Desk Notes by Charles Schifano
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Desk Notes by Charles Schifano
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Desk Notes by Charles Schifano
Exploring writing, travel, and literature—with a new issue every Friday.
Launched 2 years ago
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Let me read it first
Whisper
In the São Paulo summer, the air is salty and thick and the rains are always just minutes away.
Sep 17, 2021
The Problem With Contemporary Writing
To care about the state and quality of writing today is to scream into a void while knowing that the void does nothing but laugh.
Jan 28
Soundless
Nothing makes you doubt the merits of a music education more than a neighbor who takes up the violin.
Mar 11
Losing a Language
You might recognize these undulations if you’ve ever struggled with a new language.
Aug 13, 2021
Most popular
The Problem With Contemporary Writing
Soundless
Whisper
Losing a Language
The Anxiety of Influence
There Won't Be Any Covid Novels
See all popular
New
Past as Prologue
Spend a little time with Dostoevsky if you’re ever feeling a bit glum.
Jul 1
A Difficult Time Writing
To spend the majority of your time crafting artificial symbols on a surface—whether your medium is stone, paper, or pixels—will always be a curious…
Jun 24
Discovering A Memory
Discoveries are perfectly acceptable in the wild, but I prefer to avoid them in my apartment.
Jun 17
Prepared Emotions
Museum exhibit labels have the peculiar quality of giving you both too much and not enough information.
Jun 10
Nude Writers
To read an incomplete manuscript is to catch a writer in the nude.
Jun 3
The Anxiety of Influence
If you are ever lost in an Italian city, look for Dante Alighieri street.
May 27
Fateful
Tossing out the word fate might be sufficient to hush most dinner parties.
May 20
There Won't Be Any Covid Novels
Despite the desires of some readers, nobody should expect any good novels about Covid.
May 13
See all
Most popular
The Problem With Contemporary Writing
Soundless
Whisper
Losing a Language
The Anxiety of Influence
There Won't Be Any Covid Novels
See all popular
Desk Notes by Charles Schifano
Exploring writing, travel, and literature—with a new issue every Friday.
Subscribe
Most Popular—Literature
Losing a Language
You might recognize these undulations if you’ve ever struggled with a new language.
A Writer's Writer
What it takes to finish the novel.
The Weight of Sincerity
Iris Murdoch grips her pen a tad firmer than most writers.
Most Popular—Personal
Ice
The first hints of dawn come with a soft violet color now that the colder days have arrived.
Transfer at 42nd
Apparent victims always give you the most remarkable looks—and I do write from experience.
The Passing Day
How does distance affect our perception of time?
Most Popular—Travel
A Border Town
What makes a border town?
Addresses
The real map is a hidden network of relationships, memories, and associations.
Collapsible Distances
How does speed change our perception of distance?
Desk Notes by Charles Schifano
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