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Don't abuse your "I." 

That's what Ed Champion taught me while he pondered a recent controversy over at the National Book Critics Circle blog, Critical Mass. The debate swirls around the way we write about Islam, and this New York Times article neatly sums up the conflict.

However, Champion has turned the debate upside-down, crafting an interesting essay about confessional writing. As a writer, I suffer from some of the first-person malady Champion discusses, and I periodically need to remind myself of the downfalls of too much "I."

So read the essay: for the controversy, for the literary education, and for this honest look at the writing life. Check it out...

"[I]t takes a remarkable degree of confidence, discipline and/or drive to carry on as a writer ... It is certainly not a profession for the weak of heart. It is an often absurd vocation. Every writer, no matter how good, is greeted with continuous rejection, with an acceptance accompanied by a paycheck of varying dollar value."