The Work of Structure

Ol' school repair work, or how to do developmental editing in physical space

I had the opportunity to meet New York Times columnist David Brooks last year, who was incredibly gracious with his time and mentorship. I asked him for advice on long-form writing, told him I was fed up with technological tools (Scrivener, etc) because none of them worked for me. He told me that when starting a new book, he organizes piles of paper (ar…