Reading out loud

Yesterday, after allowing myself a week to be all starry-eyed at my book in layout, I printed it and read it out loud, all the way through. It’s short enough to do this in an afternoon. (Thank you to Daniel for taking the kid on an adventure, aka to the shop to ride the forklift and play with the CNC machine, to make this possible!)

In doing my final edit by reading out loud, I was looking for a few things:

• Which chapters would be good for future readings?

• Which chapters/chunks might make good standalone excerpts to submit to places like Lit Hub?

• Do I stumble over anything? Do I have any last-minute line edits?

I cried once, not at the same place I cried last time I read it all the way through. I love this book. I’m proud of this book. It is in no way the book I would write today about the time period it covers, and I love that. I’m glad I captured my postpartum experience while it was happening because it’s so easy to forget what the woods were like once you’re out of them.

I sent off my handful of notes to Michael. In my mind, this project has officially entered a new stage: book promotion.

This week in writing

I am laser-focused on revising and placing essays right now. I firmed up my list of magazines I want to submit to (some of my usual lit mags plus more mainstream magazines my target book audience might read) and noted all their submission guidelines and upcoming reading periods if applicable.

I narrowed my essays-in-progress down to eight that I think I can finish and submit over the next couple of months. Of those, two are in a place where I feel comfortable submitting, so I started that on Thursday. Off into the world you go!

This week in reading

I’m reading Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments and enjoying it.

I’ve also been reading a ton of essays! Here are some of my favorites from what I read this week:

• I’m a Trans Man, but I’ve Become My Mother by Krys Malcolm Belc in Electric Literature

• I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman by Tressie McMillan Cottom in Time

• I Got To Watch My Husband’s Vasectomy & It Was The Best Day Of My Life by Meaghan O’Connell in Romper

• I Think, Therefore I Am Getting the Goddamned Epidural by Rebecca Schuman in Longreads

• I Felt Pressured To Go Through Menopause In Secret. Here's What My Friend And I Are Doing Instead by Melanie Faranello in HuffPost

I just noticed that all of these titles start with “I.” I’m sure some of them were chosen by their editors, but I’ll take this into consideration as I take more pieces on submission…

Love to you all.