Finn Schubert

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Visuals, layout, reader experience, and you

When I published my essay collection Even the Cemeteries Have Space Here, I made the layout choices very intentionally to create a sense of spaciousness for the reader. Shea in the Catskills contributed artwork that further deepened the reader's spacious and reflective experience. I was asked about an

Are templates running our creative lives?

We need to talk about templates. These days, if you'd like to communicate an idea to another person, other than perhaps in casual conversation, there's a template for you. There's a Powerpoint template. There's an Instagram template. There's a website

A writing approach I'll never use

I have a confession. Judge if you want. I have always hated index cards. I have hated them since fourth grade when we were taught some irritating method of organizing our "bibliography" by tediously writing various information about books in specific places on the index cards. The directive

How to Be a Seahorse Dad

When your baby has a meltdown on the C train at rush hour and everyone stares – never fear. No one knows you birthed this little one you can't soothe. Let them imagine it's mommy's day off. Let them slot you into that well-trodden role

Knowing What You Really Want - Why I Left Substack

In response to a prompt in The Wayward Writer, I drew this: You can take up more space than you think. When people don't know what you're really about, that can be its own form of protection. I might say, "When you know what you&

The Madonna Secret by Sophie Strand

I've just finished reading Sophie Strand's The Madonna Secret. I love the voice in which the book is written -- where Miriam is looking back on her past, where Miriam can tell us the moments in which she wishes she had understood more or acted differently

What Does It Mean to Squander?

I’ve been wondering if there is a productivity book for those of us who spend all of our time chestfeeding, or, if away from our baby at work, stuck in the lactation room whenever we can find a moment between meetings. It turns out everything I thought I knew