Aliya S. King

Sigh. Look at this spot. Just look at it!

This is where crime writer Patricia Cornwell writes her novels. Look at those gleaming hardwood floors! The built in bookshelves! The daylight streaming through the spacious room. Can you even imagine getting up in the morning, making yourself a cup of coffee and then padding into that room to start working?

Virgina Woolf famously said that women who wanted to write fiction needed money and a room of one’s own. I’ve never had the former. And I have always lusted after the latter.

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Rebecca, Laura and me at the infamous Michael's...

I started working at The Source in ’99, when it was the white-hot center of the hip-hop universe. I told my then-boyfriend that I got the job and he shrugged and said, “eh, anyone can work at The Source now. You’re not part of the A-team. You’re just a C-teamer.”  He meant that because I hadn’t worked there under Reginald Dennis and James Bernard and Chris Wilder and the whole original crew, then I wasn’t legitimate. I couldn’t really claim to belong like the old-school cats.

Got his point. Didn’t care. Okay, maybe I cared a little bit. But not really.

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A few weeks back, my boy Jermaine Hall asked me to impart some wisdom on an up-and-coming writer. Her name is Jenny. And she sent me this very nice email.

Hi Aliya,

As you already know, I’m one of Jermaine’s friends (the harassing kind who always wants to know if he read her samples yet) and we also work for the same company. In a bid to help me, he passed me along to you.

A little background: I’m 20, a marketing major in Baruch, and the “alleged” Spring semester intern for TIME magazine. I can really care less about marketing, since it’s writing I love, but also a good idea, I think, to be practical when it comes to one’s future. Not everyone can make it as a writer and I don’t think I’m any better than anyone else. However, I’d never forgive myself I didn’t try to succeed at what I am passionate about.

And so attached are two of my rough as sandpaper writing samples. The first one is from an untitled work that’s taking the most amount of my focus since I like where I’m running with it. The second sample is a sequel to my already published work, Late Night Alumni (vampire fiction – forgive me, not everyone’s a fan).

I’m not entirely sure what you can/will be able to do for me since Jermaine didn’t give me the most thorough history about you (you’re published, I know that much, and am in awe), but I think another person who has my writing, the better.

I honestly appreciate you taking the time to read them. It’s not every day I fall into someone’s good graces, so thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Jenny Gurvich

Okay. So did anyone else read the graf in this email that’s just all kinds of wrong? And I don’t mean in a grammatical way. Let’s revisit. She says…

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