Witches Magazine

Back in October, I began asking girls and women to contribute writing and artwork for a feminist literary magazine I wanted to begin. In the wake of the Kavanaugh hearing, I felt compelled to create something that centered girls' and women's stories, thoughts, opinions, and experiences. Now, the first issue of Witches Magazine is complete, and it feels right to post it here, in the place that taught me the value of sharing my writing. For this issue, I wrote our manifesta and a piece at the end called "Few and Far Between," and I handled all of the editing and layout/design.

It was really satisfying to work on this project and to feel qualified to take on the role I did. It is rare to feel like you have all of the experience necessary to do something well, and this feeling of confidence stems directly from the time I've spent writing and sharing here. My blogposts began in May of 2015, when I was 19 years old, and at 23, I needed a writing project that expanded beyond my own personal thoughts and feelings. I was seeking a different creative outlet to give me a new challenge and to make a bigger difference, and Witches has filled that void for me. 

I haven't written a blogpost in a few months, but I've spent time working on Witches, and I've been writing a lot of personal pieces that aren't necessarily appropriate to share on the Internet. It's getting increasingly difficult to write honestly about my life without incriminating the people I have close relationships with. I am working on figuring out a balance, though, because I still need to write, and I need to write honestly, or else it feels worthless. The pieces that have brought me the most anxiety before sharing are always the ones that resonate most with people.

That being said, I've got a very early draft of my next post lingering in my Google Drive. It's about The 1975's new album, called A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, and about my own experiences in online relationships (AKA relationships). I thought I'd finish it during my winter break, making it a January blogpost, but the Gemini in me wants to be as dramatic as possible and hold off until Valentine's Day to share it. I'm still really proud of my last post, from August 2018, and for a while I thought I'd never be able to top it. Since I ended my monthly deadlines in 2017, I've learned the value of taking my time to edit and make my pieces perfect. I no longer want to share anything here until I'm completely proud of it. 

So I've got a lot of processing (and dating) to do between now and my next post. I hope you'll stick around to see how it all unfolds. Until then, I am infinitely proud to stand alongside the Witches in these pages. I hope you enjoy.


​https://issuu.com/witchesmag/docs/witches_magazine__issue_1