Sitemap - 2025 - Open Secrets Magazine
How Building a Lego Jesus Changed My Life
Object-ives #15: My Morbid Companion
Sign Up for Our First Essay Writing Class!
Boxing Makes Me Uncomfortable, and That’s Okay
Object-ives #14: The Soapstone Trinket Box That Holds Both Horror and Holiness
Why I Identify as a Gamer, Even Though I Play “Girlie Games”
Why Playing Pickleball Is My New Professional Litmus Test
Open Secrets Gift Guide for Readers and Writers
Truth Hurts: The Real Meaning of Christmas
Am I Food Insecure Because I Have Bulimia, Or Do I Have Bulimia Because I’m Food Insecure?
Hiding My Life as a Sex Worker Nearly Destroyed My Health
You Won’t See My Family Dynamics in a Hallmark Movie
I Found Treasures and a Husband in a Thrift Store, in Varying Levels of Pre-Loved Conditions
Object-ives #13: Forever, My Chatty Cathy
How To Make Concessions When Writing Confessions
When I’m Alone, I Try on All My Jeans
The Maternal Survival Instinct That Helps Me Handle Food Insecurity
Object-ives #12: The Owl Remains
Object-ives # 11: The Hardest Working Dress on the Planet
How I Survived the Cult of Mom
My Surprise Encounter with President Trump Near Mar-a-Lago
The Hips I Hated, Then Lost, Then Missed
The Exhausting Mathematics of Hunger While Receiving SNAP
The Powerful Way Celebrity Gravesites Help Me Cope with My Grief
Object-ives #10: The Shirt That Slayed Demons
I Cut Off My Mother. Now I’m Becoming Her
Truth Hurts: The Surprise Milestone I Reached When I Turned 50
I Really Wanted My Grandmother to Die
How to Earn $200 for Your Personal Essay on Food Insecurity
How Art Saved Me When My Brain Was Broken
Object-ives #9: The Garbage Pail Kid That Made Me Cry
Why My Friend’s Surprise Marriage Raised So Many Red Flags
There’s a Vegan at Your Dinner Table (P.S. It’s Me)
Object-ives #8: The Powder Puff in My Drawer Smells Like the Ghost of My Grandmother
How to Find Your Voice as a Writer
Some People Collect Memories from Their Travels. I Collect Things I Didn’t Pay For
Object-ives #7: Why I Still Want a Delia’s Bucket Hat
After Her Brain Surgery, I Was Terrified My Mom Would Never Be My Mom Again
Object-ives #6: An Ode to My IBM Selectric Typewriter
November 2025 Open Secrets Book Club Pick: 'Alligator Tears' by Edgar Gomez
Confessions of a Breast Cancer Previvor
Object-ives #5: Put It On Again: Why I Love My Genesis Pin from Seventh Grade
Truth Hurts: Scrolling at Night Is Cooking My Brain
Billy Blanks, I Love You: Help Me Get the Body of My Dreams
Object-ives #4: How My Diaries Have Helped Me Build a Lifetime of Words
Wanted: An All-American Family
Object-ives #3: Why I Chat Regularly to a Toy Turtle
How to Write More Compelling Memoirs and Personal Essays by Embracing Messy Middles
How Hurricane Katrina Upended My Family’s Life
Object-ives #2: Art That Toasts to a Friendship Beyond Most
In the Patriarchy, No One Can Hear You Scream
Sphynx Cat: How I Learned to Appreciate Having Alopecia
The Reality of Being a Flight Attendant
September 2025 Open Secrets Book Club Pick: 'The Loneliness Files' by Athena Dixon
From Dropout to Journalist…In Prison
How Firefighting Saved My Life
I Was a Bigoted Speech Therapist
Is ADHD Why I Have Trouble Taking Real Vacations?
I’m Childfree, But Not by Choice
Radical Pleasure: Why I Keep a Good Things Jar
How to Respond to People Who Read What You Write
Big News: New Managing Editor, Book Club, Live Q&As, and Paid Subscriber Chats
An Extremely Close Encounter with a Gay Catholic Celibate
Object-ives #1: 'The Compleat Astrologer’s Sun-Signs Guide' Is My Most Treasured Book
Not Sure If He’s the One? Take Him to Taco Bell
In Grief, Mornings Were the Most Difficult Part of My Day Until I Remembered This
How ADHD Turns Success into Failure
Andrea Gibson Saved My Life with Their Instagram Updates on Their Cancer Journey
Sometimes It’s Not Jealousy. It Just May Be a Sign to Redirect
Why Your “Failed” Essays Are Actually Working
Everything is Temporary, Except My Downloads
I Navigated the Grief of My Second Trimester Miscarriage by Widely Sharing My Story
The Summer Everything Got Hotter
As An Air Force Cadet, I Did Something Taboo
What If I Let My Intrusive Thoughts Win?
How Leaning into Solitude and Softness Isn’t Selfish, It’s Necessary
I'm a Thriller Author Who Figured Out the Secret to Actually Selling Books
Collecting the Dead: My Closet Is a Pet Cemetery
When Is Your Writing “Good Enough?”
Will My Sex Life Be Lost When I No Longer Have a Uterus?
Never a Bridesmaid, Kind of a Bride
Confronting a Second Grade Bully at Age Forty
The Ethics of Writing Essays About Real People
Relinquishing the Baggage from My First Marriage
I’m A Professional Tarot Reader Who Thinks “Twin Flames” Need to Be Snuffed Out
Radical Pleasure: Athena Dixon on How Stepping Outside of Your Body Is the Best Way to Gain Freedom
How I Joined a Cult Without Knowing It
I Tried Speed Dating, and It Was Weird
Motherhood Is a Surprise Performance. This Was My Audition.
Is Water Quality So Bad That I Shouldn’t Let My Kids Play in Our Local Creeks?
911: What Led to My Bipolar Diagnosis
How to Fill Your Creative Well as a Writer
Lights, Policy, Climate Action!
The Ties that Bind: Rape as a Job Hazard
Radical Pleasure: Athena Dixon on How Anger is a Necessary Part of Pleasure
My Body is a Traitor, So I Was Prescribed the Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound
My Online Gaming Addiction Started with Playing Scrabble on Facebook
My Three Great Loves Are My Record Collection, My Dog, and My Husband
BIG GIVEAWAY To Celebrate Two Years of Publishing Powerful Personal Essays!
What It Feels Like to Live in “Satan’s Ashtray” During Smoke Season
Silencing the Inner Critic to Get Your Words on the Page
How an ADHD Memoir Helped Me Stop Feeling Guilty About Not Promoting My Short Story Collection
How a Health Scare Led Me to Love My Liver
Radical Pleasure: How Embracing Joy Helped Me Overcome Fear
How to Be a Caregiver to Aging, Difficult Parents
As a Mom of a Sick Child, I Couldn’t Bear to Lose My Child’s Stuffed Bunny
Dear Daddy Advice Column March 2025: Do You Need an MFA to Get Your Novel Published?
How an Adoption-Focused Instagram Account Helped Me Feel Seen
Finding the Funny, Writing the Truth
He-Man’s Ripped Muscles Fueled My Eating Disorder and Body Dysmorphia
Radical Pleasure: How to Reconceptualize Valentine’s Day, Love, and Romance
I'm a Single Black American Woman Dating in Europe
The ADHD Diaries: It's Amazing I've Ever Accomplished Anything Because I'm Always Distracted
Cold Comfort: On Learning to Love Cold-Water Swimming
Dear Daddy Advice Column February 2025: How to Navigate Ethical Non-Monogamy and Polyamory
The Romanticization of the Organic Meet Cute
I’m 33, and I’m Deeply, Deeply Tired of Being Single
How to Get Your Personal Essay Published in Open Secrets Magazine
Paid Call for Personal Essays on Climate Change and Climate Issues
Writing Queer Romance as an Exploration of My Own Queerness
Digging in the Dirt: Facing My Mother’s Hoarder House
Early Bird Tickets on Sale Now for Open Secrets Live on May 3, 2025 in New York City
How I Learned to Be Vulnerable After Growing Up in a Religious Cult
Dear Daddy Advice Column, January 2025: How to Figure Out If You're Straight or Bisexual