Jo > Recent Status Updates

Every rave review I’ve come across of Rebecca has turned out to be correct so far. This might actually be a perfect novel…why did it take me 8 years to take it off my shelf??

A much easier to comprehend narrative than I was expecting, but a lot of the advice seems like…common sense? Maybe this is because I was raised by frugal parents, but I’m not understanding the hype yet.

I finally figured out what was bugging me about this book—Febos frequently assumes the reader knows exactly what she’s talking about. Prime example: “what society teaches women about how our bodies should be.” Well…that could refer to 1000 things. This tendency is making her arguments rather hazy, particularly in the first 2 essays (I found the 3rd much better though).

Honestly, I’m disappointed so far. Febos seems to be targeting overtly political writers, which I don’t think I am, and therefore may not actually be this book’s intended audience. But I’ve only read the first chapter, and remain open minded.

So this is how I find out I have low resilience lol.

Not quite what I was expecting to read, but possibly what I needed to read :)

So far, this is a clear and actionable guide to getting writing published. However, it’s for a very specific kind of writing: short personal essays for mainstream publications, usually with a trendy angle (say, “dating in the age of AI” for NYT’s Modern Love). I don’t see the book being applicable to anything more literary, like lyric essays or experimental forms.

Restarted this tome with a physical book as opposed to audio—already a huge improvement in my comprehension. This ought to teach me.

My intuition is telling me to put a pin in this one and return after reading a more linear history, as well as to switch from an audiobook to the physical thing—I’m just not retaining the information, which deserves to be retained!