Once when she read my writing, my good college adviser from last year advised that I "go deeper." And though criticism is hard for me to take, it did cause me to think for a long time about what I might do in order to "go deeper."

In the past when I try to write deeper, it has meant I put more words on the page or try to add more details. But I think I have figured out what my adviser meant when she said this.

She wanted what I too want and what I already enjoy when I read. Depth means writing more in less words and thinking more substantially. Getting to the root of things is really what it means, and doing that before chapter ten. Doing that from the beginning or being willing to rip out the first nine chapters, starting with the core.

Yes, depth for me, true Maggie depth, means less words not more. It means taking a challenge that seems impossible, like the 300 pages my father hopes I write before he dies, and diving in.