Please Preorder My Book!
"The Guerrilla Feminist" is finally ready to preorder!
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It’s official. My memoir, The Guerrilla Feminist: A Search for Belonging Online & Offline is finally available for preorder! I want to scream it out to the world and yet, I’m also terrified of it’s release and reception.
I put my best writing into this book and because of that, I feel like my writing in this space has not been as good as it could be. I feel depleted, used up, and tired. I haven’t been able to think too intently about what I want to write here or anywhere. I’m trying to flow with this.
This book took 10 years to write. I had a lit agent from 2015 to 2023 who wanted me to write a very different book (that I didn’t want to write). I then lost the lit agent after posting about Palestine, specifically after the events of Oct. 7 2023. Did she drop me because of that? I’m not sure, but the timing is suspect.
I only got the lit agent because of my Instagram following. I put a call on my stories one day for a lit agent, and a few trickled into my DMs. I went with the one I probably shouldn’t have. It was a privilege to get a lit agent, but it was also a huge bummer and not like anything I thought it would be.
There is some sadness that I didn’t get a “book deal.” There is some sadness that I didn’t have a Publisher’s Weekly announcement. But these things aren’t what makes a person a writer. These things don’t automatically make a great book.
I still have my Instagram following—even if it doesn’t feel like it since Instagram doesn’t seem to show my posts or stories to my followers. I still have an audience. I still have ways to spread the word about my book.
Now that the book is available for preorder, I find myself second guessing things I wrote. Was I too mean about this person? Should I have taken out the line about driving to Evanston for “mediocre dick”? Should I have included less about sex and rape and power and violence? Will people think I’m a horrible person? Does anyone really want to read about my life? Have I had a life that is worth writing a book about?
All of these questions (and more) swim in circles in my head.
At some point, I know I will just have to surrender to whatever might happen; whatever people might think of me. I will have to surrender to people disliking me, ostracizing me, thinking less of me.
I find comfort in those who truly love and know me and my heart. Those who know my life story (thus far) and still love me. Those who trust me, who believe me, who honor and validate my experiences.
As I wrote in the introduction:
I have never craved danger, because I have lived too many lives of it. I’ve witnessed and experienced violence online and offline and been told repeatedly, “It’s not a big deal.” I’m chronically hypervigilant from various traumas, and the internet does not assuage this. Being online is messy, beautiful, and loud with too many heartbeats. It won’t get us free, but it’s a helpful tool for many of us to continue to exist in a world that doesn’t care if we live or die.
I didn’t write this book to be liked. I wrote it to pop the balloon of my life and let out my experiences, traumas, and lessons. I wrote it for those who also feel like they don’t belong in online and offline spaces. I wrote it to commemorate the messiness of humans.
I do hope that you’ll read it and enjoy it.
Also, big BIG thanks to Iskra Books (Ben Stahnke and my editor Talia Lú).
Equally big BIG thanks to Vichcraft for designing the most gorgeous book jacket ever.
We Need Mandatory Masking in Healthcare, and We Need it Now -
Saving history: These archivists' mission to preserve social media record of war in Gaza - Charlie Bell, Agnes Ored
Are We in a Golden Age of Plagiarism? - Grace Lapointe
Patchworks of Memory: Quilting Remembrance and Healing - Lisa Gail Collins
Hegemony and childcare - Francesca Mezzenzana & Gabriel Scheidecker
Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe - Jason Koebler
Palestinian women come forward with allegations of increased sexual violence by Israeli forces since Oct. 7 - Kylie Cheung
What Would It Look Like If Librarians Ran the Government Instead of These Fools? - Emily Drabinski
Thank you to N for sending me this song <3