Am I too late to wish you a Happy New Year?
I hope not! But believe me -- it's been BUSY around the editor's desk.
Welcome to Marginalia
Like so many people, I make resolutions for the new year. Like most, I also laugh at myself as I actively break them. And by this time of the new 2022, any resolutions seem like a lifetime ago — and it’s only January 19!!
Here in Alabama, we’ve had snow, ice, thundersnow, and a tornado warning complete with sirens — and that’s just the weather. We are all worn down from the pandemic and attending issues, such as the ever-shifting guidance from the CDC, the lack of outrage that Delta Airlines lobbied for a shorter isolation period so that workers can get back to work, and watching our communities go “back to normal” even as the hospitals and urgent care centers beg for mercy. So it is definitely a new year!! And resolutions? Those are for quitters.
When I launched Formore Editorial Services in 2020, I did so with the express commitment to amplify exclusively the voices of people of the global majority, LGBQ+, trans people, intersex people, and feminists of all backgrounds. This approach allows us to work with top-of-the-envelope ideas and concepts that are generated among activists and scholars (not mutually exclusive categories). Our collaborations have yielded a network of deeply engaged theorists, chroniclers, storytellers, and practitioners who teach and fulfill me. But I am working toward ways to be sure that all authors know how to talk about their writing in accessible ways.
What is most enjoyable about my work is that I get to travel widely without leaving my home. I visit the past through the glimpses of people who had no idea how life would turn out for them. I visit fictional worlds crafted for characters which disabilities. I explore and teach how to lead from inclusive and intersectional vantage points that work to reach the largest and most encompassing audience possible. I also work with companies and organizations about inclusion, belonging, and accessibility — sort of a DEI 2.0 approach that moves beyond the data and into the action steps.
All of these ventures are what I do through Formore Editorial Services. But it is also how I determine what I will accept as work. Since 2020, I have taken on 39 clients — 3 remain clients since day 1, working on new projects or finishing the long process of book publishing. Of those 39 clients:
35 are female
3 are male
1 is agender
26 are Black/African-American
12 are white
1 is Asian
13 identify as having at least one disability
30 identify as LGBTQIA+
39 identify as intersectional and antiracist feminist authors seeking to reach a wide readership.
These numbers are important to me for a lot of reasons beyond the obvious: I attract, pursue, and work with a diverse clientele. Beyond that, I see the opportunity to push out and amplify the voices of many writers, writers who give unique insights to current events or new light on historical research.
Most of my clients are academics, but they see their reach as community educators as well as formal professors. Thus, it is my goal to work with clients to reach beyond an assumed audience and to write instead for the widest audience imaginable. I achieve this mission by working with some of the most provocative thinkers and writers in our time:
people who are writing usable histories for an inclusive and forward-thinking future;
people who are unafraid of challenging us to think bigger and broader;
people who push to the edge of knowledge and from the precipice, recenter the lives and stories of those who may not appear in the annals of history books and archives but whose very bodies and lives shaped the world in which we live today.
What’s New in 2022?
Although the start of the year has been a bit rocky for everyone, we have sat down with our #PassionPlanner to set up some goals to help our clients and anyone who wants a bit more organization and accountability.
You can look for:
Wednesday writing prompts: creative prompts to shake loose some of those words or take you through a memory and get you into the writing groove. I’m also doing them and it’s exciting to write something fresh!
Must Reads — I have what I call “required reading” for clients. These are often short pieces that are relevant and timely. I’ll be posting them on social media and linking to them here.
Eyes On — books that I’m excited to read and why!
Calendar — as we get information about virtual or in-person events, we will post them!
Look for Marginalia on a biweekly basis! And if you want to promote something that you’re doing, reach out and I’ll happily drop in copy for you.
And if you’re so inclined to share our mission and work with your colleagues, click below!
Thanks to everyone who is writing — you give us the art of the possible. See ya’ll in the margins!
XO, Stephanie