I don’t even know what the hell I tweet about, it’s just nonsense. Often times it’s inside jokes between me and my best friend or something. You have 81,600 tweets as of last night, which is an average of 30 tweets a day. I guess because being online as a loner and someone who’s not great at human interaction, the Internet has always made it easy to not be alone, but be alone and feel connected. Blogging is just like, Oh, I have some thoughts I’m going to share and maybe other people will read them! I mean it’s always nice to know that other people might be experiencing what you are or can relate to your experiences, so it’s something that’s continued to develop. So it’s been something that’s been in my life for quite some time. Before that I was on bulletin boards and IRC. When did you first start blogging and how has that evolved with the newer platforms? I’m curious about your relationship with social media.
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So if I would get rejected from this magazine, it became like my life’s mission to get something in that magazine - and then when I achieve it, it feels so good. What it always did for me is it just made me hungrier and made me want it more. Sometimes it’s about fit and not knowing the appropriate thing to send to a venue. It’s a good reminder that you have room to grow. It’s important to be rejected - and I still get rejected, of course. I would just sort of sift through them and think about what’s going on and why did this happen. My last blog was called “I Have Become Accustomed to Rejection,” and I blogged about all my rejections.
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How much of that did you deal with and how did it shape you a writer? I guess that’s 100 percent attributable to some of what’s going on right now - I’m loath to use the word “success.” I’m a writer! I’m loath to use the word “success.”įor most writers and other creatives there’s a lot of rejection that predates this level of “success” that you’re having. I have a workaholism problem, and I get that from him because he’s not moderate about work either. Well, the one place I’m immoderate is my work ethic. ROXANE GAY: I understand where he was coming from, and he’s right, but I don’t mind being immoderate.ĭo you think any of that extremism holds the key to your success? How do you feel about that advice as an adult?
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Regardless of what level you’re on in your own writing journey, everyone can use a little advice and inspiration about rejection and how to let luck find you - and I can’t think of anyone better to get it from.īUSTLE: I laughed out loud when I read the part of Bad Feminist where you say your father preached, “Moderation is the key to everything.” My parents were exactly the same way and I railed against it. And while it was an honor to discuss her powerful and affecting thoughts on rape, catcalls, and relationships with other women, the writer in me was thrilled when it came time to discuss her creative process and journey. I interviewed Gay on her book tour for Bad Feminist. WARNING: There will be tears.) And soon she'll head up The Toast's new sister site The Butter where she'll "focus on cultural criticism and personal essays that make readers think and feel." (Seriously, read her blog it’s one of best out there. She's also a Twitter and Tumblr extraordinaire.
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Gay is currently at work on her upcoming memoir Hunger, and she contributes to a number of other outlets. With her finger firmly on the pulse of all issues race, feminism, and pop culture (Exhibit A: her recent interview with Lena Dunham), so eloquently encapsulating our cultural zeitgeist, Roxane Gay is a voice worth listening to. She understands that people, even those she doesn't agree with, are complicated and real, which imbues her evenhanded criticism. Gay is beloved for her ability to distill a wide-range of topics – innocuous racism, Robin Thicke, The Help, female friendship - in a way that is both logical and speaks to the beating heart of the matter. But it wasn't just the press that flipped over Gay, it was legions of young women, too, who finally felt validated in their imperfect practice of feminism - women unwilling to trade their femininity for equality, women who, like Gay, label themselves a "mess of contradictions."
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Her best-selling essay collection Bad Feministand her debut novel An Untamed Statewas everywhere, and all the attention and adoration was every bit deserved. Roxane Gay owned the Internet this summer.