Personal.

On the parts of the work that are not the work. Why I write, where I write, and what I am trying to make.

12 essays ← All essays
personal On inheriting a name My name is Hanh Dang. I am Hanh D. Brown now. The D is what survived. personal On reading what i cannot finish personal A short defense of changing your mind
personal What revision is for Revision is the architect's move. Five things it is for. One thing it is not. personal The room where i write I write in a room that smells like a cabin in the mountains. The conditions are not what I thought.
personal What revision actually is personal The sentences i keep personal The other twenty years
personal On writing like you mean it. The verbs give it away every time. A writer who has decided sounds different from a writer still negotiating with herself inside the prose. personal Why i do this AI arrived in the chapter no one promised would come. That is not a coincidence.
personal The voice i was avoiding I spent a decade writing in a voice that was not mine. Here is what the wrong voice sounds like. personal What this is going to be This is what it is going to be. I am telling you now so you can decide.
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Essays, by post.

A small, irregular publication. Sent when the essay is finished and not before.

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Issue 14 · May 2026 Subscribe
Personal.
On the parts of the work that are not the work. Why I write, where I write, and what I am trying to make.
12 essays
personal · The lead
On inheriting a name
My name is Hanh Dang. I am Hanh D. Brown now. The D is what survived.
personal
On reading what i cannot finish
Fifteen books I have started multiple times. None of them is the book's fault. The architect in me is still reading them.
personal
A short defense of changing your mind
personal
What revision is for
personal
The room where i write
personal
What revision actually is
personal
The sentences i keep
From the notebook
"I have been a real estate investor for over twenty years. The homes taught me what the AI models still cannot."
personal
On writing like you mean it.
personal
Why i do this
personal
The voice i was avoiding
personal
What this is going to be
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