#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 9

‘Lift the Mask’
by Kristin Houlihan

Enlighten all to the / universality of struggle.

Kristin Houlihan is an editor turned writer, who is married with four children and who lives in California. She has been diagnosed with Long Covid Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME.

Kristin was the first person to approach me and to ask if I’d consider reviewing her work via the Contact Form. This book is a compilation of short form poems and lyrical prose that originally appeared on Twitter, prompted by the #vss365 hashtag (VSS stands for Very Short Story)

What’s in it for Me?

It takes a lot of courage to reach out to random strangers on the Internet (trust me on this) and when asked to look at this book it was something that was very easy to do. The only issue, oddly, was buying this book from Amazon and not being able to directly send the cash to Kristin… and then, after a long think about my own prejudices when it comes to how publishing currently functions, it occurred to me that this is probably a better way of ensuring authors get their money than many traditional methods.

There’s a brutal honesty in this collection that makes it all the more worthwhile: from #Grape to #Pedestal this is a selection of small, elegantly constructed vignettes, that show a writer slowly finding their voice in the face of adversity. There’s hidden depth, yearning and complexity too, and this pamphlet is both well put together and emotionally compelling. On the second and third reads, it becomes increasingly apparent that Houlihan understands how to make the limited number of characters on offer work to strong effect.

As a writer who has experimented over the years with Twitter as a literary delivery system, it’s hugely encouraging to find a collection that’s come off social media to become something more than it began. When you only have 240 characters to play with, many difficult decisions need to be made. It’s fair to say that Kristin has done beautiful things with her choices.

Personal Favourites

#Exist for the imagery
#Clear for the inference
#Normalize for the impact

Any Other Business

When I started this journey, the plan was to attract people to approach me and to ‘sell’ their work in the hope I’d be interested and snag their words. In reality, thus far, only two people have come forward and asked me to do so. All the other work has been picked by me as things I’d like to read. I have to be honest: I’d not have picked out something like Kristin’s work to read. Having done so, I’m very glad that I did.

True development as both a reader and a writer will only come when you challenge your own preconceptions of what makes good content. In this case, this is an object lesson on the power of social media to foster and develop new ability, and to grant individuals with barriers to interaction a greater power with which to further amplify their own voices. I am truly grateful for being approached, and for being schooled. This tiny blue book has the power to change outlooks and widen imaginations, if you allow it the opportunity to do so.