About
Subversive Writer is a blog I created to promote independent, critical thinking, literary activism and the rogue freedom of self-publishing.
My name is Elisa Hategan. I am a writer and poet who has been publishing in various print and digital media for several years. I was born in Eastern Europe, taught English in South Korea, sojourned in Spain, and am continuing to help out with children’s charities in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya. Presently I live in Canada and run a literary press: Incognito Press.
My personal website is www.elisahategan.com
In addition to my life of writing, studying and teaching, over the years I’ve had the opportunity to travel extensively. I have backpacked through Europe as well as parts of Asia. I especially love Spain, Italy and France, locales with beautiful architecture that beg to be photographed, and sunny places where I can sit near the water.
I believe that to be a writer or an artist is to embark on a path that calls you without asking for your permission, and dares you to reach beyond yourself to touch the eternal. All writers are travellers.
My message to all budding writers to step back in time and look at the historical context of self-publishing. Most major writers of the past, including the 19th French poets I looked up to, all self-published, then distributed, their work in various circles, until it “caught on”. No self-respecting publishing house of the time had published Rimbaud, or Baudelaire, or any of the more scandalous writers of later day. But those “scandalous” writers - think Henry Miller, Anais Nin - eventually swayed, and altered the course of the industry.
When the beat poets of the 1970s made up their own poetry, they were distributing it illicitly, like political manifestos, in taverns and on the street, and nobody gave a hoot as to whether the prestigious Harvard Review published them. When rappers put verse to song, everybody laughed. They’re crazy, they said. This isn’t art. Until it caught on.
Always remember that demand is what drives any industry. The publishing press does not matter. We are in a new age, where talent only, NOT editors and NOT censors, will control which way the industry goes.
It is time that we bypass the long line of desperate wanna-be authors who agonize over how to peddle their book to self-righteous agents and editors who have never been published themselves. Once you have something in print, it CHANGES you. It’s hard to describe, but it is like a process begins inside you, deep at the molecular structure of your being; your self-esteem unwinds, as does your realization that it IS possible. ANYTHING is possible.
There is freedom. There is SUCH a freedom that comes from publishing on your own. And to hell with the publishing houses. NOBODY needs them. They would like to scare people into thinking that they will never be successful unless they are “approved” or “accepted”, but I really believe it’s a gimmick, a scare tactic to keep people in line and obeying the process of “how we do things”.
I hope that through this blog I can empower you, myself, and all of us writers and free-thinkers alike who are at the mercy of publishers, editors and critics who would rather drive talent into the ground than allow the freedom of diversity to take over literature as we know it today.
There are so many talented voices out there, and we are all making our way through the muck. But at least we are shaping our own futures. We can begin today to promote ourselves subversively and revolutionize the world. We hold our destinies in our own hands.
Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.” - Sophie Scholl, 1942
August 13, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I think that this project is worthwhile. It is important for everyone to realise that free of thought should not be curtailed by the middle men and brokers of the publishing industry. We have to understand the political economic censorship that makes our hallowed freedoms a sham. We should finally see that this type of repression is present in every aspect of our lives, in the media, food, housing, travel, medical care, etc. We are so radically un-free that our writers beg to be published and construct their writings to suit the criteria of the official, hegemonic paradigm - “writers” self-censor so that they can be published. This is not a state of freedom and we should revolt against it by any means necessary, to borrow a phrase.
August 16, 2007 at 7:22 pm
James, I’m glad you stumbled upon this site and left an encouraging mark here! Always happy to encounter a fellow writer who is as determined to break this system of mediocrity that has come to define the art of writing today.
We need as many of us as possible to revolt, to put the publishing industry out of business by self-publishing and self-advertising ourselves shamelessly. By any means necessary. Thanks for your support.
December 28, 2007 at 11:41 pm
I found your site only today and have not had a chance to peruse all of your work. From what I have read thus far, I really dig your style, openness, and brutal honesty. I will be a regular visitor to your site and feel a kindred spirit with you.
December 29, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Thanks, Johnnypeppers. Glad you liked this site! I’ll be checking out your blog also, and from what I’ve seen I really like your sense of humour
February 1, 2008 at 4:30 am
[...] as well as the Chinese (it can’t have hurt that he sells mobile phones!). Here’s an excerpt from a blog post written by a Canadian Eastern European [...]
March 31, 2008 at 5:31 am
I think you are a wonderful young woman, and are doing good important work. I own (Christian if it matters) a non profit humanitarian mission and plan on a trip to Kosovo soon. I feel they are in for a difficult time. Nevertheless keep the fire burning sister. ; {>
July 16, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Pretty outgoing of me to make two posts in one night to your blog, but that is what good writing does: draws other people out and encourages them. I am starting another move now, so will be gone for a month or so. I certainly like what I’ve read here so far.