Sarah Boxer ’76, a writer, illustrator, and cartoonist, is a frequent contributor to The Atlantic, and is the creator of “In the Floyd Archives,” and its sequel, “Mother May I,” both fictional graphic novels. In this interview with Colorado Academy, Boxer reflects on her June 2016 The Atlantic essay titled “Reading Proust on my Cellphone,” and her love for the writing process. Boxer also offers advice for students who want to pursue a career in writing.

 

Most of the essays I've done are reported essays and they're not written in the first person. But my most recent essay, the one about reading Proust on my cellphone, was different because it didn't involve a lot of reporting (unless you count as reporting my looking into my own emails). It all flowed very easily. These days, writing in first person and writing about your own experience are much more acceptable and fashionable than they used to be. When I was at The New York Times, even as a critic, both of these were verboten.

 

I love writing as thinking. In fact, I never really know what I think until I write it down. Once I have one idea and one opening line, I work my way, find a path, through this thought. Once I've found my path, the piece is finished. I love it when the whole thing flows logically and seamlessly. This process is very different from when I'm writing and drawing a comic. There my drawings push the thought along and my thoughts push the drawing along. Here I love the surprises that come from looking at my drawings.

 

The very first first-person essay I remember writing, which was the college application essay that I'm convinced got me into Harvard, was about an experience that I had at CA – falling while rock climbing. I remember being high on a rock face and knowing that I was going to fall, and I remember being very focused on the lichen on the rock face, as I was looking for finger-holds and toe-holds, and then, I remember that when I finally fell and was caught by the belay, I swung out from the rock face and looked out at the grand picture. It was the earth flashing before my eyes. I never would have had that experience without CA!

 

It's old advice, but good advice too: Write what you know, and especially write about the things you know that no one else knows. Keep notebooks and write down not just the grand things and thoughts but minor everyday observations you make. Take note of odd signs and snatches of conversation. Record your dreams. Take a lot of photographs. (I use my pictures as source material.) Also, it helps to be curious. Ask people questions. When you've written something that you think is great, put it away for a week or a month and then go at it like a reader, edit it mercilessly. Finally, I'd advise you to find a profession other than journalism. Being a reporter is no longer the reliable livelihood it once was.

 

For The Atlantic I'm working on an essay about all-women art shows, including one at the Denver Art Museum, “Women of Abstract Expressionism.” If all goes well, it will be out in the September or October issue. I've also got a few graphic novels in search of publishers – Mother May I, which is a sequel to my first graphic novel, In the Floyd Archives, and a comic book version of Hamlet (but with animals!) titled Hamlet: Prince of Pigs.