{"id":369559,"date":"2021-11-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecreativeindependent.com\/people\/writer-alicia-kennedy-on-taking-yourself-seriously"},"modified":"2021-11-01T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T07:00:00","slug":"writer-alicia-kennedy-on-taking-yourself-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/11\/01\/writer-alicia-kennedy-on-taking-yourself-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer Alicia Kennedy on taking yourself seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re one of the more visible writers to make a living from writing a subscription-based newsletter<\/a>. What is that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I started the newsletter because I just needed a place to publish my work consistently. At the beginning of the pandemic, both the contributing editor and contributing writer jobs that I relied on as consistent income were cut. By May 2020, I had lost 80% of my regular income. I started the newsletter thinking it would be a way to grow my audience and get more jobs from other places, not necessarily become the bulk of my work. But I had already decided not to write for food magazines anymore. I write about food from a cultural and political perspective and when I started off I was being very agitating to mainstream food media.<\/p>\n\n

I used the newsletter to put my voice out there in a way that I had never been allowed to do before and it worked out.<\/span> It remains weird because a lot of the people who are super successful on Substack built their audience somewhere else but mine has emerged organically in the past year. Suddenly lots of people are paying attention, which is really strange.<\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s behind the agitating impulse you mentioned?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

My Mercury in Saggitarius? I started my career in media as a copy editor at New York Magazine. When you\u2019re in a research role in a magazine, you are treated really poorly, you\u2019re paid less than everybody else, and no one treats you like you\u2019re very smart. I think I had a lot of pent up rage about that.<\/p>\n\n

When I started writing more, I felt really constrained by the tone of food media. I really found my voice when the Popeye\u2019s chicken sandwich thing happened. Everyone was obsessed with this sandwich but no one was asking any questions about where the chicken came from, how the workers were treated, the chicken\u2019s impact on the environment. That was my moment of just exploding.<\/p>\n\n

I realized I could no longer write in this tone where I don\u2019t take everything seriously. How things taste, how we cook them and the joy we take in that is so important, but that can\u2019t be the only thing we talk about.<\/span> I want to connect that joy to the larger political and economic issues that govern our food system. What would our food look like if we had universal basic income and nationalized healthcare? What would service in the restaurant industry look like if we didn\u2019t really just coerce people into wage labor? I wanted to create a space where I ask and explore those questions. Obviously writing an essay every week doesn\u2019t lend itself to deep reporting, but I\u2019m writing a book, so that\u2019s where the depth is going.<\/p>\n\n

What is your relationship like to your \u2018fan base?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s been strange to have to deal with the assumptions people make about me. As a writer, of course you want people to read your work, you want people to pay attention. But then when it happens, it\u2019s never just about your work.<\/span> It\u2019s really strange to think that people are making up their own version of me in their heads. I\u2019ve put a lot of restrictions on my notifications. People can\u2019t DM me on Instagram unless I follow them. I don\u2019t see notifications on Twitter or from anyone I don\u2019t follow. I have to really protect myself. I don\u2019t want to be in a vacuum and not see any criticism, but at the same time, people often don\u2019t give criticism in a way that is useful or constructive. The other day someone made a Twitter account just to tell me I\u2019m a bitch. There\u2019s no good faith. I interviewed Emily Gould for my newsletter and she told me that you do have to create a bubble for yourself online or people will just drive you nuts.<\/p>\n\n

That reminds me of a quote<\/a> I read in the New York Times recently, Lucy Dacus said, \u201cI honestly don\u2019t wish notoriety on anybody.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Especially when you\u2019re a woman. There\u2019s a double-edged sword that comes with having attention on your work, because so much of the attention is never about your work. Getting attention by virtue of doing your work isn\u2019t the same thing, as begging for attention. I don\u2019t care if someone wants to be an influencer, that\u2019s not my business. But the assumption that any woman who gets attention for her work is asking for it and should just be happy and shut up is a really odd angle to take. It\u2019s like an acceptable form of misogyny.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Has making an income off your creativity changed your relationship to creating? E.g. do you want to write more or less now that there\u2019s a financial imperative to do so?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I have tons to say. It\u2019s really easy for me to write in first person. I like to read. I like to watch things. I like to talk to people while sitting at a bar. All these things feed into what I write. With the newsletter, I\u2019m really not trying to create a grand work of literature. I\u2019m trying to chronicle my thoughts over time as they evolve around certain topics. It\u2019s high stakes, because my financial life is dependent upon this newsletter, but it\u2019s not high stakes in terms of my creativity.<\/span> The newsletter has been successful on the basis of me following my whims. I don\u2019t have the kind of imperative to please people or please my audience in a way that is assumed it\u2019s part of the job. I just follow my muse \u2014 to use a total cliche \u2014 and it seems to work. I don\u2019t feel alienated from my labor at all.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What do you feel is a popular misconception around your work that you\u2019d like to correct?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I guess that I\u2019m really negative? But we exist in the context of a global food system that has a very negative impact on the environment, on labor, and that is something that needs to be discussed. When I wrote about peanut butter and suggested that if you have the means and ability you should buy natural peanut butter without palm oil, because its a questionable resource that leads to deforestation in the Global South, someone responded to me, \u201cI find your moral certitude off putting.\u201d But I\u2019m just trying to remind people that the ubiquity and cheapness of industrial meat and dairy is something that has been constructed by government subsidies and taxpayer money. I\u2019m always trying to reframe how people think of these things.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s interesting to me that stating facts or providing a critical perspective on something that\u2019s widely popular can be interpreted by some people as \u201cnegative.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I\u2019m certainly not a perfect human being. We live in an online world where everyone is presumed a saint until proven otherwise and that\u2019s a very dangerous way of thinking about things. I have my own bad consumer tendencies \u2014 everyone does. But we should all be interrogating these behaviours and challenging them ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Do you stick to a daily schedule\/routine? If so, how helpful is that in terms of cultivating creativity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Keeping a regular schedule is really useful for me, especially since I\u2019m not beholden to any sort of job.<\/span> My fianc\u00e9 works 9-5 in an office, so my life is basically structured around that. I sit at my desk at 9:00am and start with administrative tasks and figure out what\u2019s going on. Then I write until lunch, take a break, and come back to work afterwards. Ideally, I spend the afternoon reading, not writing, because I don\u2019t think as well in the afternoon. I try to maintain Monday and Tuesday for newsletter stuff and Wednesday through Friday for book stuff. When I get off schedule it\u2019s really hard to come back from and I\u2019m very conscious of that.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

How has your relationship with the concept of success changed over time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s one of those things where the goalposts are always shifting. If you told me two years ago what my life would be right now, I would have been like, \u201cThat\u2019s amazing.\u201d But when you\u2019re in it and you have to work all the time, it still feels like a grind.<\/span> I have a note above my desk that says, \u201cYour life will be so good when this book is done.\u201d It\u2019s a mantra for me to remind myself that once I finish the book, I will be free again. Of course I wanted to write a book, but I didn\u2019t realize it would be the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done in my entire life. Which it should be! But going through the process, especially on top of everyday life, is very mentally and emotionally taxing. Hopefully it will feel like success to have my book out and sell it and have people enjoy it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Are there tactics you use in order to avoid getting overwhelmed by the pressure?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I run every weekday morning, which I need to do in order to focus. I have a dog that I love very much. I see the ocean every day. I love to drink wine. I can\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Alicia Kennedy Recommends:<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n

Reading Andreas Malm, especially How to Blow Up a Pipeline<\/i><\/a>
<\/p>\n\n

Charring eggplants
<\/p>\n\n

Listening to the podcasts \u201cBookworm\u201d<\/a> or \u201cPublic Intellectual\u201d<\/a> while walking your dog
<\/p>\n\n

Watching Carlos<\/i> the miniseries and The Young Pope<\/i> on an annual basis
<\/p>\n\n

Splurging on spices
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This post was originally published on The Creative Independent<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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