Hi, I’m Joy. Necessary Salt is a newsletter dedicated to exploring what it means to be a woman in the world making slow and chewy art—and writing about complicated emotion in unusual spaces. Each month, I take myself to a new place or location that intimidates or excites me a little (think rage rooms, dance circles, new cities, aquariums, and boxing classes) and then I write about it.
Necessary Salt is a tell-the-truth and hold no punches kind of Substack. It’s not all sugar, but to be sure, it’s well-seasoned.
Updates on upcoming workshops, retreats, and classes
Occasional monthly essays
Monthly thread conversations, Q+A’s, writing prompts, and on-assignment, out-in-the-world writing challenges
Quarterly Zoom writing workshops with me and access to past workshop recordings
All monthly Woman-in-the-World essays
Audio recordings
I received a Masters in poetry from Miami University and have served as the poet-in-residence for the Wexner Center for the Arts. My work has appeared in places like Goop, Oprah Daily, and The Sunday Paper among many others.
In addition to leading international writing retreats, I have guest-lectured in classrooms from Stanford University to Florida International University and am the founder of Sustenance, a community designed to help writers revitalize and nourish their craft.
My bestselling collection of poems, Instructions for Traveling West, from Dial Press is out now.
You can find me on Instagram: @joysullivanpoet
