"Soft Serve", a short story inspired by the author's reflections on societal decline, has been published in State of Matter's August 2024 issue. The story, rooted in a troubling childhood memory at a doctor's office, explores darker what-ifs about the future, particularly within the context of Tulsa, OK in 2050.
I’ve placed nothing in magazines, but received the best rejections of my life. I’ve published next to nothing on my blog and Substack, but I have more followers on my TikTok account than I ever thought I would have. I’ve also logged the least amount of hours for writing this year than any other year … Continue reading 2023 Year in Review
If you’re sick of yearly round ups from people who’ve written a million words, climbed Mt. Fuji using only their hands, and developed rippling abs, you’ve come to the right place. I set many resolutions last year and kept only one of them. But many wonderful things happened this year that I never expected. I wanted to share the numbers and explain how they don’t express the larger message: that I’m getting close to writing the kinds of stories I’ve always wanted to write, and the life to support my writing. This is the fifth data-backed story of my year.
Like my previous inspiration posts for “Singot”, “The Hole in the System”, and Perceiver, I wanted to talk about why I wrote “The Heebie-Jeebie Beam”, what I learned about my writing process while writing it, revising it, and working with the editor of Metaphorosis to publish it.
So I’m on TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@longhandhabits/video/7106693912466656554?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7105218216121599534 I post reviews of books about writing, craft, storytelling, and other related topics. Plus, I also post short videos on tips to help you write tighter, tell stories better, and how to improve. I don't claim to know everything--these videos aren't prescriptive--rather, they're meant for viewers to take what is … Continue reading TikTok Announcement
What did I achieve? What did I miss? What went sideways, and what pleasantly surprised me? This is the data-backed story of 2021.
Here's the best advice I’ve received on Imposter Syndrome, concrete ways I revised my writing to sound more certain, and how I finally became confident of my work and acceptance chances.
It wasn’t immediately obvious why people raged about the cleanliness ratings until I began to think more about it. There’s a difference between what administrators of YA Book Ratings intended, what ratings actually do, and how this impacts children, teenagers, and adults. And how it ties to banned books.
“The Hole in the System” is based on three things. It’s about a plague of holes. It’s about systems. And it’s about the shopping cart theory, the viral theory that you can determine whether a person is a good or bad member of society depending on whether they return their shopping carts. A post about what inspired me to write it.
I cannot separate the creation of Perceiver from becoming a writer: of growing aware of my place in the world, discovering what I value and fear, and what I need to write.