About this episode
After Meagan's car tries to murder her (and she still shows up to record because some people have PRIORITIES), we tackle something actually positive for once: the writing community! Well, we try to stay positive. This week we're exploring what writing communities are, why they matter, and how they keep us from feeling like dysfunctional, self-hating chaos goblins screaming "MUST WRITE MORE" into the deep, dark night. (See? Positive!)As Kirk tries to enforce the promise that we're going to keep this episode upbeat, we talk about the benefits, practical and otherwise, of communities: feedback, accountability, emotional support, and not feeling so effing alone in a solitary pursuit. Plus we dive into When Communities Go Wrong: toxic positivity, gatekeeping (not again!), jealousy of others who are doing nothing wrong except ummmmm succeeding when we're not, and the particularly vile corners of social media that engender all this grossness. It's mostly cheery! Mostly!Plus in Hot Goss: More publishers behaving badly! Who'da thunk it?? Red Ogre Review's proudly not backing down from some hellacious submission terms that read like a stick-em-up, and Harper's Bazaar is doing the EXACT SAME THING they got called out for in 2019: making you assign them some rights when you submit that nobody should want to. (But some people will; selling your soul never goes out of style.) Also, just when you thought this podcast was marked safe from contract interpretation, we break down why trusting someone who says "I'm a nice guy who would never enforce this garbage term" maybe isn't such a great idea.Also Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware is now following Meagan on Bluesky and Meagan's being completely normal about it.Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We’re glad you’re here, even if none of us know what we’re doing.Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty.Show email: badlitfriends@gmail.comBluesky: @badlitfriends@bsky.social.Threads: @badlitfriendsInstagram: @badlitfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriendsWebsite: badlitfriends.comShow notes:Red Ogre Review brouhaha: https://bsky.app/profile/j-tkelly.bsky.social/post/3me2qrh5odk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/victoriastrauss.com/post/3me2vhydn6223Harper's Bazaar sucking all over the place: https://writerbeware.blog/2026/02/06/unhappy-returns-harpers-bazaar-short-story-contest-america-star-books/
