We want your personal essays that reveal heartbreaks, happiness, secrets, sexual encounters and the realities of dating. Anything that answers the question: “What do you know about love?” Here's how to submit: queerloveproject.substack.com/p/coming-soon

Object-ives # 11: The Hardest Working Dress on the Planet An essay 50 years in the making. #cnf opensecretsmagazine.com/p/prom-dress...

I’m a guest writer on Open Secrets Magazine! I’m on SNAP for the second time as a single mother. Only this time, I’m also ill with medically required diets for two of my diagnoses. The Exhausting Mathematics of Hunger While Receiving SNAP opensecretsmagazine.com/p/the-exhaus...

“It was August 13, 2022. Early that Saturday morning, after an evening of drinking wine and watching movies, I awoke to use the bathroom.” Read Christina Berry’s essay, “The Stroke of a Pen,” in @opensecretsmag.bsky.social! #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth opensecretsmagazine.com/p/the-stroke...

The middle school years are tough on parents too, and we both had a rocky couple of years. Unexpected help arrived in the form of anime tees. Thanks to @opensecretsmag.bsky.social for sharing our story. opensecretsmagazine.com/p/mother-dau...

PLEASE SHARE: Personal essays on current food insecurity, including loss of SNAP benefits, wanted. Pays $200/essay. Authors retain all rights. Rolling deadline until all 5 essays are commissioned. See our writing guidelines for details: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/food-insec...

What would you do if your close friend wound up in a whirlwind romance that quickly became an abusive marriage? For Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we published Sumitra Mattai's “Why My Friend’s Surprise Marriage Raised So Many Red Flags." Read it at opensecretsmagazine.com/p/helping-fr...

Ahead of World Vegan Day on November 1, @gia_mora explores why she took “vegan” off her bio for a while, why it’s back, and how her approach to talking to non-vegetarians has changed. Read it at opensecretsmagazine.com/p/why-stoppe...

If you’re single or have ever been single, read @dirtylola.bsky.social's hilarious essay about what she did after a one-night stand left her with his keys and never returned for them. This ghosting story involves a mini coffin and key funeral, with photos! opensecretsmagazine.com/p/dirty-lola...

If you’re single or have ever been single, read Dirty Lola’s hilarious essay about what she did after a one-night stand left her with his keys & never returned for them, despite multiple efforts. This ghosting story involves a coffin key funeral, with photos! opensecretsmagazine.com/p/dirty-lola...

The Heartbreak Years author Minda Honey gives advice on how to find your voice as a writer. It’s for our paid subscribers (who also get access to all our draft essays), but there’s a sneak peek for everyone. There’s even a quiz to test your literary knowledge! opensecretsmagazine.com/p/writing-vo...

Below watch @ruwithsonali.bsky.social on advice she gives friends facing breast cancer. Our full Q&A is on being a breast cancer previvor, her preventive double mastectomy, BRCA, the aftermath of her surgery, reconstruction, body image, mental health & more: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/interview-...

We’re excited about our Nov. and Jan. Open Secrets Book Club picks, @crownpublishing.bsky.social memoir in essays Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez and @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social memoir The True Happiness Company by Veena Dinavahi. Can you guess what our March pick will be? Hint: It’s out today!

Molly Cameron reminisces about 90s fashion and the dELiA*s catalogs she pored over as a teenager and still owns and looks at in her forties: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/delias-cat... This flash essay is the latest in our Object-ives section on possessions. See the end for our writing guidelines!

In our latest personal essay, Akemi Ueda writes about bonding with her mom over being tennis fans, and why she was worried after her mom’s brain surgery that their 2023 outing to the US Open would be their last. Read her essay: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/mother-dau...

Our November Open Secrets Book Club pick is @crownpublishing.bsky.social memoir in essays Alligator Tears by @otroedgargomez.bsky.social. Our EIC @rachelkramerbussel.bsky.social will interview Edgar Nov. 17 at 8:30 pm ET. Audience questions welcome! Details: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/memoir-boo...

Our latest Object-ives flash essay on “possessions we can't stop thinking about” is special. Michelle Geiss not only wrote a witty ode to her 1970s-era IBM Selectric typewriter, she also wrote another essay on the Selectric titled “Machines.” Read: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/vintage-ib...

Journalist @ruwithsonali.bsky.social wrote powerful personal essay, “Confessions of a Breast Cancer Previvor,” about her preventive double mastectomy: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/breast-can... Join us Tuesday, Oct 14 at 7:30 pm ET for a Substack Live Q&A with our EIC @rachelkramerbussel.bsky.social.

Shooting our shot as we look for the best venue for personal storytelling summit Open Secrets Live 2026! Tentative dates are May 2 or May 3. For leads on a 200-300 seat theater or event space in Manhattan (NYC) for a 1-day weekend event, let us know details or contact info: opensecretsmag at gmail

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sonali Kolhatkar @ruwithsonali.bsky.social wrote about getting a preventive double mastectomy because she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation and has a family history of breast and other cancers, including the complex aftermath: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/breast-can...

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sonali Kolhatkar @ruwithsonali.bsky.social wrote about getting a preventive double mastectomy because she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation and has a family history of breast and other cancers, including the complex aftermath: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/breast-can...

Famished author @annajrollins.bsky.social didn’t casually start doing Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo workouts in 2000 at age 12. The videos became an obsession. Read her essay “Billy Blanks, I Love You: Help Me Get the Body of My Dreams: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/billy-blan... cc @eerdmansbooks.bsky.social

Thanks for making Open Secrets a Substack bestseller! Your paid subscriptions go directly to pay our essay writers and have helped us expand to publishing 3 times a week. A new column, sections, and book club picks are coming soon! And check out our latest personal essays: opensecretsmagazine.com

“I met a stranger on a train from Virginia to Texas about twenty-five years ago. We talked for hours.” Read John DeVore’s essay “Secrets of the New York City Subway” in @opensecretsmag.bsky.social! #HispanicHeritageMonth opensecretsmagazine.com/p/secrets-of...

For our Climate section, Ashley Peterson revisits the impact of Hurricane Katrina 20 years later, including how it upended her family at the time and how it impacted the rest of her life. Read her essay at opensecretsmagazine.com/p/hurricane-...

Ethan Hawke Was Here: On Hotel Chelsea & Romance in the ’90s --Michael A. Gonzales reminisces about creativity, charm and a cinema star in 1990s Chelsea. opensecretsmag.substack.com/p/ethan-hawk...

Why does @joshfrmusic.bsky.social treasure this portrait of him by his friend Robert, who has Tourette’s syndrome? Find out in our latest Object-ives flash personal essay, about possessions that have made an impact on us, and learn how you can submit an essay: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/art-friend...

What’s the difference between being alone and loneliness? Discuss it in Open Secrets Book Club on memoir in essays The Loneliness Files by @athenadixon.bsky.social published by @tinhouse.bsky.social. You can ask Athena questions on September 30 at 8:30 pm ET: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/open-secre...

What’s the difference between being alone and loneliness? Discuss it in the new Open Secrets Book Club on memoir in essays The Loneliness Files by @athenadixon.bsky.social (from @tinhouse.bsky.social). Join us for a Q&A on September 30 at 8:30 pm ET! Details: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/open-secre...

How did @surviveyourstory.bsky.social lose control of her finances during her marriage and regain financial freedom after her divorce? Find out in her essay “In the Patriarchy, No One Can Hear You Scream,” the latest in our Finances section at opensecretsmagazine.com/p/divorce-fi...

The Center for Creative Writing x Survive Your Story cohost two monthly 90-minute silent write-ins on Zoom. Register to drop in (or out!) at any point & write or work in quiet community. Sat, 9/13, 11A-12:30P EST us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... Sat, 9/27, 3P-4:30P EST us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

"The sun was shining through the picture windows on us. He told me he wanted better for me. We were smiling. He swept his arm around like a wizard. 'I free you from the patriarchy,' he said, and it meant something to me to hear that." opensecretsmagazine.com/p/divorce-fi...

Judith Lam Tang writes in her essay “I Was a Bigoted Speech Therapist” about how she went from thinking “How can we make them refer to a single person? It’s too confusing!” to teaching her students about gender respectfully without relying on stereotypes. opensecretsmagazine.com/p/bigoted-sp...

Anyone else feel guilty for not working when you’re on vacation, or just me? My latest The ADHD Diaries column @opensecretsmag.bsky.social is all about that: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/is-adhd-wh...

Become an annual subscriber for just $16 through August 31! opensecretsmagazine.com/subscribe?co... Take part in paid subscriber chats, where we’ll be offering writing prompts and advice from our editors, get full access to our essay writing tips column & help us pay our writers!

Watch our Q&A with Open Secrets EIC @rachelkramerbussel.bsky.social and writer Brenden O'Donnell on his experience dating a gay Catholic celibate man he met on Grindr, and what he learned from the relationship: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/interview-...

What would you do if you met a man on Grindr who seemed like a great match...but he was a gay Catholic celibate? We'll be talking to Brendan O'Donnell about this in our first Substack Live Q&A in the app TONIGHT, 8/28, at 7:30 ET! Read his essay beforehand: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/celibate-c...

Hi @longreads.com you might like this essay by Brendan O'Donnell we published last week, "An Extremely Close Encounter with a Gay Catholic Celibate:" opensecretsmagazine.com/p/celibate-c...

Have a personal essay about your hard truths and deepest secrets, or about a pivotal moment in your life? Or flash nonfiction about one of your possessions? Check out our latest writing guidelines and submit by September 30! Please share widely. opensecretsmagazine.com/p/lit-mag-pe...

What's the secret to finding love? For @liuswrites.bsky.social, it was going out to @tacobell.bsky.social with her best friend. Read all about it in our latest personal essay, "Not Sure If He’s the One? Take Him to Taco Bell:" opensecretsmagazine.com/p/not-sure-i...

We've been away from Bluesky for a little while so are late in reposting this but wanted to share it. Thank you to @clmporg.bsky.social for highlighting disability-related essays.

"Successful authors are the ones who keep showing up through failure." Three cheers to @robwhart.bsky.social for his transparency in this great @opensecretsmag.bsky.social essay about the many failures that come before success. JUST KEEP GOING.

What’s it like to be a liberal Tesla owner in Brooklyn who opposes Elon Musk’s political positions and is now despised for her vehicle choice despite making the purchase in 2020 for environmental reasons? Find out in @sammithewriter.bsky.social's bold essay. opensecretsmagazine.com/p/brooklyn-t...

Open Secrets Magazine published my short essay, "I Botched Mother's Day Again," a story about the parentification of the eldest daughter. Check it out here: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/mothers-da... @opensecretsmag.bsky.social

And we're so glad that our speakers found our personal storytelling summit Open Secrets Live helpful!

Head on over to the 'stack to find out about: my event with @christafaust.bsky.social, the @opensecretsmag.bsky.social event, my release party for THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL, and a Noir at the Bar with a monstrously-good lineup...

Great to hear from Open Secrets Live attendees! We're already brainstorming next year's summit. @mindahoney.bsky.social @rachelkramerbussel.bsky.social

The big day is almost here! On May 3, we're hosting personal storytelling summit Open Secrets Live in NYC. A few tickets are left! See this thread for our amazing lineup of over 40 essayists, memoir authors, editors, a fashion designer, a card creator & more! opensecretsmagazine.com/p/open-secre...

Happy Earth Day! For a humorous look at trying to become active around climate change by joining a climate organization and being frustrated by its processes, check out Deborah Copperud's essay: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/climate-ch...

What does it feel like to live through multiple smoke seasons in the Pacific Northwest? @ambrown.bsky.social answers this and more in his essay about the personal impact of climate change for our Climate vertical: opensecretsmagazine.com/p/smoke-seas...