Magic for Liars

by Sarah Gailey

I tried not to feel temporary. Just for a few seconds. But trying not to feel something isn’t the same as not feeling it, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I was alone again.

In hindsight, I’m really startled to realize how much of myself I put into this book. That feeling of being temporary was something I struggled with so often at the time I was writing, in part because I was basing so much of my identity on what other people needed from me. When someone wasn’t asking me for something or expecting something from me, I felt like I was starting to evaporate at the edges. In the time since, I’ve been lucky enough to learn who I am without anyone else defining me, and I get to feel just a little more solid. Just a little more permanent.