Field Notes
Field Notes,
I Wrote a Book on Writing at 18. Here’s What I Think of It Now.
As I started college—and as my frontal lobe began cooking on high—I pulled Why Clichés off of Amazon for almost two years. I was horrified at the idea that I had undertaken a project relying on expertise at such an early age. I ended up privatizing the book after rereading it and being repulsed by how mean it is:
Field Notes,
How to Teleport or, Literature and Returning Home
Either way, I’ve always considered myself a Texan. I like a good steak, my dad worked on his family’s ranch in Juarez and knew how to butcher any kind of livestock, and I proudly stood to chant the Texas state pledge every school day from 3rd grade into my senior year. On the other hand, I never learned “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” What was the point when I lived on the thumb?
Field Notes,
Why are Book Covers Looking Like That? BookTok and Modern Literature
I’ll admit, some of the modern book cover trends are not my favorite, but now I see them with more positivity. They make me consider the new readers— the ones stepping into the literary world for the first time.
Field Notes,
love letter to the tlaquetzqui: a conversation on the short stories of ire’ne lara silva in the light of your body
My mind’s eye becomes that of a tlaquetzqui, and I find my soul operating on a different plane. I understand it all. I don’t know if it was the references to the music of my childhood or the red wine starting to kick in (maybe a mixture of both?), but I felt a wave of admiration come over me.
Field Notes,
Fall 2025 Submission Updates
We’re excited to share some updates to our submission guidelines and payment rates!
Field Notes,
Jealous, in the Best Way Field Notes on I Know About a Thousand Things: The Writings of Ann Alejandro of Uvalde, Texas
The majority of creative writers are jostling and jockeying to be known. We’re plagued by a desire to share our insights and stories with the world. No writer wants to die unknown.
Field Notes,
Filtering Black Art Through White Eyes
It does her story a disservice to repeatedly stop and ask her to filter her culture through a white lens so that her struggles are more understandable.
Field Notes,
On Being “Under-read”
My personal theory behind this phenomenon is that we continue to rely on the familiarity of authors and resources available in a cyclical pattern of engagement: the books that get taught/studied are the ones with an abundance of critical works written about them, and vice versa. But this recycling bin we continue to draw from is something that should be acknowledged if we ever want to change the ways in which we speak about texts.