Dear Geist,

How do you write a personal essay without mentioning yourself? I submitted one to the non-fiction editor at a magazine I like. He's keen to run it but says: “You need to take yourself out of it.” I want this dream to come true but I'm too embarrassed to ask the editor how to write a personal essay while not being a person, so I'm asking good old Geist. Help!

—Paula H, Sherbrooke QC

Dear Paula,

Indeed, the editor's advice does seem like a contradiction, and by definition a personal essay requires a point of view. But the essay is about an idea, an illumination, a person, a time, a new perspective—through you, rather than about you. The trick is to maintain a subtle presence, which you can achieve by using a bare minimum of personal pronouns—I, me, my, mine, myself and so on. That in turn can be achieved largely by avoiding filters that call attention to the essayist—I saw, I thought, I hoped—rather than to the subjects of the essay.

For more on this always-interesting topic, see our post Me, Myself and I.

—The Editors