"For so long publishing acted like it didn’t have space for this kind of writing, so I do so unapologetically." Minda Honey's Literary Life
The author of THE HEARTBREAK YEARS shares sound writing advice, her top book recommendations, and reveals a bit about future projects.
I’ve always been very curious about the life that brings a writer to the pen or keyboard. My hope is that in getting to know authors in a new light, we might find ourselves in the process. Today, we are featuring our third author, Minda Honey.
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Minda Honey’s (she/her) essays on politics and relationships have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Teen Vogue, and Longreads. Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger”, “A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South”, and “Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic.”Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS (Little A, October 2023), is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time.
FYI: Minda is hosting KINDLING: How to Begin on September 8 at 1:30pm EST. Sign up for her workshop and enjoy the interview!
What inspired you to start writing?
I was someone who deeply loved books from a very young age and immediately set about telling my own stories. I can still remember the first story I typed up on our home PC about animals having a tea party in the jungle and demanding my dad print it off on the Dot Matrix printer that shook the entire table as it shuttered out my sentences.
Can you describe your first piece of published work and how it felt to get published?
I was on the school paper, my high school lit mag, that kind of thing. But the first time I was really published as an adult was an essay that Kiese Laymon selected while he was an editor at Gawker — I felt anointed. I’d recently made the decision to leave my career at 29 to get an MFA and pursue writing. Being published was confirmation that risk would be worth it.
Were there any early challenges or obstacles you faced when you started writing? How did you overcome them?
MONEY. The perennial challenge, one you might as well go on ahead and get used to unless you’re among the few writers that becomes successful enough to rise above financial strife. It’s the same challenge presenting itself over and over again in different forms — How will I afford to find time to write? How will I afford health insurance if I’m a freelancer? How will I find money and vacation days for writing retreats and conferences? How can I afford to accept so little pay in exchange for my work? The answer to that question looks different at every stage of your writing career and it tends to be a “for now” answer. You just have to figure out the money part of it step by step. And that’s hard. Especially as you get older and you see your friends in more traditional careers achieving financial stability and buying homes and new cars and going on trips and padding their retirement accounts and you’re still just “figuring it out.” But it’s what it is and it’s part of doing what you want to do in this life.
Do you have any writing rituals that you follow?
Not really. I do have a tendency toward cozy-cute. I like to be comfortable at home but still in clothes that make me feel attractive. I have all kinds of femme-y nightgowns and cotton shorts with delicate patterns and a flattering cut. I guess it helps me fit the image in my head of what I think a writer should look like at home — thanks, rom-coms!
What’s your go-to snack or drink while writing?
I don’t snack while I write. Keyboards already get filthy with dust, crumbs are too much for me lol. I thought this was just a me thing but have discovered on social media that a lot of people are actually like this and have three drinks when they write. I prefer something warm like a mug of tea, a glass of water, and the third used to be wine but since I quit drinking, just something with some fizz to it is fine.
What’s the strangest place you’ve found inspiration for a story?
I’m a nonfiction writer so the strange place is always my general existence.
What’s your ideal writing environment?
Natural light is a must. So no matter where I live, I tend to position my desk near a window. Even if there’s no view, I want to be able to see out of it. It’s also nice if the weather is right and the window can be open — a summer rainy night? IMMACULATE VIBES. My desk is massive and when I’m deep into the writing, I clear almost everything off of it because I feel like I think better without the clutter, but typically it’s piled high with books and pens and random mail and other ish. I have a super comfortable desk chair that my job paid for. It makes all the difference. No achy back or hips. I also have a buffet of incense on the windowsill and periodically burn a stick or two. And I have a monitor and a keyboard because my nearly 40-year-old eyes and wrists deserve it.
How has your writing process evolved over time?
I take myself more seriously as a writer so it’s easier for me to tell people, “I’m writing” and have that be a valid excuse for why I can’t do something. I don’t torture myself by writing everyday or being obsessive about any of the other things writers are “supposed to do” to be legit. I think also when you’re an earlier stage writer you want to write something and for it to be done. But I’m way more comfortable with revision or setting an essay aside for months, even years, until the time is right for it or it’s ready. Each piece of work has its own timeline that has to be respected.