Introducing On Reflection, My New Little Pub For Personal Essays, Poetry & Prose
Plus, the difference between memoir and a personal essay...
This week, a writer asked me the difference between a personal essay and a memoir.
I had to stop and think before I could answer.
Here’s the best answer. All cats are mammals, but not all mammals are cats. Does that make sense? That’s because cat is a just one kind of mammal. There are so many more kinds of mammals than just cats. Dogs. Bears. Heck, even humans!
It works the same way.
A personal essay is the big group, like mammals.
Memoir is just one sub-category — like cats. A memoir is a personal essay, but it’s a very specific kind of personal essay. It’s stuff that happened to you. Medium has a story tag called “This Happened To Me.” That’s memoir in a nutshell.
It’s stuff that happened to you. Little bits of your life in a 3-9 minute read.
But there are so many more kinds of personal essays.
You’re walking through the woods one day just pondering the concept of time. Time marches on, people say. But where does it go? Can you see it? How can you see it? So you write about that. It’s not memoir. But it’s a personal essay.
Lena Waithe is a screenwriter. She says she writes stories so people can see fragments of themselves. I think that’s a lovely sentiment.
Last week I mentioned that I was thinking of starting a publication for personal essays. Color me crazy but I did it. First thing that went up was the submission guide.
It’s called On Reflection
The name explains itself, I hope.
I don’t want to inhibit writers, so the guidelines are open and friendly. There’s no specific topic you need to write about. It’s not specific to an age and it’s not just for women. You’re not limited to things that happened to you.
Personal essays are welcome. So are poetry and prose if that’s how you reflect.
It’s just about sharing the things we reflect on. Not how we do it. However you reflect on things is fine. Not just fine, but welcome.
The beauty of opening our hearts and sharing our reflections is that we invite others to feel, and connect. That’s what I’m striving for. Honest human connection.
I hope you’ll join me.
I’d be real happy if you’d click over and follow the publication. If it sounds like the kind of place you’d like to be part of, check out the submission guide and maybe even start on your first submission.
I’m excited to see where this goes and what we make of this, together.
It’s here: https://medium.com/on-reflection/
“Life is a winking light in the darkness.”
-Hayao Miyazaki
On Medium…
Thanks for reading. This is a free publication. I don’t charge a monthly fee, so if you enjoy my writing, please click the heart or share this post to say thanks. :)
xo,
Linda
Linda, you are one of the best Top Ten Great Things About The Internet. Thank you. By the way, I've been following the controversy over Zoom and AI. How do you feel about AI's invasion of all content posted on the internet? Certainly there is an essay there to be found in your extremely capable mind and wordsmithing abilities.
Linda, will you consider an essay published on a Substack newsletter previously but not on Medium?