Megan Hustad: Ghost Projects, Or, Where Do You Put Art You Never Made?

Megan Hustad | Website | Wherewithal Press | What is the cHURCH OF MONIKA? | Livestream

June 14, 2015
11:00am

“In 2008 I had finished my first book but wasn’t really happy with it. During the months leading up the book’s publication, I kept myself occupied by writing a proposal for what I’d hoped would be my second book, an investigation into how ugliness in the places around us affects how we develop as people, thinkers and lovers. I called it UGLY and for months I dreamed of a life as the writer of this book. I imagined it would be a lot like Rebecca Solnit’s life. Long story short is my publisher turned the book down, then four other publishers turned it down. Now it’s nearly seven years later and I wrote another book, but not this one. Some days I experience UGLY like a phantom limb, wondering why an acquaintance doesn’t know I know or care about certain things. Then I remember; oh yes, you never went on record with those thoughts.

“So for CHURCH OF MONIKA I want to talk about my investigations into how people live with unmade work. Reactions range from sadness to cynicism to self-blame to blaming others, and each has its own dramas. As I see it there are two subtexts. One is worry about resources. (Do you really need to convince someone that a project is worthwhile before you can proceed with it? Do you need funding?) The other is the fear that maybe the gatekeepers and critics were right, and you weren’t qualified to make the art you wanted to make. What do people do then?”

Megan Hustad was born in Minneapolis and grew up there, in the Caribbean, and Holland. In 1997 she moved to New York and worked in the editorial departments of Random House and the Perseus Books Group before founding Wherewithal Press, an independent editorial services agency, in 2005. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York Post, Slate, Fortune, The Awl, and other publications. She is also the author of How to Be Useful and More Than Conquerors: A Memoir of Lost Arguments.