I want to share your stories.

A call for submissions.

Hello Sadgirls!

When I started sharing my feelings in this newsletter [almost two years ago, wow] I was in the throes of a deep and unrelenting sadness. It became my way of releasing, fighting for joy, and sharing my words with the world. I didn’t care what I wrote here because I was sad af. And when you’re sad af you tend not to care about much.

real

Thankfully the dust has slowlyyyy settled and I’m looking around at all the mess I’m left with, while also returning to myself…or whatever new me is birthed from all this. But the great thing is—I feel zero shame. I wrote what I wrote and I felt how I felt and it took however long it took. But I’d like to share less about myself this year. You all know how I feel about the world by now. Like an alien. Observing human behavior. And maybe I am, who knows, ha. But this alien would like to amplify more voices in this space.

Submissions

If you’d like to share a personal essay about feelings with your fellow Sadgirls, please send them over to submissions@jacqueaye.com. The only requirement is to be mindful of length, write from the heart, and focus on your feelings. Those feelings could be joy, depression, grief, discovering oneself. Anything goes. I don’t care if you’ve published it anywhere else…it doesn’t need to be exclusive or anything. Also, include a 1-3 sentence bio so people know where to find you, please. I do prefer essays that end with messages of hope.

There are over 30,000 of us here. So it’s a great way to reach people who may relate to what you have to say. Depending on how many essays I receive, I’ll share bi-weekly. Personal essays from others will always remain “unlocked” and free to read. If you have a Substack account, please include that in your email, and I will add you as a co-author. If you don’t, no worries…you can still submit!

Why am I doing this? I was asked about my goals for improving this Substack, and after reflecting this is what I came up with:

I’m so excited to learn more from all of you!

If you would rather not write an essay but want to share a product or service as an advertisement, please contact me for rates!

The Return of The Weird Book Club

My book club is back! Last year it got lost in the shuffle, but I love reading weird books with others, encouraging the reading of weird books, and giving money away to buy weird books, so please join if any of that interests you.

This is getting long, so I’ll just share this:

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Read my surreal novel: How to Be a Better Adult

Read my nerdy self-help book!: The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life

Follow me on Instagram!: @Jacqueaye