The Daily Rumpus
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From Stephen Elliott
In Whip Smart, Melissa Febos unflinchingly chronicles five years in her early twenties when she was a dominatrix and heroin user. But the book is about so much more than those details.
...moreToday, on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Get Out of My Crotch! hits the stands.
It’s a collection of twenty-one essays that speak out against the travesties of the US health care system and the relentless prevalence of violence against women.
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In my thirties, I have had two abortions, six years apart. I tell no one. I perpetuate the shame of every woman who has ever chosen to terminate an unwelcome pregnancy—with my silence.
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Sometimes I fantasize about expanding these conversations beyond the one-on-one
...moreWith the Petraeus sex scandal hijacking everyone’s attention away from anything else resembling news – and I am so guilty of gawking incessantly at this juicy side show; I’ll admit I CANNOT wait for the unveiling of the shirtless FBI agent – it’s easy to lose sight of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
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Al-Anon sucked. If I hadn’t been too broke for therapy, I’d never have taken a friend’s advice to attend those awful meetings. They were worse than the AA meetings I’d been to over the years in support of my string of alcoholic boyfriends—three, if you’re keeping count.
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Sari Botton talks with Cheryl Strayed about how she keeps finding the courage to be honest in her work – about herself and others around her.
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When I saw the words “This week’s Letter In The Mail is from Sari Botton” at the bottom of Wednesday’s Daily Rumpus email from Stephen Elliott, my stomach dropped.
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This week’s Letter In The Mail is from Sari Botton.
Sari authors a column on The Rumpus called Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me and recently wrote an essay about her experiences as a ghostwriter.
...moreSari Botton’s excellent piece on ghostwriting has resonated throughout the Internet, with coverage from both The Atlantic and Andrew Sullivan. We love you back!
...more“Somehow you wind up on the topic of his wife’s vagina.”
So begins Rumpus columnist Sari Botton’s story, “Before He Opened His Mouth,” which was published yesterday at This Recording.
...moreAt Emily Books, Rumpus columnist Sari Botton expands on her recent conversation with Emily Carter. Botton addresses her regret at leaving out certain topics, and the personal reasons at the heart of those editorial choices.
“Most of all, the issue is wound up in my central dilemma – my conflicting, deep motivations to both write the truth and protect my father from it.
...moreAre you trying to write today but feeling distracted/unmotivated/lonely? If so, perfect. We’re taking “Write Like a Motherfucker,” Dear Sugar’s #48 column one step beyond…
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When I tell people my greatest fears around writing memoir – namely of upsetting family members by writing about them and/or revealing to them less “virtuous” aspects of myself – this suggestion almost always arises: “Why don’t you just fictionalize?”
Nick Flynn wasn’t writing memoir yet in his early twenties—nor anywhere near publishing—when a memoirist’s worst nightmare came true for him. His mother read a fictionalized “story” he’d written in one of his college notebooks, about a woman struggling in ways that she was, too.
For a brief second in my late twenties, I considered working topless. I knew a girl who did. She tried to persuade me to join her, saying it was easy and the money was great. I was having a particularly hard time, financially; that was part of it.
