Minda Honey

Minda Honey’s (she/her) essays on politics and relationships have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard, and Longreads.

Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger”, “A Measure of Belonging: 21 Writers of Color on the New American South”, and “Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic.”

Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS (Little A, October 2023), is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time. She also sends out a weekly newsletter, MID., about being mid-life and mid-career.

Minda is represented by Kayla Lightner at Ayesha Pande Literary. She is available for one-on-one consultations and leading workshops on freelancing, networking or writing.

Praise for "The Heartbreak Years"

“[Honey’s] candid self-reflection illustrates the depth of her transformation, and her conflicted and at times contradictory desires add a welcome layer of complexity to an already nuanced narrative. . . . Honey’s witty, frank storytelling makes this book compulsively readable.”

Kirkus Reviews

“[A] nuanced and engaging narrative of a young woman struggling through love and heartbreak.”

Booklist

“Every few decades, there’s that one book that shapes directly how we all understand the potentially radical, and radically heartbreaking, space between touching and being touched, running to and running away, f’ing shit up and feeling f’ed. Minda Honey has created a momentous piece of art, of course, but most importantly, The Heartbreak Years will teach a generation of us what’s possible when writing through, to, and beneath the pulpy inside of desire and fear.”

Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Long Division and Heavy

“If The Heartbreak Years were a person, it’d be the girl you meet in line for the bathroom at the club. Vulnerable, hilarious, there to whisper hard-earned wisdom into your ear while holding back your hair. Minda Honey has written a fierce rallying cry for the single and lovesick, for those who dare to see the hope in being a romantic. The stories in this book are vibrant, tender, self-aware without being jaded, compulsively readable but never easy. When some f’boy has got you down, Honey’s words are an outstretched hand reaching to lift you back up.”

Edgar Gomez, author of High-Risk Homosexual and Alligator Tears

"Minda Honey has written a great memoir for her generation, and for right now. Her memory is so precise, I felt as if I were in the bar or car for these devastatingly honest chapters - as a writer, she's never sentimental or compromised, but searing and truthful and often hilarious in her narratives, seeking realistic love and life and community. She's like a stand-up comic, but one whose prose is laden with insight, literary heroines, and the perfect detail."

Susan Straight, author of Mecca

Work with Minda

READINGS & TALKS

I’ve given talks for Creative Mornings, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, universities such as Eastern Illinois University, the University of Louisville, University of California, Riverside and LSU. I’m a frequent podcast guest, most recently on NPR's "It's Been a Minute." Email me at mindahoney@gmail.com for scheduling.

WORKSHOPS

and I regularly lead workshops for the Porch TN, the International Women’s Writing Guild and Hugo House.

Sample subjects

ROMANCING YOUR LIFE

So often nonfiction is framed by trauma, but what’s so wrong with rose-colored glasses…? Writers often talk about how humor can be used as a tool to tell hard stories, and I believe leaning into the romantic can be too. If you’re applying a romantic lens to your work you might:

Ask yourself what conventions of the romance genre you can borrow to apply to your life?

Consider which details you’ll use to build your world for your reader and develop your characters.

Figure out where that line between romanticizing your past and over indulging in fantasy is — this will help you avoid “purple prose” or unintentionally present yourself as an unreliable narrator (it’s important that you come off as “in on the joke”)

Romancing Your Life is a technique for showing your past self (and those that populated your life) some care, tenderness, and grace.

RINSE, REVISE, REPEAT

For those lost in the forest of revision, this class is a path out of the woods. Show up the first night with a work-in-progress ready to revise! Each week we’ll do a close read and deep dissection of a well-executed personal essay, memoir excerpt or a bit of craft advice, then immediately apply what we’ve learned to your work-in-progress in manageable pieces.

Email me at mindahoney@gmail.com for more information.

EDIT & CONSULT

I’ve worked with writers 1-on-1 on book-length projects, as well as, revising and preparing personal essays for submission.

I’m a particularly interested in working with women and BIPOC writers and any writer who resides outside of a major literary city and is in need of assistance developing connections within the writing community.

Let's meet! Email me at mindahoney@gmail.com.

TESTIMONIALS

“I attended Minda Honey’s ‘Memoir Writing Workshop’ series at the KMAC Museum. One of my New Year’s resolutions had been to write more and start a blog, so this workshop came at the perfect time. Each workshop provided a relaxing atmosphere and safe space to discuss our experience with writing memoirs (or the lack thereof). My experience with this series provided me the tools to tell a story about various aspects of my life, how I felt during that time, and different ways to describe these moments. More importantly, this workshop helped me to start my blog ‘Black Girl, Introverted’ and yielded long lasting friendships with people I might not have met otherwise. Minda has a remarkable way of pulling people out of their comfort zone (or in my case, introversion) in a way that makes it feel easier to form connections and relationships. I am grateful for the service that Minda provided, and continues to provide, for the city of Louisville.”

– Kristina M.

“Minda was funny and engaging and made a room full of self professed introverts seem like extroverts. Honestly, I left the class feeling empowered and rejuvenated and not just in regards to networking but my career and life overall.”

– Erin S.

“Minda provided customized and train-the-trainer versions of her workshop “The New Networking with Minda” for more than 75 workforce development coaches at our American Job Centers in Louisville, Kentucky. Minda is a knowledgeable professional that connected immediately with our staff from all generational groups. Minda is witty, personable and funny. Those attributes made learning fun and allowed participants of her workshop to easily digest and apply concepts. She provided real tools our staff could apply in their own work and to their clients. Minda is easy to work with, flexible and professional. contracting with her was a great experience. I am happy to recommend Minda as a social media content expert and trainer.”

– Keni B.