Pellicle: A Drinks Magazine With Purpose
I want to tell you about this mag I work for.
This week, I was officially promoted to Deputy Editor of Pellicle. I’m extremely pleased about it—I love this magazine and I love editing.
Pellicle was started by Jonny Hamilton and Matthew Curtis with the shared ethos of showcasing beer, wine, and cider at its very best, and telling captivating stories about drinks culture that weaves in-between the drinks themselves.
Over the years, writing for Pellicle and being edited by both Matthew and Jonny sharpened my writing and taught me so much about telling stories. There is more to a tale than my own perspective, even in a personal essay—this is the main lesson I’ve learned from Pellicle. There is so much to share. Show, don’t tell.
I’ve been editing for Pellicle under the title of Associate Editor for a couple of years now, and it’s not an exaggeration to say I’ve loved it. In editing I feel like I’ve found a calling—something I thought I’d already found in writing. It’s true that I still love writing with all my heart and brain and body, but editing is just different. It’s a collaboration, but it’s more than that to me—almost an osmosis with the writer’s mind with whom you’re working with. You’re helping someone, but to do that you have to understand where they’re coming from: their point of view, their turns of phrase, their personality, their accent. Editing can be done successfully in a number of different ways, but for me, the process is most gratifying when both I and the writer are working together, learning something. I am not a red pen editor. I’m not a doormat either, but I like to see past what’s there and encourage confidence so that sentences can sparkle with the writers’ own wit, perspective, and talent.
Editing is not a chance for me to flex. Editing is an opportunity to sharpen my skills and help others to do the same.
Anyway. I wanted to use my Thursday newsletter this week to thank Matthew and Jonny for creating Pellicle, the first publication to commission, publish, and pay for my wine writing, and to say this: I am so proud to be a part of the team. I know we are going to do huge things. I’m excited.
Please be a part of it too by subscribing to our Patreon. Every penny we spend commissioning writers and artists comes from our supporters and main sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. We literally could not make this magazine—now one of only three of its kind in the UK—without you.
Apologies, but I am on le road and writing this on my janky phone using the janky Substack mobile web editor, so reading/art/music links will not happen this week. Stay tuned for links on Tuesday instead, plus a July round-up for paid subscribers to The Gulp before the month is out. Love ya!
