The Magic of Good, Vulnerable Writing ✨
Bassey Ikpi on "I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying"
Hi Bleeders,
Bassey Ikpi grew up thinking authors were magicians, and it turns out she knows how to cast the spell too! Her memoir I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying is one of my all-time favorite books for its unflinching honesty and fully dimensional articulation of living with mental illness. Bassey takes readers along with her so viscerally as she solves the mystery of what plagues her.
🎧 The latest episode features New York Times bestselling author Bassey Ikpi.
In this episode, Bassey shares how the book proposal outlined a totally different book — in tone and content — but working on it amid a mental health crisis led her down a more authentic path. She talks about having an emotional memory, emotional accuracy vs. chronological accuracy, how she found her agent, how her editor helped her identify the theme, her book getting optioned for TV, what’s on her bucket list, and so much more... This episode is a juicy one!
Here’s a preview:
“I think every writer or person who writes at some point wants to write a book. But my process was different because I never had the reason to write a book. I had things that I had written. It just wasn’t this impulse, and I didn’t really know how to start again. I was still operating under the auspice this was a magical thing, and magicians did it, and it’s not something that was accessible to everyone.”
Where I write:
I’m asking each guest to give us a peek behind the scenes. Bassey said, “I haven’t written in my office in months. My current favorite place is the floor of the closest space I built for my birthday in August.” It looks like a cozy little cocoon of a space, perfect for making magic.
Episode links:
🏃♀️ Follow Bassey on Twitter @Basseyworld and Instagram @basseyworld.
🛒 Order Bassey’s book, I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying.
💻 Check out Bassey’s website for more about her writing.
🎧 And, of course, pop in those earbuds and listen to Bassey Ikpi on How She Did the Magic with “I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying” on your favorite podcast platform.
poem: a letter from britney spears to the paparazzi (2007)
by Bassey Ikpi
Editor’s note: Whenever I interview an author, I ask what their favorite piece of their own writing is. Bassey was kind enough to share hers with us here today. What a treat. Thank you, Bassey!
-
This is me broken
For months you've documented this spiral
Downward with flashbulbs and camera rolling
This is me broken
Same body once praised for hourglass
Now ridiculed as ticking time bomb
There will be no explosion
No million dollar video of rage and destruction
-
This is me broken
Soft disintegration of will and resolve
I am nothing but human
In this moment
weak
In this moment
torn
In this moment
A girl who seeks ground soft enough
To sink into
-
This is me broken
-
If tears were found
Toxic enough to kill
you would probably sell
tickets to my suicide
-
This is me broken
Crazy
insane
Scream it neon from headlines
Remove all empathy and compassion
From your tongue
Forget that I am maybe your
daughter
Probably your sister
Most likely the you found in mirrors
I am reflection of this need to build
And destroy
-
Maybe, when death comes
I will be remembered for
more than these moments
Origami folded into history
Beautiful and delicate
"Here lies Britney. She begged you to love her."
-
Maybe then there will be some remorse
Melted and honey sweet in your mouth
Maybe then you will
Sing me a praise song
This girl who needed love in life
Fashioned it out of outburst
And fishnets
Remember me more than dismissed trailer trash
Or spoiled child star
More than this cliché of poor little rich girl
I am a woman
-
I am a woman who bleeds so often
I've forgotten what healing feels like
-
this is me broken
-
So when the end comes
Barreling down on you like
Expectation and disappointment
Remember me beautiful
Change the epitaph let it read:
-
Here lies Britney…
you used to love her.
Online reading about writing:
Fact Checking Is the Core of Nonfiction Writing. Why Do So Many Publishers Refuse to Do It? - The onus of fact-checking tends to be inexplicably on writers themselves. In this article for Esquire, Emma Copley Eisenberg outlines the dangers of authors being forced to hire their own fact-checker out of pocket. I’m currently reading Eisenberg’s research-heavy The Third Rainbow Girl. It’s a fascinating read; I hope to have her on the podcast soon to discuss it.
How I Became a Morning Writer - Morning writing is definitively not my thing, yet it’s something I envy in others. Hurley Winkler offered tips for how she developed the habit in a recent edition of her Substack, Lonely Victories.
The Sublime Danielle Steel: For the Love of Supermarket Schlock - There’s much about Danielle Steel to be admired. Lots of delicious surprises about her and her process in this profile by Dan Sinykin for the LA Review of Books.
What I’m reading:
Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process by John McPhee - Elissa Bassist recommended this book during her recent Catapult workshop. In it, John McPhee covers a lot of ground craft-wise using examples from his long career at the New Yorker, but my biggest takeaway was how to be more deliberate and exacting with structure.
40K words in 72 hours?! Jesse Q. Sutanto explains how:
Until next time, HAPPY BLEEDING!
So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️
What’s your favorite thing you’ve read this month? (Essay, article, memoir, novel, tweet, literally any piece of writing.) Drop your recs!
Let’s connect on social media! I’m at @courtneykocak on Twitter and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.