Read this, you punks #4

Who are you online?

The King of the Arctic (Walrus). Art by me. 

Hey, you punks. If you want to write, you oughta read. Read this, you punks! is a jaunty list of recommendations directing you to creatively fulfilling pieces. These posts are for paying subscribers. If you enjoy the newsletter, please consider subscribing. It helps a ton and gives ya access to more resources and chats to help you improve your writing craft.

Before You Start Your Memoir

When I chose to focus on personal essays, I remember thinking that I wasn’t comfortable asking sources to be emotional. I wanted to be the one to put myself on display if I was the one benefiting from the story. Cool decision. Noble even. But now, a few years later, I often think, “Damn, I don’t want to tell y’all that.” Memoir and personal essay is a weird arena. And this piece from one of my favorite newsletters about the craft, Writerland, is an excellent examination of that complexity. 

“There is a correlation between candor and curiosity: the more you are willing to tell, the more people will often want to know. But holding back, as you might to protect sources from themselves, does not always work when the subject is you. Many years ago, I submitted through a friend a first-person essay. I thought the piece was revealing. The editor disagreed. He passed on the piece, and wrote back to my friend, something to the effect of “this guy sounds like a weenie.”

The Personal Brand is Dead

Keeping in theme with thinking about how you present yourself online, this piece dives into a recent shift back to early internet anonymity. I have to say I get the appeal. A lot of creatives struggle with separating their work life from their personal. And I’ve always liked the idea of using a pseudonym to help you delineate when you are you, and when you are the creative you. Don’t know if it’s something I’d do. But it’s an appealing idea.

“There just isn’t any good reason to use your real name anymore. ‘In the mid 2010s, ambiguity died online—not of natural causes, it was hunted and killed’ the writer and podcast host Biz Sherbert observed recently. Now young people are trying to bring it back. I find this sort of exciting, but also unnerving. What are they going to do with their newfound freedom?”