Tell Us About Yourself, Mila Jaroniec
"working with the words, in whatever stage, before the world creeps in"
This month, I’ll be talking shop in a live conversation with author, editor, and writing instructor Mila Jaroniec, who is well known for her debut novel, Plastic Vodka Bottle Sleepover (Split/Lip Press, 2016), and for publishing the Substack-based magazine Black Lipstick.
Our live (and later recorded!) conversation will focus on the craft of writing and the ways in which the works of others—especially Michelle Tea, author of the memoir Valencia, among many other works of fiction and nonfiction—inspires her, so I wanted to play a little “Getting to Know You” here.
Jessica Hatch, for Comp Title Book Club (CTBC): Thank you very much for agreeing to come on CTBC this month, Mila. We’ll be spending a lot of our live discussion chatting about your first novel in the context of Michelle Tea’s work, but I wanted to ask: Do you have any new projects in the works that you can tell us about?
Mila Jaroniec (MJ): My second novel is going out on submission in 2024, so most of my time right now is spent trying to make it immaculate. Besides that, I’m extending my novelette NETRATĀ into an official novella, and that’s coming out in print in 2024/25, which I’m so excited about. I’m also working on a (descriptive, not prescriptive!) craft memoir, known to me as PYROKINESIS, and will be test-driving chapters on my Substack for paid subscribers. This one feels like a raw nerve, so I’ve been taking my time with it. And then, I have the ghost of another novel taking shape, feeling its way along the walls.
AND: I’m teaching a brand-new novel intensive at Writing Co-Lab starting in January 2024!
CTBC: Busy . . . and with all good things! I loved NETRATĀ when you released it last summer through Joyland, and so I’m excited to hear it’s being built upon. In between all the good busyness, if you could have any two writers, living or dead, over for coffee or drinks, who would they be?
MJ: I would definitely invite Elizabeth Wurtzel over for a glass of cab sauv, or three. As for the living, I would love to have coffee with Christine Schutt. I hope we get to someday.
CTBC: Fingers crossed. Schutt’s Pure Hollywood was great. What’s your favorite book you read in the last year?
MJ: Waste by Eugene Marten. The things he manages to do on the page are not of this world.
CTBC: You’re a phenomenal writing instructor—on top of your talent for novel writing and editing—so do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Or is there any great writing advice you’ve personally been given?
MJ: Relish the experience of writing before you’re an author. Once you’re published, you’ll never be able to write in the dark like that again.
[The best advice I’ve received:] “Keep pushing, don’t kill yourself.”
CTBC: Yes! Finding that balance between motivation and burnout is a personal cause for me. What’s your favorite part of the writing process: drafting, revision, pitching?
MJ: Just working with the words, in whatever stage, before the world creeps in. Before I have to worry about what people will think about it. That deep space where time collapses and I’m restructuring the same sentence for over an hour, trying to get the right sound.
CTBC: I love that. If you’re not writing or reading, what are you most likely doing?
MJ: Honestly? Hanging out with my dogs! We adopted two of the neediest Siberian huskies in existence, and I have no idea what I used to do with my free time before they came into my life. I’ve become the crazy dog mom I’ve always made fun of, and I couldn’t be happier.
CTBC: Is it bad if I have my fingers crossed the huskies will make an appearance during our chat next Saturday? Thank you for this brief Q&A, Mila. I can’t wait to get deeper into your writing process and into your comp title, Valencia, next weekend.
Mila Jaroniec is the author of Plastic Vodka Bottle Sleepover and the creator and editor of Black Lipstick. Her work has appeared in Playgirl, Playboy, Joyland, Ninth Letter, PANK, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Southwest Review, The Millions, NYLON, and Teen Vogue, among others. She earned her MFA from The New School and teaches writing at Catapult, GrubStreet, and Writing Co-Lab. She is represented by Annie DeWitt at The Shipman Agency.
To follow Mila Jaroniec, visit these profiles and pages:
Website: https://milajaroniec.com
Substack magazine: https://blacklipstick.substack.com
Instagram: @blacklipstickmag