(no subject)

[moominmolly]

Sugar revealed her identity this week. I was unsure how I would feel about it; I figured I would probably not recognize the author's name, and would that feel like a letdown? If I knew it, would it feel like flipping to the end of the book?

Neither was true. Her name is apparently Cheryl Strayed, and her voice under her own name is just like Sugar. This is an essay she wrote on grief and sex. It's violent and beautiful; read at your own risk.

WHAT DOES IT mean to heal? To move on? To let go? Whatever it means, it is usually said and not done, and the people who talk about it the most have almost never had to do it.

Comments

[eestiplika.livejournal.com]

Oh.

Oh.

::picks self up from the floor::

That essay. I think she & Mac Maclelland are my new writer crushes.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That's funny - I had expected her to be Mac Maclelland.

Yeah, so, it turns out I'm happy to know who she is because now I get to read all of her stuff.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

That's what I was hoping for, too. Yay!

[blk]

That writing is amazing and beautiful and heart-wrenching and all kinds of other words that are inadequate.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Sugar is amazing. Now that we know who she is, it'll be great to be able to read her other work.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

What is most strange and beautiful to me is that I first read that essay under her real name years and years ago. And both that and Sugar's columns were pointed out to me by another friend who really loves that style of writing (I do, too, I just don't go seeking it out). And that friend didn't know they were the same person. Just coincidence that she found them both.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That is fascinating! I'm also now curious who else your friend would recommend. :)

[eirias.livejournal.com]

A great question! I've asked her.
In the meantime, her own blog has/had a modest following: http://your-illfitting-overcoat.blogspot.com/

She hasn't written much for the blog in the last yearish as she's been focusing on other stuff, but she's got some really good short pieces on there, IMO (a few I found memorable here (http://your-illfitting-overcoat.blogspot.com/2006/12/dear-john-letter.html), here (http://your-illfitting-overcoat.blogspot.com/2009/05/when-theres-nothing-left-to-burn-you.html), here (http://your-illfitting-overcoat.blogspot.com/2010/07/to-make-you.html), here (http://your-illfitting-overcoat.blogspot.com/2010/08/laundry-in-bathtub-how-debt-almost.html)).

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Oh, you've pointed me at that blog! Did not make the connection.

[metaphortunate.livejournal.com]

Well great, now my heart is ripped out.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure how to post "trigger warning: will rip your heart out", but yeah, me too.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Wow.