Evyn Katherine McGraw

Artist and fantasy writer

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

You know you're doomed to become an absent-minded professor when you start writing Old Norse noun declensions on the back of old tax documents.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

To boost my morale in the dead of winter, I turned the cork board in my office into a "favorite things" wall. It makes me very happy.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

@tienkeiw Frankenstein in 8th grade. I was absolutely floored about how it asked questions about the human condition. It showed me what fiction was capable of.

Also read the Divine Comedy in college, which changed my life. Currently teaching it now to 12th graders.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

@PhoenixBlackNow I once had a picnic in a graveyard with a con man and the German military.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

My Old Norse workbook is still languishing on my bookshelf, but now I also want to learn Greek. And Italian. Help.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

The random impulse to start learning another language for no practical reason is such a specific feeling that I can't help but wonder if there's a hyper-specific German word for it.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

I had a dream that an agent requested my full manuscript. Out of some bizarre curiosity, the first thing I did on waking up was google the agent to see if they actually existed, lol. They did not.
#WritingCommunity #amquerying

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

What began as a simple little essay to understand why I liked this book spiraled into whatever monstrous thing this is. Dare I call it a blog post or a dissertation?

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

An Analysis of Wicked: Part 1, the Book
https://t.co/56EBzozs8L

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Read the book afterward, and it is also a masterpiece.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

It's surprising and delightful to me how unexpectedly some works of art can just HIT you on an immediate and deep level. A rare gift.
Recently for me that was a surprise excursion to see Wicked on Christmas Eve with family. Such a wonderful experience.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Aha, back up and running. I have escaped my tragic technological fate.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Maybe if I treat the situation like a grand Greek tragedy it'll be less irritating. Off to troubleshoot.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Tried to fix an error on my website and inadvertently crashed the whole thing.
This was either my own hubris, or else I'm justified in shaking my fist at the heavens and cursing the technological "powers that be" for toying with the fate of a mere mortal.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

I know it's not entirely fair to compare such an important ancient work with pulp fantasy stories, but I still found it interesting.
Exact same archetype; entirely different philosophical views on human nature.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

I read the Iliad and some Conan the Barbarian stories recently and was struck by how a single character archetype (big invincible warrior guy) is used for VERY different purposes across the two works. The Iliad problematizes the archetype, while Conan celebrates it.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Achilles's violent rampage is framed as a result of his inability to accept mortality, something that's necessary for proper piety and conformity to the universe.
Conan also rampages, but this is framed as a desirable power fantasy that lacks any concept of human finitude.

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

I was feeling nostalgic about Oxford and wrote this blog post. Just a weird little narrative essay.
https://t.co/FeU9kKauok

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Second blog post is up.
https://t.co/Gy3aIWrs9Z

[Evyn Katherine McGraw @evyn_mcgraw]

Just submitted my first query (of many, I'm sure) to a literary agent. I feel a bit sick to my stomach. #WritingCommunity, any advice on playing the waiting game?