Monday feedback

Over to you!

Hi writers!

Once again I am really behind on everything! Today is going to be a feedback post, where we can share what we’ve been working on. But first I wanted to share a little about the state of the union Substack.

I’ve known for a while now that I have to change up how I’m doing things here, for one because folks aren’t posting as much as we’d need to create the really generative community I’d envisioned, but also because I’m in a different headspace than when I started this Substack. I had the really weird experience, after I self-published my book of poetry this fall, that I might be…done writing?

I’m sure I’ll still write, but the sort of trajectory I’ve been on since 2015 feels like it’s come to a natural end. I worked hard for eight years, built up a following, got two books published through a traditional publisher and self-published three more (and a journal), creating and ran a writing workshop, and then started this Substack as an offshoot of that writing workshop. And this last book of poetry, I really poured myself into creatively, and included poems I’ve been working on for years and, in some cases, decades. It felt like a completion somehow.

So now I’m in this space where I’m feeling like I want to pursue other forms of art and creativity—music, drawing, painting…dance maybe? I feel like I did what I was supposed to do with writing. At least for now. It feels good, and I feel…settled, I guess. And also, I feel like I want to pursue that community more in person and locally. I’m not getting off of the internet or anything like that, but I don’t feel I have the energy for the amount of engagement I’ve done over the last eight years.

All of which to say, I don’t have the same vision and passion for this Substack that I did before. But I don’t want to give up on it entirely. I think it does have the potential to be a really beautiful space. I just can’t really envision what that will look like at the moment. Maybe it just requires a wintering, a period of hibernation and reflection.

To that end, I’ve paused payments here for a couple of months. I’ll still be posting, but not as regularly as I’d committed to before. I really appreciate all of you who have showed up here, each in your unique way. And I believe in you. I still believe that if you dream of being a writer, you are a writer.

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Share your work!

Okay, so, the prompt from two Tuesdays ago was about sickness and health. You can read it here:

I’d love to read what you wrote, or anything else you’ve been working on. Here are the feedback guidelines:

• You can post up to about 1500 words in the comments on Substack, which is about 3 typed, double-spaced pages. That’s a good limit, I think, to what you should share here, including any special requests or comments.

• Please put content warnings for any violence, sex, trauma, death, etc. This helps us all make informed decisions about whether we’re up for reading about those subjects.

• If you post something for feedback, please give other folks feedback! If you’re able to comment on more than one other piece, that’s appreciated, but please do at least one.

• Unless the person specifically asks for other feedback, please answer one or both of these questions:

1. What moved you in this piece, whether it made you smile, or laugh, or tear up, or feel righteously indignant on the author’s behalf, or just made you think?

2. What made you want to know more? In other words, if there were another page, what would you hope it would expand on?

The focus here is on positive feedback, on identifying where the energy is in the piece and how to build on that, rather than critiquing what doesn’t work. However, feel free as the author to ask additional questions, like, “What do you think of the description of the mummy? Was it scary enough?” or anything you are open to feedback on. If the poster has asked a specific question like that, you can offer a little bit more of an opinion, but still please be kind. :)

Can’t wait to see what you’ve been writing!

Jessica