Emerging from a newsletter the author launched in 2018 called “Destroy Your Safe and Happy Lives” and taking its title from a line in a Mary Oliver poem (“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work”), this inspiring volume helps readers not only to develop an ongoing writing practice but also to consider that practice as a worthy goal rather than a means to publication. Hogan writes, “What if we thought about writing as a personal process of self-discovery, a way of gravitating towards stories and themes you feel passionately about and learning more about those passions as you go along—and learning how to share that passion with others?” Organized in chapters with titles such as “Reclaiming Your Time for Writing,” “Finding Your Groove,” and “Preparing Yourself for the Long Haul,” and punctuated with illustrations by Emm Roy, Our Endless and Proper Work offers a powerful realignment of priorities for the creative writer.
