Chill Subs Weekly Update # idk
Updates, lit mag lists, new workshops, recommendations, and more
April already, huh? Damn. OK. Updates. We got this.
So our major project right now is getting our monthly workshop subscriptions off the ground so we can keep chill subs going while we develop more premium features. And we have two excellent folks to thank for their help on this. First, Andrea Firth, who is teaching this month’s workshop on personal essays with four totally free lessons that just kill it. Two are out already:
And the second person is our artist Mariam who illustrates all of our newsletters. We know artists are getting fucked over by AI right now and we will never get on that train. Everything we do will always be human made and human paid (for better or worse). And no AI will ever be as good as Mariam. Her work has a heartbeat and we’re forever grateful for her outrageous discounts while we grow. Yeah, these are all Mariam:
I just feel like, right now, with everything going all robot AI stuff, it was important to shine some light on a very kind, insightful, and damn good artist. She has an instagram if you’d like to see what she creates when not confined to our whacky ideas.
In other news!
We’ve got a major update coming for writers. You’re gonna love it. Karina and Marcin are working on that.
Kailey and her team just closed up fiction submissions.
Nikita is working on a gorgeous new browsing concept we hope to implement soon.
and Shel is getting a little too good with these memes
And we have some new lists and essays out in sub club!
Essay we published this week
The Problem with the Evangelical Story Structure
By McKenzie Watson-Fore
Editors Note: “McKenzie's essay highlights the connection between testimony and traditional narrative arc. In it, she reveals the limitations of orienting stories around conflict and salvation.”
Testimonies follow the standard narrative arc. Psalm 40 contains each stage: conflict (mud and mire), climax (he lifted me out), and denouement or reversal of circumstances (a new song in my mouth). A testimony must include these elements and allows space for little else. Its formal rigidity precludes narrative possibilities. The testimony confines.
Interview of the week
Grace Loh Prasad
On Diaspora, Grief, and Writing About Living Family, and on Her Memoir ‘The Translator’s Daughter’
by Neha Bagchi
But there is a difference between keeping a diary and writing a memoir. Writing is both process and input, and you can never forget that.
Free Workshop!
On May 11th, join Alex Baia, humor writer and editor of Slackjaw, for a free workshop, You Can Be Funny Now: How To Start Writing Humor!
Many people dream of writing and publishing funny stuff. Is that you? Good, because this workshop will get you writing humor FAST! Whether you're new to writing humor or you have been dabbling at it for a while, this workshop is for you.
Small Press Publishing with a Debut Seminar
Looking for a publisher to call home for your manuscript? Join Emily Jon Tobis next week (April 13th)! You will learn about:
writing query letters (agents vs. presses),
tracking submissions
the research process and fees,
red flags, green flags, how to best navigate technology with productive
how to handle the emotional pressure of rejection after rejection.
*This workshop will be recorded if you can’t attend live!
None of the content in this newsletter will ever be paywalled, but if you’d like to support the work we do, you can upgrade to a paid subscription as a form of donation.
I like us and Mariam is awesome