#UnboxYourWords

Love this, by @michpenn.bsky.social, in the new editon of @perversemag.bsky.social: “Such an angry box, tired of being told it’s a box when it’s a sweep of matter in an unknown universe…” Yes! #UnboxYourWords

A screenshot of a quote from Rebecca Solnit: "Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine act of insurrection.” And above are the words, in green: Unbox Your Words, June 2025: Writing Joy.

My #UnboxYourWords' June writing prompt is writing joy, inspired by this from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social “Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine act of insurrection.” substack.com/home/post/p-...

Text in white on a purple background. Text says: "Unbox Your Words 5a Jan 2025: counteracting all this New Year pressure to be brilliant with a little 'badness'.. (Listen to me read the first half of this post - audio of the second half below). TaniaHershman.substack.com.

In my January #UnboxYourWords writing post for Substack subscribers, I'm taking a different approach to the New Year and encouraging not resolutions but a delicious & naughty "badness", whatever kind of writing you're doing! Take a peek at the post here: taniahershman.substack.com/p/unbox-your...

Unbox Your Words 4b Dec 2024 A little something to read over the holiday period...

Well of course I’ve sent out the next #UnboxYourWords post on Boxing Day! I’ve not got much of a clue what sort of boxing is supposed to be happening today, I mostly ignore things you are “supposed” to do. Here’s a little something for you to read: taniahershman.substack.com/p/unbox-your...

I've created a Hybrid Writing starter pack, a place to find writers, lit mags & publishers who leap over genre boundaries & out of boxes, ignoring labels & definitions - in their own writing & in what they publish! Pass it on and let me know who else I might add! go.bsky.app/MswLLwc #UnboxYourWords

A screenshot of the opening of my November Unbox Your Words Substack post, with the text: Unbox Your Words 3b Nov 2024 Some reading material, unboxed from labels and genres Tania Hershman Nov 27, 2024 ∙ Paid Dear Unboxers, here is your second post for this month, a little reading material I hope you’ll enjoy! (I’m not doing an audio version of this post because I have a very heavy cold, but hope to be back in full voice for the next post). I’ve decided, in the spirit of Unboxing, to refer to everything I offer in these posts as “pieces of writing”, letting go of any other labels, genres, categories. I know from much personal experience how the word “poem”, say, can be fraught for many of us, it took me years to overcome this feeling that I didn’t know how to read it and certainly wouldn’t be allowed/wasn’t qualified to write it. I know that the word “fiction” can be off-putting for many too, a pressure to make things up - and the opposite kind of pressure with labels like “memoir” and “non-fiction”. ..

The 2nd #UnboxYourWords Substack post for Nov has just flown off to subscribers: something to read you might not have found yourself, to entertain & pass on permission to play. This month it's a piece I love that I first read in the @newyorker.com in 2015: taniahershman.substack.com/p/unbox-your....

Unbox Your Words 3a Nov 2024 Watching TV like an alien... and your workshop discount code

Yes, exactly, so useful! I set it as the writing task/exercise for my latest #UnboxYourWords post over on Substack: watch reality tv as if you're an anthropologist or an alien who has just landed and is trying to figure out who lives on this planet 😉 taniahershman.substack.com/p/unbox-your...

I'd like to find like-minded #HybridWriting folk here: writers, lit mags and publishers who leap over genre boundaries & out of boxes, ignoring labels & definitions - in their own writing and in what they publish! Can you point me in the right direction, lovely people of BlueSky? #UnboxYourWords