At Twin Cities Runoff, I always encouraged writers to get away from writing about themselves. Unless it was a personal essay, I discouraged the “I” because, generally, the writer’s personal experience has nothing to do with the story. “I” essays are the stuff of confessionals and memoirs, and that voice doesn’t have a place in an exploration of a real-world story that has nothing to do with the writer. I’ve never bought the “transparency” argument for the “I,” but here I am, writing a piece in the first person, after having published many wonderful and unique first-person-inclusive pieces.
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