“The title of Lee Upton’s new book tells you everything you need to know about what is to come without giving anything away. If the title feels irresistible, that’s at least in part because it is in itself a micropoem that gets swiftly and surely to the heart of who a writer is. In this book, at once fast-moving and deep-dwelling, Upton constantly circles and vivisects each of the abstractions in her title. More than anything, she explores the notion of ambition, trying to understand its negative implications and to celebrate what she sees as an ultimately creative, engendering force.” — Jasmine V. Bailey, 32 Poems blog

“Lee Upton has written a very clever book on the pitfalls, traps, delights, and temptations of writing. Technically a book of essays,Swallowing the Sea is more a compendium of musings — simultaneously arch, intimate, and confessional.” — Mary Fitzpatrick, Fifth & Flower, the blog of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles

“Lee Upton’s elegant volume Swallowing the Sea is a welcome addition to the admittedly crowded field of writing guides. Through a process of associative memory, Upton explores the writer’s drive to succeed and the anxieties that are produced along the way. The book bears more in common with Anne Lamott’s now classic Bird by Bird (1994) than a traditional writing guide, and as such, may be especially helpful for the new writer who feels alone and lost in the creative field. At its best moments, Upton’s book describes the process of writing with a graceful inertia that builds with each reference to other writers’ similar struggles with mastering the craft.” — Anna Saikin, Pleiades