People have been telling me here and there that I should start a podcast or a some kind of archive based on my IG stories. Maybe a flipbook of the posts or a show based on the topics I’ve covered already. What I write there is mostly me oversharing about my romantic escapades and work stuff and anti-capitalism and the like. They sound a lot like my books which sound a lot like my journal that I’ve been keeping on my own for years now.

That’s me. I like writing stuff down, both as it’s happening and as a way to reflect. And when people bring up a podcast I’m like yeaaa, but I kinda hate taking videos lol. It’s so permanent. Gotta get all ready and get lighting and equipment. Gotta practice and be perceived physically people consume what you’re saying. That’s nothing if that’s you’re into filming, but I specifically like to write. Now if only people read more lol. Nah, I said that once and a friend was like you just have to make reading cool. That was true.

So it was around that time that I made an IG, and it gave me a more organized audience. Good for promotion or whatever. Fine. But after putting stories up most days for a few months I’m like ok now what? Is this really the place for original written content? The way I write those is more like blogging anyway, just more clipped and short to fit the speedy scrolly format. I like stories better than regular feed posts, but I don’t like how fake-hidden they are. It’s hard to grow beyond your usual crowd. And you also can’t link to more than one website at a time on IG anywhere. Like why are you trying to stop me from being great??

My first three books were born out of a regular old blog just like this. So now I’m going back to that genre with Girltalk, and I’m going to let it be what it wants to be.

-Rachel Wagner 2020