She says she loves to describe things but tries to avoid dialogue, which she feels is her weakness as a writer. She tends to use repeat images. She says that was not contrived or deliberate, just that they kept coming up when she was writing. She also likes to write vignettes, finding the shorter format of a vignette an attainable goal, something she can finish and put away for a while. One of the reasons that motivates me is that I don't like to linger too long in one place, not only because I am afraid I am going to start rambling, but because I am afraid I am going to lose my reader's attention.
Vignettes are also easy to shape and hone.
You can move them around where with a one piece narrative its harder to cut and paste. Hughes thinks that personal essay and nonfiction are powerful venues for writing. She is thrilled that people are willing to share their personal stories with other people. Though she thinks it can be carried too far, or, in some instances not far enough. I intentionally try to downplay everything.