Oh, Joan…
010: our new format, what makes a writer, joan didion’s diary being released + more!
1.
Hi everyone! Hi Emma Horsed*ck!
and happy easter for those who celebrate!
I’d like to start talking to you about our new format:
So, the idea for it came because I wanted to talk to you about many things but had to stay limited to one main subject, basically. They do say you have to stay limited to one subject to create your own niche, but Substack has proven to me that that is a big lie.
I never stayed attached to one thing, as a writer, and look at where we are now!
My niche is not having a niche.
To celebrate CERTIFIED getting closer to reaching 5k subscribers, I’m launching my first idea EVER for this newsletter.
Hope you like it! I’m so nervous.
Here we go!
With love,
AMANDA
2.
ARE WRITERS MADE OR BORN?
In his 1962 essay for Writer’s Digest, Jack Kerouac delves into the age-old debate: Are writers born or made? He argues that while anyone can write, true literary geniuses, like Melville, Whitman, and Joyce, are born with an innate originality that sets them apart. Meanwhile writers are made, because anybody who isn’t illiterate can write, writing geniuses are born, their own spark in space and time made the creation of a book we know and love possible.
Kerouac defines "genius" as the ability to create something entirely new, not merely interpreting or imitating existing works. He contrasts this with "talent," which he views as the capacity to deliver or replicate, rather than to create something fresh and new. While many could write about a day in Dublin or a dream, only Joyce could transform such subjects into groundbreaking literature through his unique style, Kerouac writes.
Anybody can write, but not everybody invents new forms of writing. Gertrude Stein invented a new form of writing and her imitators are just 'talents.' Hemingway later invented his own form also. The criterion for judging talent or genius is ephemeral, speaking rationally in this world of graphs, but one gets the feeling definitely when a writer of genius amazes him by strokes of force never seen before and yet hauntingly familiar.
Bringing this discussion to my own reality (Substack and freelancing media), it is true that many articles and pieces are made on writers like Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath and whatnot, but what actually differentiates you from them is the way you write about the subject. Are you groundbreaking or are you a “talent”? How much of you can you bring to the piece?
We have to be careful to not be too inspired by all the media around us made by already established creators and forget our individuality, which is what separates us from the existent media made on the same subject.
Remember: Established creators are already established for a reason. They can be sources of inspiration, of course, but they were born to produce that exact content, and they know they’ll be replicated but they’re not worried about it, because what separates genuine innovation from mere skill is how much passion is involved, how much they want to talk about that subject, how much expertise on the subject is involved.
3.
OH, JOAN…
Joan Didion's posthumous diary is being released to the general public.
‘Notes to John’, offers an intimate glimpse into her personal struggles and reflections. Discovered in a filing cabinet beside her desk after her death in 2021, the journal comprises 46 entries written between December 1999 and 2000. Addressed to her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, the entries detail Didion's therapy sessions, revealing her battles with anxiety, depression, alcoholism, and the complexities of her relationship with her daughter, Quintana. The journal also delves into her thoughts on legacy and the challenges she faced in her personal and professional life .
Scheduled for release on April 22, 2025, ‘Notes to John’ will be published with minimal edits, preserving Didion's original voice.
These notes are part of a 150-page document that Didion’s literary trustees found in her office shortly after she died in 2021, at age 87. In dozens of diary entries dated from late 1999 to early 2002, Didion recounted her sessions with the psychiatrist, Roger MacKinnon — raw and intimate discussions that covered her fear of aging and mental decline, her fraught relationship with her parents and, most of all, her agony over Quintana’s addiction and mental illness — a subject she was evasive about in her writing.
Alexandra Alter, The New York Times
Readers and critics describe the work as both haunting and intimate, shedding new light on her inner life.
I would be a hypocrite to not say that the diary of Sylvia Plath was one of my most frequent reads of my teenage years. Human beings are curious to know more about the minds of people they admire. But, when a book like ‘Notes to John’ explores questions surrounding other people in the author’s life (ex: her daughter, Quintana), is it really ethical to be doing that? Sure, we’re all looking for that spark of vulnerability, especially when talking about Joan Didion, a writer known for her radical transparency in many of her works, but is that the type of vulnerability we’re looking for? We don’t know if Joan Didion would like her notes to be published, especially like this. As a fellow perfectionist, my guess is fuck no.
Ah, the never ending discussion about the ethics of posthumous publication…
How about you? Will you read it? Will you stay away from it?
3.
VIP IS MAKING A RETURN!
Separating a little space on this newsletter to tell you that my literature project,
, is making a return.Focused on in depth literature reviews of books, we’ll be back on May 3rd with a little analysis of Albert Camus’s ‘The Stranger’.
Our VIP project is exclusively made for my paid subscribers, as a way of saying thank you for all the support they give me.
It’s also a way I can let people enter my small little literature freak mind.
4.
REINVENTING YOURSELF IS FUN!
I wanted to end our little chat today by saying that a writer who doesn’t reinvent themselves is already set to fail.
Trying new things can be difficult, but staying on the same path won’t help you to widen it. It’s scary, but you’ll never know how much your audience will enjoy it if you don’t do it. Try new things!! Execute your ideas!!!!!!!
5.
POSTS I LOVED THIS WEEK!
Here’s an actually good Joan Didion piece. A very dear friend sent me this amazing post by another dear friend (the one and only
!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I’m obsessed. You should read it.
I LOVED THIS!!!!! I also love Hinge for sponsoring amazing writers because we get fun posts like this one.
Or this one by
:
And last, but definitely not least:
THE LOVE OF MY LIFE,
IS BACK!
I’ll repeat my comment for you: Brilliant, MAJOR, show stopping, refreshing, funny as fuck, original, completely unique, can never be replicated, can never be replaced, too niche for them, too insanely good to not be worldwide famous.
That’s it!
See you next Sunday (if ur lucky)
who is allowing her diary to be released? thats so disturbing. if anyone read my diary id be mortified, let alone thousands!!
the opening line is LEGENDARY