This is the sixth and last swap for this round-robin series. In November, a new series will be launched. :)

In this series of six swaps, we’ll read two essays related to writing and/or reading from The Electric Typewriter website. Sometimes the essays will be about the same topic, at other times the advice and styles may conflict. The idea is to get us reading more about the craft of writing in order to grow as writers.

You’ll read the two essays, write your takeaways and thoughts in a notebook and mail it to your partner. Aim for at least a paragraph (mine have been two or more pages!) For the next rounds, you’ll write in the notebook you received in the last swap and send it along. The idea would be to get some consistency going and your original notebook returned to you before the end of the year.

Get a notebook, softbound preferred for mailing, that’s approximately 8.5x5.5 inches with 80-100 pages in it. (The size is a sheet of paper folded in half.) These notebooks are generally sold in 2-, 3- or 5-packs at places like Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and Amazon and will fit inside a 6x9 manila envelope to mail.

This will be a six-part swap. Feel free to read all of essays at your leisure – and any of the others on The Electric Typewriter. Each swap has a pairing of two essays. I provide direct links to the essays as well as a one-sentence bio on the authors with a link if you want more information.

You can write longhand (legibly, please!) or type and adhere your responses to the page(s) in the notebook. Please be sure to date your entry and include the authors and titles of the essays in your response.

6th Paring: Kurt Vonnegut and Zadie Smith

Despite Tough Guys, Life is Not the Only School for Real Novelists” by Kurt Vonnegut AND “That Crafty Feeling” by Zadie Smith

Vonnegut, best known for the novels “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Cat’s Cradle,” was a satirical author who probed 20th-century America in his writing. In June 2019, the New Yorker published an essay “What Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ Tells Us Now” by Salman Rushie that can be some bonus reading for you.

Smith is an essayist and novelist whose first book “White Teeth” was an international bestseller.

The series:

First pairing: J.K. Rowling and Stephen King.

Second pairing: Annie Dillard and George Orwell.

Third pairing: [David Foster Wallace and Cheryl Strayed[(http://swap-bot.com/swap/show/276865)

Fourth pairing Elizabeth Gilbert and Neil Gaiman

Fifth pairing Joy Williams and Joan Didion

Sixth pairing Kurt Vonnegut and Zadie Smith

The next series

The next series will pull articles from Writer Unboxed. Go check it out and post below if you have specific suggestions.

Snail mail. USA. Group membership.