--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I feel that I'm an essayist and that my…" description: "\"I feel that I'm an essayist and that my best work gets done in that form. I wanted to do a book where the essays could exist on their own terms. A book..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/meghan-daum-18332_bears_i-feel-that-i-m-an-essayist-and-that-my_1054935.png" --- # I feel that I'm an essayist and that my best work gets… ![“I feel that I'm an essayist and that my best work gets done in that form. I wanted to do a book where the essays could exist on their own terms. A book that was neither a book of essays that were shoehorned into a memoir, nor [one where] the essays had been published elsewhere first, [because]…” quote by Meghan Daum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/meghan-daum-18332_bears_i-feel-that-i-m-an-essayist-and-that-my_1054935.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/meghan-daum-18332_bears_i-feel-that-i-m-an-essayist-and-that-my_1054935.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/meghan-daum-18332_bears_i-feel-that-i-m-an-essayist-and-that-my_1054935.png) > “I feel that I'm an essayist and that my best work gets done in that form. I wanted to do a book where the essays could exist on their own terms. A book that was neither a book of essays that were shoehorned into a memoir, nor \[one where\] the essays had been published elsewhere first, \[because\] then they would kind of bear the marks of those publications.” [Meghan Daum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-daum/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She believes essays are her strongest medium and wants a collection that stands alone, not forced into memoir or reprinted elsewhere. **In simple terms:** Essays work best when they’re original and self‑contained. Key Takeaway Create a fresh, cohesive essay collection. Themes creativity authenticity literary form Mood reflective determined Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - author workshops - literary magazines - personal projects - academic syllabi Key Concepts essay writing publishing strategy Questions to Reflect On - How can you ensure each essay feels complete on its own? - What risks arise when essays are repurposed? A Different Perspective Balancing personal narrative with essay independence can be tricky. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Essayists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/essayists/) [Memoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memoir/) ## Related quotes > [I don't really think of my essays as being about myself. I know it sounds insane, but I just don't think of them as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-crosley/i-don-t-really-think-of-my-essays-as-being-about-myself-i-know-it/) [Sloane Crosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-crosley/) > [I wrote a book of essays about New York called 'The Colossus of New York,' but it's not about - you know, when I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/i-wrote-a-book-of-essays-about-new-york-called-the-colossus-of-new/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [What I think is important about essayists, about the essay as opposed to a lot of personal writing is that the material has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-daum/what-i-think-is-important-about-essayists-about-the-essay-as-opposed/) [Meghan Daum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-daum/) > [What I'm doing is exploring things. This is why I'm a fiction writer rather than an essayist or a politician or whatever. I just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-c-boyle/what-i-m-doing-is-exploring-things-this-is-why-i-m-a-fiction-writer/) [T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-c-boyle/) > [Wanderlust is not a passion for travel exactly, it’s something more animal and more fickle- more like lust. We don’t lust after very many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-eaves/wanderlust-is-not-a-passion-for-travel-exactly-it-s-something-more/) [Elisabeth Eaves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-eaves/) > [Essayists must not only be succinct but have original ideas and, even harder to come by, or to fake, likable voices. Consciously or not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyra-mcfadden/essayists-must-not-only-be-succinct-but-have-original-ideas-and-even/) Cyra McFadden > [Women need to become literary criminals, break the literary laws and reinvent their own, because the established laws prevent women from presenting the reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-acker/women-need-to-become-literary-criminals-break-the-literary-laws-and/) [Kathy Acker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-acker/) > [I thought that I wasn't an essayist because I just didn't see myself in a lot of the essays that were popular at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-agata/i-thought-that-i-wasn-t-an-essayist-because-i-just-didn-t-see-myself/) [John D'Agata](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-agata/) > [You simply cannot invent any conspiracy theory so ridiculous and obviously satirical that some people somewhere don't already believe it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/you-simply-cannot-invent-any-conspiracy-theory-so-ridiculous-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I find that white people in general, including white liberals and even revolutionaries, are most inclined to call you a racist when they don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/runoko-rashidi/i-find-that-white-people-in-general-including-white-liberals-and-even/) [Runoko Rashidi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/runoko-rashidi/) > [Willmott, the English essayist, says poetry is the natural religion of literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-rounseville-alger/willmott-the-english-essayist-says-poetry-is-the-natural-religion-of/) [William Rounseville Alger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-rounseville-alger/) > [“Only where there is life can there be home.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/only-where-there-is-life-can-there-be-home/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [We’re only here for a short while. 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Reasoning poers must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flora-thompson/special-qualities-are-required-of-the-essayist-a-poem-or-a-novel-may/) [Flora Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flora-thompson/) > [Not everyone is capable of madness; and of those lucky enough to be capable, not many have the courage for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/not-everyone-is-capable-of-madness-and-of-those-lucky-enough-to-be/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) ## More by Meghan Daum > [I've always been a late bloomer in some ways, and extremely precocious in other ways. When I was twenty I was living in New…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-daum/i-ve-always-been-a-late-bloomer-in-some-ways-and-extremely-precocious/) [Meghan Daum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-daum/) > [The greatest sex toy ever invented may be the telephone. 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There's a whole industry around motherhood and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-daum/we-ve-never-been-in-a-time-where-mothers-parenthood-but-particularly/) [Meghan Daum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-daum/) [Explore all 35 Meghan Daum quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-daum/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. 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I don't bear any responsibility to any system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-m-totally-independent-i-don-t-bear-any-responsibility-to-any-system/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [I'm supportive of women, absolutely, and it's so gratifying to have girls come up and say, 'I'm really inspired by your guitar playing.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/i-m-supportive-of-women-absolutely-and-it-s-so-gratifying-to-have/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) [Browse all 4,111 Bears quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I feel that I'm an essayist and that my best work gets done in that form. I wanted to do a book where the essays could exist on their own terms. 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