piece on writing success—what it’s and isn’t.

Sara King employed a playful use of standpoint in her essay, Reality Checking: We Went to the Café and Obtained the Village onto It. The dialog she had together with her beta reader referred to as “Doubt” had us lol.

A.M. Larks used lyrical prose and metaphor in her essay, Does the Interval Imply It’s the Finish?, as she braided private highs and lows alongside the ability and goal of the interval.

And within the essay, Deeper in Phrases: Writing and Ritual, Maria B. Olujic challenged her strategy to memoir writing and helped us to grasp the worth of taking a pause within the course of.

Brevity’s Social Media Editor, Allison Okay Williams, continued to share her information and knowledge on writing craft and the world of publishing.

In her Weblog submit Social Media Sucks: What Now?, Allison helped us navigate this ever altering panorama and reminded us that connecting with individuals stays her precedence and that there’s no expiration date on kindness.  

By no means one afraid to take a contrarian stance, Allison confirmed us how unfavourable suggestions on a printed piece is usually a good factor in her essay DO Learn the Feedback.  

And her How They Did It essay Shifting Time in H is for Hawk is a good instance of and template for the best way to share a close-read and craft evaluation with readers. (We’d like to see extra of those.)

We publish a handful of craft-based interviews all year long as properly. Dinty W. Moore’s interview with the essayist and AGNI editor Sven Birkerts about his e-book, The Miró Worm and the Mysteries of Writing, “explored the thought of writing as extra than simply searching for publication, however as a path towards ‘discovering the sense and form of 1’s personal life,’ and of the significance of attentiveness” and was one in all our favorites.

We opened 2025 with our Editors’ Want Record of subjects for the Weblog, and we’ve been thrilled with the response to this point.

Melissa Ballard tackled the ekphrastic essay.

Regina Landor shared a author’s crush.

Katie Rose Pryal confirmed us the best way to write a mosaic essay.

Kasey Butcher Santana offered a information to writing about nature and local weather change

And the mom/daughter crew of Riley Pickett and Harriet Riley talked about the best way to collaborate on a memoir.

In 2025, we additionally launched the Brevity Weblog Spherical-Up. Every month, the editors select a craft or writing matter, search the Weblog’s intensive archive (over 3,500 posts) and share associated essays. Thus far, we’ve coated literary citizenship, the listing essay, and artistic prompts with extra to return.

With the Weblog essays linked right here, we’ve simply scratched the floor of the great work that what we’ve revealed this yr. We thanks for all to your advantageous submissions and recognize your ongoing readership. To press the metaphor a bit additional, if inventive nonfiction writing is an umbrella time period—let it rain! We stay up for studying what lands within the Weblog’s inbox going ahead.

Finest,

Dinty, Allison, Heidi and Andrea

The Editors, Brevity Weblog

Tagged: brevity weblog, cnf, inventive nonfiction, writing, Writing Life, yr in evaluation