Amanda McNeil wrote a draft of an essay collection during the first year of the pandemic.... and then sat on it. Now she’s gearing up to write another draft and wondering if maybe it’s a memoir, or at least she’s wondering if that will help sell the book. We talk about all this and the necessary evil of querying in the first edition of Work in Progress featuring Amanda McNeil and her essay collection-turned-maybe-memoir “Thank You, I Still Hate Myself.” Plus, at the end, you’ll hear Amanda read an excerpt from her essay aptly titled “Butt Stuff” (with some pretty fantastic sound design if I do say so myself). Follow Amanda on Twitter @GingerMidwest.Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a new podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack: https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcomeThe Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com.