Yes, You Can Write about ANYTHING.

I’m sitting in the university library’s fourth floor, surrounded by twelve open books spanning disciplines that supposedly have nothing to do with each other. To my left: a mycology textbook open to a chapter on mycelial networks. To my right: Audre Lorde’s *Sister Outsider* bookmarked at her essay on the erotic as power. On my laptop screen: three tabs comparing note-taking apps, two articles about Indigenous data sovereignty, and a YouTube video about sourdough starter maintenance.

There’s a faculty member across from me who keeps glancing over with that look I know well—the quizzical one that says *pick a lane*.

But what she can’t see are the connections forming in real time. The notes on how fungal communication networks mirror the way marginalized communities share survival strategies. Or how Lorde’s concept of the erotic intersects with Indigenous approaches to knowledge as embodied experience. How the care required for sourdough parallels the attention needed for long-term creative projects.

This moment—books scattered, mind leaping between topics, finding threads others can’t see—this is where I’m most myself.

## **When Curiosity Gets Pigeonholed**

Everyone wants you to pick a lane and stay in it. “What’s your specialty? Niche?” they ask. “What are you known for?” As if the most interesting minds in history didn’t range across multiple disciplines, as if curiosity itself isn’t the most valuable thing a writer can offer.

Diversity is the point. The connections between seemingly unrelated topics—like those books scattered across my library table—are exactly what readers are hungry for. The links between chess strategy and therapeutic journaling, between sustainable agriculture and creative writing pedagogy, between true crime psychology and community organizing.

Most writers choose expertise over curiosity. Safety over surprise. I’m choosing the scattered books approach. A 2023 report found that [52% of employees actually consider themselves generalists](https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report/2023-rise-of-the-generalist), and these folks are often the ones excelling at connecting new ideas and working across different fields. This kind of interdisciplinary thinking is [a major driver of innovation](https://ccaps.umn.edu/story/role-interdisciplinary-studies-fostering-innovation), helping us solve complex problems by bringing together insights from different areas. Innovation happens when you make unexpected links between seemingly dissimilar subjects.

### **The Daily Practice**

Every morning I write 750 words in my private journal. No editing, no planning, just whatever’s moving through my mind that day. Over the years, this practice has become my most reliable source of insight —about how ideas actually develop, and how thought