Hi everyone. Yes, it’s Sunday. Yes, I’m writing a newsletter instead of walking around enjoying nature. Why? Because it’s my book launch in two days and I have to work on various things to prepare, but I figure I’d write you in the meantime.
Alas I don’t have a recap of last week’s workshop with Elizabeth Kiefer; we ended up getting into the weeds moneywise so we didn’t feel comfortable releasing the recording. But don’t worry I have plenty of editor friends so we’ll do another lifestyle-oriented one soon, ok?
In the meantime, wonderful volunteer Andy Bandyopadhyay made a Fairest Writer Survey to help us figure out the group’s needs. PLEASE FILL IT OUT (it’s quick!). The more I and the other volunteers know the better we can serve you!
For next week, I’ll be on Zoom solo “teaching,” “What It’s Like to Launch a Book.” REGISTER HERE. This is right before my Strand launch event with the wonderful Jenna Wortham. I’m not advertising this one outside this community so looking forward to something intimate and informal, just me talking about the whirlwind and what you can hopefully look forward to, for those of you who haven’t published books before.
FAIREST NEWS
The rollout to Fairest’s launch has begun! I will do my best not to bombard you and will only post highlights. Two big highlights this week are this deeply perceptive review from Kai Cheng Thom for The Boston Globe, who writes that, “Talusan breathes new life into the well-worn body of the transgender life story, showing the reader deep wells of complexity where, in a less truthful or less talented writer’s hands, oversimplification and cliché might reign.” Whew.
Then the other highlight was Scott Simon (or Scooter, as he asked me to call him, ha ha) interviewing me for NPR’s Weekend Edition. Just hearing him say the words “gender-nonconforming transfeminine person” was enough to make my day, but his questions (a lot of which were cut for time in the version that aired) were deeply incisive and honestly gives me a lot of hope that my book will be read outside of queer and trans communities.
TIP ME!
One of the insights from the survey so far are that a lot of folks are thirsty for concrete tips on the business and practice of being a writer. Conveniently, I’m well-known for procrastinating by working, so I already wrote a list of freelancing tips for our Facebook group (which you should join!) so I’m putting it down here in case you didn’t see it.
5 Things I Stopped Doing as a Freelancer When I Became an Editor:
Treat editor-set deadlines as flexible since the editor fudges them too (gets really chaotic when both sides fudge and editor has more to juggle).
Accept the rate I'm first offered unless I really need the byline (editors often leave wiggle room in their budgets for negotiation).
Be overprecious with my prose (To what degree do extra words really matter when it requires having to go through another editing round?)
Ask for every change I want in a story (I usually pick just one or two points and if the differences are greater than that I often think it's better to pull).
Treat my editor as the gatekeeper of me getting to see my work in print (I view editors now as my collaborators, and am happy for them to shift my writing for the better).
Someone in the group added, “Not retain my copyright,” but I’ve always retained copyright for my freelance pieces so that wasn’t one of mine. It might be fun to do a workshop called something like, “How to Maintain a Good Relationship With Your Editor,” with another friend who both writes and edits.
SUCCESS STORY
Our success story this week comes from Jorge Dorantes, who wrote me an email that reads in part:
I wanted to take a moment and express my sincere gratitude for these workshops, they have been wonderful to date and I’m excited to join and learn more each week. I’m also emailing because your classes have inspired me to come out of a four-year retirement as a freelance writer. Today, I published my first story since 2016 in Indianapolis Monthly: Preview: Black Art Auction.
It’s a brief preview, but it’s also the start of a budding relationship with the editor and publication. I plan to continue pitching and joining your workshops, but wanted to take a moment to highlight and recognize how you’ve inspired me. As a QPOC from the Midwest, I deal quite a bit with impostor syndrome and your courses have given me the courage and conviction to break through it. Thanks again and looking forward to next week’s class!
If there’s anything I’ve learned from life, it’s to not let other people define who I’m meant to be. It’s part of why it’s so important to me that people from groups who don’t normally get to be part of media and publishing are able to benefit from this community, and hearing from folks like Jorge makes me immensely happy.
RECS AND PARKS
New York magazine’s “The Strategist” asked me to recommend a calming audiobook and I chose Jennifer Pastiloff’s memoir On Being Human, which is immensely affecting to listen to in part because Pastiloff is deaf so she can’t hear herself narrate her own book. Nonetheless, she has become a leading expert in the art of listening.
During our workshop, Elizabeth Kiefer recommended Claire Dederer’s “What Do We Do With the Art of Monstrous Men?,” which I don’t think I’ve read before, but I agree with her that the way the piece wrestles especially with Woody Allen’s legacy and how fraught it is to watch the films of horrible people is something that will stay with me for a while.
There’s been a lot of press about The New York Times front page that’s a list of a thousand people who died of COVID-19. I haven’t seen the print cover but this multimedia feature sure took my breath away, especially when I happened randomly upon this name when I was scrolling:
It’s so hard for people to grasp the scale of mass tragedies and NYT did such an amazing job conveying that in digital form.
Now go to the woods! Or a park! But stay away from people! Here’s a GIF to send you off…
Talk soon!
Meredith