Finn Schubert

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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

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&

Five Metaphors Activity

Five Metaphors Activity

The "Five Whys" is an approach in which you ask and answer a "Why?" question five times to try to get at the root cause for a situation you'd like to address. It's used extensively in quality improvement in healthcare and other

What will I tell my child about the AIDS crisis?

I would like to read my child a book about ACT UP. I would like to read my child a book about a community needle exchange.

The Book I Never Published

In 2019, things were falling apart, so I decided to write a novel about a trans man who tries to get pregnant and then things fall apart for him. His name was James. I signed up for Ariel Gore’s manuscript writing workshop and worked on it all summer. On

Work to be Done

Today is my last day in Valatie. I’ll miss this mug, I thought. It’s been good to me. In Valatie, when I get up, I heat water in the electric kettle to make pour-over coffee. I always drink the coffee out of the same mug: a white mug