HeyJaredMeghan O'Rourke's Substack
Essays about literature, the craft of writing, the body and illness, and other obsessions.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 3
- Latest publication
- Aug 27, 2026
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- Jul 11, 2026
Latest issues
What are you avoiding writing? (opens the original)
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Dear readers,Rest in peace Dolly Parton: I don’t know if you, like me, ended up spending hours revisiting her clips online. The boys hadn’t really ever listened to her and now they are walking about singing “Jolene.” I read them her quote about how to live: “Find out who you are, and do it on purpose.” My editor sent me a letter this week about my book manuscript with her suggestions for spot to revisit or rethink: the perfect end of summer task to look forward to. We’re out on the North Fork bu
Answering Your Questions about Structure (opens the original)
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Happy August, all. I just got some very happy news: week, Publisher’s Weekly reviewed my new anthology, The Story of the Body: Poems of Illness & Recovery, calling it “excellent” among other things and featured it as the cover review–one and only time I’ll get to be on a magazine cover. Shoutout to my amazing photographer, my brother-in-law, David Surowiecki. If you’re looking for an author photo, or family portraits, reach out to him — he’s incredible and makes it so painless. I’m really happy
Structure is Everything (opens the original)
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Hello, all,Happy Summer! I’m back from a series of gigs and travel that took me away from posting. Looking forward to being here more consistently! June brought me to Provence for a week at the Mediterranean Artist Project with other editors, with a focus on building international connections. Talking to book and magazine editors based in San Francisco, Athens, Cairo, and Berlin made me realize how American-centric our culture is. Not all of it, I know: I’m sure many of you are not. For example,
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