Writing by Ali Blackmon
Alive, Anyway
Personal essays and stories on the brutal beauty of being alive, and the humor, audacity, perspective, and gumption it takes to endure the catastrophic and embrace the wonderfully absurd.
Selected essays
Still Water Terrifies Me
There is a point when reflection becomes residence. I’ve lived there. I still do.
You’re a Writer?
A book festival, an imagined moment of recognition, and a day that refuses to follow the script. An essay about wanting to be taken seriously as a writer—and the absurd things that happen along the way.
All the Funny Things People Say
An encounter on a bus, the things people say, and the distance between intention and understanding.
When Freedom Feels Like Freefall
What happens when the structure that organized a life disappears? An essay about uncertainty, possibility, and the disorienting space between getting through and beginning again.
I Did All That Surviving. Now What?
The uncomfortable work of discovering what comes after getting through.
The Ginger Man
A crowded bar, a conversation with a stranger, and the narrator’s first impressions coming undone. Scene, dialogue, and humor make room for a different understanding.
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Earlier Writing
The Girl with Glass Feet — Personal essays by Ali Blackmon.
About the writer
Ali Blackmon is a writer, storyteller, educator, and founder of Help Me Hope.