Story Cycles and Essay Collections--How to Think about Order, Flow, and Transitions

Books, being the long and onerous journey that they are, often benefit from the break of shorter writing projects.

I've written about this before here. I'm a writer who benefits from an occasional pause to the slog of a book. Although I used to feel mildly guilty about this sidetrack into short stories or essays, I usually come away refreshed and ready t…