I created a publication!
Supporting my own writing in the meantime
Heyyy…I did it, y’all!
Remember my last post when I lightly raged against the MFA industrial complex and the homogenous nature of literary journals today? And remember when I thought about just making my own publication on Medium to have a place to share my writing on my own time?
Well, I’ve done it! *Party City noisemakers* It took a little over a week to come up with a damn name but I finally did, hit the blank Canva(s) to design the logo and whatnot, and…paid $5 to become a member. :/
The Landlord
So, I guess it was a recent development, us having to pay to become a member in order to create a publication on this website. Of course I had to get behind the paywall. It almost stopped me from going through with it, because I’m so deeply frugal (cheap) and any slight inconvenience will deter me from doing anything. And also, I didn’t feel like getting up to get my debit card.
I paid the measly $5. I’m still in a broke college grad mindset, but I had to remind myself that I wanted to do this to encourage myself and my creative life (and that I could more than afford it). I’d always let something stop me before, but I didn’t want to give up as easily as I usually do this time.
Still, I can’t help but scoff. Of course the things that were once free on Medium are being locked behind the glass. I remember essentially being evicted from the Medium Partner Program because I didn’t have enough followers. The Medium goons dragged me out of the house and I was shouting, “After all we’ve been through, you kick me out into the cold?!”
I should’ve gotten special treatment for taking the least amount of money from them — I’ll give you the $1.43 back!
The Magazine
I’ll be posting the stories that I personally like but feel won’t fit into any other journals/magazines. I really do still want to have actual publication credits in different places with big audiences. Obviously, like…come on. But ANiN is something I can call my own, and that’s something I’ve found really matters to me in life.
The freedom to just share what I want without having to conform to what others want (Em-eff-ayyyys) will be a nice change of pace. Trying to find the perfect fit for my voice, for my characters, was starting to become frustrating. So, why not just stop for a little bit? Stop searching, stop forcing it…and make a home for my stories by myself?
Well, not completely by myself. Medium is doing most of the work here since I don’t know how to code my own website. Damn you, language arts brain! Why couldn’t you understand anything from that Intro to IT course?!
Anyway.
Enjoy ANiN.
Enjoy my stories.
If you want.
