Sy Safransky | The Sun Magazine #2

Sy Safransky

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Sy Safransky is founder and editor of The Sun. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

— From December 2023
Sy Safransky's Notebook

April 2013

Why do I imagine that the way I shape these sentences matters to anyone but me? So what if my writing is published? Hell, I’m the publisher!

April 2013
Sy Safransky's Notebook

March 2013

Let me start with gratitude: The world is broken in ten thousand places. Can I be thankful for the brokenness? How else can I learn to love the broken world?

March 2013
Sy Safransky's Notebook

February 2013

The days are getting shorter and so am I. It’s a fact. I used to be six feet tall. Last month, at my doctor’s office, the nurse checked my height and told me I was five feet ten and a half inches. I just looked at her.

February 2013
Sy Safransky's Notebook

January 2013

Note to self: don’t worry about your readers. Don’t worry about your reputation as a man with big ideas. You don’t feel big today.

January 2013
The Sun Interview

Conversations With A Remarkable Man

Honoring The Late James Hillman

Why is there such a vast self-help industry in this country? Why do all these selves need help? They have been deprived of something by our psychological culture. They have been deprived of the sense that there is something else in life, some purpose that has come with them into the world.

July 2012
Sy Safransky's Notebook

July 2012

History laughs as the wind lifts her skirts. It’s too late for modesty now.

July 2012
Sy Safransky's Notebook

March 2012

I woke up this morning on the third planet from the sun. In the twenty-first century. In the United States of America. Outside, the sky was still dark, but at the flip of a switch the room was flooded with light. Amazing!

March 2012
Sy Safransky's Notebook

February 2012

I need to cut more pages from my upcoming book, so I’m trying to keep in mind William Faulkner’s advice to writers: “You must kill all your darlings.” No more procrastinating over whether a particular Notebook entry deserves a berth or needs to walk the plank.

February 2012
Sy Safransky's Notebook

January 2012

It took twice as long as I thought it would, and it’s only half as good as I’d hoped, but the first draft of my book is finished. This morning our cat Zooey walked across my desk and vomited on the manuscript. My first bad review.

January 2012
Sy Safransky's Notebook

July 2011

I didn’t feel like writing today, but here I am, lacing up my writing shoes. Here I am, lumbering around the track. That’s all it takes, the coach says. Just keep putting one word in front of the other.

July 2011
Sy Safransky's Notebook

June 2011

I used to worship the face in the mirror. He was the only god around. Year after year I made my sacrifice. Year after year he looked at me and frowned.

June 2011
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