Latest blog Posts
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How to Deal with Rejection: Five Tips for Healthy Coping
I’ve lost count of how many rejections I’ve received over the years. In writing this article, I was curious about the final number, so I looked back at my records. I found at least 60 rejections to short stories, although I know that’s not all of them. And for literary agents? Yikes. The number is read more
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A new, speculative anthology features stories of hope
A new, speculative anthology, HOPE: The Thing with Feathers will be released this weekend! I’m honored that my short story, “What We Had Left” is included among this poignant collection of hopeful stories. You can review or buy the anthology here. There have been five mass extinctions in the history of life on earth. As read more
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The Best Tools for Writers (Plus: A Craft!)
Today I wanted to share some of the writing tools I’ve discovered over the years, tools that have helped me along on my writing journey. Lest this post become unwieldy, I’ve limited myself (for now) to four different types of tools: a writing blog, submission tracker, software, and hardware. I incorporate all of these in read more
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Short Story: The Trouble with Memory
Poppy pressed her palms to her eyes, trying to squeeze out the final image of the dream (his hands, reaching for her). It repeated a thousand times over as if reflected between two mirrors. Hands, teeth, dark, dark eyes. The same, but different every time. One of her hands slid down toward the ache between read more
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How to Publish Your Novel: How to Write a Synopsis
Years ago, when I first thought I might become a published author someday, I started researching how to achieve my goals. What I found was completely overwhelming. I needed an agent, but there were thousands of them. Each of them wanted different documents I had never heard of. Query? Synopsis? What? In this series, I’m read more
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How to Publish Your Novel: How to Write a Query Letter
Years ago, when I first thought I might become a published author someday, I started researching how to achieve my goals. What I found was completely overwhelming. I needed an agent, but there were thousands of them. Each of them wanted different documents I had never heard of. Query? Synopsis? What? In this series, I’m read more
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100 Free Writing Prompts, Picture Prompts, and Random Prompt Generator
Prompts are a great way to get inspiration and get started writing. Download this free PDF with 100 writing prompts to choose from and see what stories take shape. If you’re up for a challenge, try writing a complete story in less than 1000 words. Or, to receive a random prompt, click the Generate button! read more
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Short Story: An Unfortunate Inheritance
Content warnings: bugs, teeth, blood, death I read a story once, where the main character turned into a cockroach. As my classmates argued about allegories and the unbearable weight of banality, I doodled a bug in my notebook. The story made no sense at all. In the yellow light of the bathroom’s naked bulb, an read more
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Short Story: Bog Water
Author’s note: “Bog Water” was the first short story I ever published. It originally appeared on Potato Soup Journal, which is now defunct. I revamped the story a couple years later and I am delighted to announce that it found a new home at NECKSNAP Magazine, in the inaugural Issue 0. On a muggy spring read more
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How to Write at Home Without Distractions
A few years ago, my partner and I moved in with my parents in an effort to change our lives and save some money. While it seemed like I would have a lot more time for writing, I found that I actually had less time. Distractions were everywhere. With five adults living together, as well read more
