writing as autonomy - by Ava - bookbear express

My desire to write is part of an enduring search for autonomy. By “autonomy” I mean the freedom to make work that I think is good on my own terms. The thing that holds me back is my need for certainty. This conflict is within all of us: longing for independence is always shadowed by the desire for guardrails, for safety, for the mind to be cordoned off and coddled. It’s mommy-hunger, daddy-hunger, Plath’s “boot in the face, the brute.”

saved by

• Shagun Maheshwari