I definitely need to tease this out into a longer piece, but I think that’s why I mentioned in that thread about writing reviews that we can’t just praise everything we read. And we can’t just shit on it either—push back is necessary! Reading is a fundamentally embodied, transient, political act!!
It’s a pleasure to be in conversation with your work, Meg! The literary ecosystem is so much better with your writing in it.
It’s also why I wrote that last line, you know? Instead of naming him and making sure he lives forever, why not dream of a world where I do? I didn’t survive; I outlasted. 💐🌙
She’s truly so, so smart! The literary landscape is better because of her contributions ✨👌🏼
also divas you should peep @megpillow.bsky.social's essay from @literaryhub.bsky.social here! it's done with so much care and breath 💖 you should read it, but especially if you're a cis man. and then you should take a moment, and then you should read it again.
...only sort of end up doing the very self-indulgent, very academic thing of being overly pedantic for the sake of being pedantic lol. To me. And like yeah not everything is for everyone and audiences and special focuses and yes/and, etc. etc.
But we should all be looking at our bellybuttons more.
Do you want people to read or not? I think the other thing is, and I'll stop here because this thread is getting too long, the very sort of argument that people use to shit on personal writing (i.e. navel-gazing) in favor of overly sophisticated, cerebral, academic syntax...
Because sure, "This blew me away!" type praise isn't helpful to analyzing a text. But also do you think people want to read some overly academic, linguistically inaccessible thing? Part of addressing the literacy crisis means making books and individual texts fun and inviting for people to read.
It's also difficult for folks to write literary reviews b/c it just feels like you can't criticize (and I mean actually criticize, not tear down) or push back on a text. Boring. Very un-party. I need us to move past the belief that we can only praise a text. I need us to have fun with these things.
B/c yeah being overly personal can limit one's own understanding and it can come off as overly self-indulgent and I get that. But I think it's also really asinine (and likely ableist) to pretend reading a text isn't an embodied experience, that there's no room for creativity or play with language.
And I think more than that, I'm just really, really tired of the longstanding belief that review writing/literary criticism is just this sort of purely cerebral, academic thing. Reviews are so difficult for so many people to write for that reason: this shit's boring! There's so creativity behind it!
The other thing is, I also wrote this because I needed this to be as personal and, yes, navel-gazing as possible because I'm very frankly sick of the frankly rude way that writers shoot down more personal writing with words like navel-gazing. (Is that hyphenated? I don't give a damn.)
But also, while I was writing it, I wondered if it was too personal, too much in the spirit of navel-gazing. I wondered if it wasn't analytical enough and whatnot.
Then it hit me: I didn't give a damn.
lmao
Also sidebar I feel kinda weird about telling y’all to read it, just because I’m the editor of this department at SLM (it’s not uncommon for review editors to do reviews, I know), but I wanted to write about Meg’s essay because I think it’s one people should be reading.
AAAAAAAA OMG DIVAS I JUST WOKE UP BUT NEW EPISODE OF @splitlipthemag.bsky.social IS OUT TODAY! 🫦✨
friends, this issue’s a stunner. I hope you peep it, especially the review of @megpillow.bsky.social’s gorgeous essay in @literaryhub.bsky.social. It wouldn’t leave me, so I figured I’d write about it.
unrelated reminder (because the government isn’t trying to legislate trans/nonbinary people out of existence or anything) that penile enlargement surgeries, BBLs, hair transplants, breast augmentations, etc. are, in fact, gender affirmation procedures—of which cis people are the biggest recipients
a bummer to not have gone to AWP for this last day and meet more people.
but also, friends, when the body says sleep, says less noise, says lay down, I hope you do.
we should all be getting more rest.
hi divas, there’s just three days left to send to the Micro department @theoffingmag.bsky.social before this reading period closes! we pay $25USD per micro. would love to see more Micro prose, but send send send! I would love to see your work in the queue, & please share with your friends! 🌊✨🌙
venmo: @renthelpmpls
if you feel like passing around a link today and helping fundraise for rent that will actually get paid today (and in the next few days for families who have a grace period) you can send here.
we will be going hard all day. i won’t be posting about it because I don’t want to flood your feeds.
heated rivalry implies the existence of a chilled harmony
It's truly such a gift to work with you! Always a pleasure to publish you, Rachel!! ✨
things have been dark lately but AAAAAA BABE WAKE UP NEW EPISODE/SEASON OF @splitlipthemag.bsky.social is out today !!!!! I so hope you peep the review by @rachellayown.bsky.social of @chriscampanioni.bsky.social’s book, & takes such a fun, meandering personal turn in this one. well done Rachel! 🫦✨
hi divas, happy new year! just wanted to share that the Micro department over @theoffingmag.bsky.social is open for submissions! I love poems, but I’d also love to see more micro prose (fiction, essays) in the queue. we pay $25USD per micro. hope to see your work, please share with your friends! 🌊✨🌙
this planet is so unserious. day after Christmas and it’s over 80 degrees where I live 😭 like wtf y’all, why does it feel like springtime !!!!
(jk, don’t answer. climate change is real and everything is overwhelming and sliding into inevitable collapse lolsob)
and a happy new fear to us all ♥️✨
merry chrysler 🎄✨
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"I lose altitude; I fall in love with myself."
Divas, I'm so terrible at updating the public on news, but I have an interview out on the blog over @splitlipthemag.bsky.social! It was honestly so lovely and fun to talk about craft choices and what I love about writing and editing. Peep it below! 👄✨
