Last week I had another #careermilestone as a piece I wrote was published online by Going Down Swinging. The text that I’ve taken from their website and posted around social media reads “Going Down Swinging is one of Australia’s longest-running and most respected literary journals,” which I think explains just how excited I am to have something I wrote appear on their website.
The piece in question is titled “Cartoons, Catharsis and Closure” and is adapted from some of the writing in my book Watching Cartoons with Boys. It’s a personal essay considering the associations we can form between people and the media we consume at the time (for me, of course, it’s always cartoons) and how this association both benefits and burns us. An excerpt I quite like is below:
“The association between my favourite person and my new favourite cartoon proved so strong that when we split up, I suddenly couldn’t bear to watch Adventure Time again. I’m sure you understand. Remember that one Muse album you loved as a teen and listened to religiously with your high school crush? And then, when that relationship ended, how the same album suddenly felt as abrasive and unlistenable as a live recording of The Birthday Party? Well, Adventure Time is to my romantic relationships as Matt Bellamy’s voice is to adolescence. They go hand in hand.”
If you’d like to read the full article, click here.
Next month I have a piece that will be published online at The Writers Bloc (a great resource for writers) as part of their “Building Blocs” series. I’ll post an update to the website as soon as that comes out, but in the meantime if you’re a writer who hasn’t yet looked at their website you should definitely click here. Writers Bloc post regular updates on jobs, prizes and awards to apply for, and you can also submit writing anonymously for feedback and review work from other writers.
