In the final days of 2020, I managed to secure one more publication for my writing. One writing goal I gave myself at the beginning of last year was to submit all 15 of my short pieces for publication, but that was an uber-ambitious goal. Only one of the pieces was finished at the beginning … Continue reading Thirty-Six Hours in a Remote Corner of Texas
Category: My Words, Your Words, Their Words
What am I writing? What am I hearing? What am I reading? All the words flowing through my life are flowing through this category.
The Half Year Book Report (#7)
Help! I keep acquiring books. I've been reading a ton (as you will see in this post), but my collection is growing. I was supposed to end up with no books by the end of my travels, but I can't help myself. I love books. Also, how could I resist supporting indie bookstores in all … Continue reading The Half Year Book Report (#7)
The End of Year Book Report (#6)
Every six months when I post this, I think I've read more books than ever before, but when I look back, I think the numbers are fairly consistent. Possibly this time around I started more books and ditched them quickly than ever before, but that's all. (By the way, if you haven't learned to toss … Continue reading The End of Year Book Report (#6)
Still Love
I wrote this story originally about three years ago and back then, it was about one-third the length. I gave it to a critique group I belonged to at the time, which has since disbanded, and then to a professional editor. It wasn't well-received and everyone had a lot of suggestions for improvements, which I … Continue reading Still Love
The Road to Gold Ridge
I'm pleased to announce that I've published another short story, this time in the Metaworker. I submitted this story to five magazines back in January and didn't get any acceptances. But I did get one personalized bit of feedback (thank you, Novel Noctule editors!) that included the following: The writing was solid, but we felt … Continue reading The Road to Gold Ridge
The Half Year Book Report (#6)
Well, well - the last six months have certainly given us all a lot of time to read. But honestly, in the first few months of the year, I didn't finish a lot of the books I started. I have certainly mastered the art of dropping books and never returning to them if they don't … Continue reading The Half Year Book Report (#6)
Read Me!
Last week, I wrote about how this blog has helped me develop a writing practice and become better at the craft. I'm a late bloomer when it comes to writing. Although I've been writing for a long time, I've always been a dabbler, trying this and that style, starting projects I've never finished, getting easily … Continue reading Read Me!
Cheers to Five Years of Blogging
WordPress has informed me that I started this blog five years ago today. I won't link to my first post because it's not anything worth linking back to, but I remember the feeling of putting content out into the world publicly for the first time, even if I didn't have any readers. Nerve-wracking! I still … Continue reading Cheers to Five Years of Blogging
Writing Out of My Genre
I don't enter a lot of writing contests because I want to explore my own creative ideas, not write to someone else's prompt. But when I'm feeling stuck, arbitrary prompts can get some ideas and motivation flowing. So when I found the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge, I signed up last fall. I liked that the … Continue reading Writing Out of My Genre
The End of Year Book Report (#5)
Here are the books I finished from July 1 through December 31 2019. I went back to some of my old favorites in the last six months, like Ann Patchett and Leslie Jamison. I got to meet Jamison in October, adding to my list of other favorite authors I got to meet this year, like … Continue reading The End of Year Book Report (#5)
Jennifer A Swallow 