Five Writers on How Writing with Creative Constraints Unlocked Their Projects ‹ Literary Hub

For me, the anxiety of writing is the anxiety of possibility. Musical performance-despite all its lore of stage-fright, jitters, and choking-has been my salvation. When performing in front of an audience, a wrong note can't be taken back; the audience hears it immediately. I find this precariousness strangely freeing. Rather than obsessing over what was previously played, I'm forced to move forward, adapt, and accept my failings. Mistakes become opportunities; a wrong note may suddenly evoke some new cluster of tones I wouldn't have found otherwise, or veer a solo into provocative territory.