Jeanna Kadlec
Jeanna Kadlec is a writer, astrologer, and teacher whose work bridges the literary and the spiritual, the magical and the mundane. She works with writers and artists who know that creative living and the business of making a creative living don't have to cancel each other out.
She is the author of Heretic: A Memoir and the creator of the New York Times featured newsletter Astrology for Writers. She's also a former lingerie boutique owner and recovering academic. Her writing has appeared in ELLE, NYLON, O the Oprah Magazine, Allure, Catapult, Literary Hub, Autostraddle, and more. A born and bred Midwesterner, she now lives in New York City.
Q: What led you to the decision to write a memoir? You mention early on in the book about Trump's election playing a part with how deeply tied politics is with Evangelicalism is, but was that the catalyst? What about memoir felt like the medium to tell this story?
I didn’t so much make a decision as be struck with the instinctual knowledge that I was going to write about what had happened to me. I never once considered fictionalizing it; my life was so hard fought and so hard won, I was going to put my fucking name on it. That was in 2014 or 2015, I want to say? I’ve told this story before. I was out for an evening walk with my then-partner, and I, like, stopped walking on the sidewalk, because it felt like both the title and the idea slammed into my body right then and there.
This is to say, the idea preceded Trump. I also didn’t sit down and write a first draft right away. I got the idea as someone who was a fan of memoir but had never even written a personal essay. I was a fiction writer. So I had a very steep craft learning curve to climb before I could write the book I envisioned, and that was even before considering the profound emotional excavation that memoir includes. I wrote Heretic in fits and starts for years before finishing the first draft. Even thinking about writing about the person I call Tony used to give me panic attacks. I had a lot of work to do emotionally and craft-wise for a memoir.
This is to say, raising your craft to the level you envision the work being executed at is a real thing. This can be a struggle for a lot of writers who are young, or are new to writing, or are simply new to a particular genre or medium: when your taste outpaces your craft. Some people quit because of this phenomenon, which is so common and can actually be a really inspiring source of motivation. Like, I feel like I’ll be chasing Melissa Febos and Alexander Chee and Ursula K. LeGuin and N.K. Jemisin for my whole life, and I’m not mad about it.
These Sapphic Stories Book Club author profiles are compiled by founder Aliya Bree Hall. Aliya is a freelance journalist and author who founded the book club in 2021 to uplift sapphic stories and celebrate LGBTQ+ authors. This excerpt has been lifted from an interview Aliya conducted with our March 2024 author. You can read the full Q&A by joining the book club.
