It was a year of collaborations and micros and a selection of longer works. Grateful for such a word- and book-filled year.
What was published in the past month
I’m wrapping up the year with a hackathon / collaboration that’s available for pre-order, co-written with my writing partner, Ryan Morris.
It’s A Long Way To Go To Get Nowhere - Owl Canyon Press
Read time: <30 minute (5,000 words)
The anthology titled, Nobody Left to Blame, consolidates the top 24 stories from a hackathon where Owl Canyon Press provided the opening and ending paragraphs and then a team of two writers alternated writing fifty paragraphs to form a cohesive tale.
Image below from the Owl Canyon Press Website
My favorite publications from 2023
I was lucky to have 27 (!!) unique pieces published, ranging in word count from 50 words to 5,000 in 2023. I’ve linked five that I love dearly for a variety of reasons.
The Median - Ghost Parachute
Read time: <5 minutes (1,000 words)
Started 2023 with the publication of this piece in one of my favorite-of-all-time zines that involves a main thruway and, well, a median.
In case you missed it the first time, she confesses again - Flash Frog
Read time: <5 minute (1,000 words)
I wrote this piece as a conversation with a short fiction of mine published back in 2016 called Confessions while thinking about the vanity of social media / blogging and everything that come along with the internet.
How to Carry Countries Inside You - Retreat West
Read time: <1 minute (100 words)
Written for Retreat West’s monthly micro competition (it placed second), this micro is very loosely based on a story my grandmother told me when she was sick earlier this year.
When The Future Calls - Metaphorosis Magazine
Read time <15 minutes (3,000 words) - or you can listen to it in podcast form!
This started out as a piece for NYC Midnight’s short story competition and evolved into a meditation on infomercials and climate change.
As Seen Here: Woman Preserved in Iron - Does It Have Pockets?
Read time: <5 minutes (1,000 words)
Part Turn to Stone by Ingrid Michaelson and part cast-iron skillet, this one was born after realizing I have no idea how to care for the aforementioned kitchenware.
My favorite reads from the past month
Non-fiction: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
No, I have not yet seen the Scorsese film, but if you’re looking for a book that keeps America’s sordid past top of mind, this is one you really can’t miss. Told in a very journalistic style, more In Cold Blood than Devil in the White City, the book walks through a very American story of corruption, murder, and deep-seated racism perpetuated against the Osage Nation of Oklahoma when oil is discovered on their land in the 1920s.
Fiction: Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
Armfield’s novel was in my top five reads of 2023, on par with Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, Crane’s I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, and McCarthy’s The Passenger. The story follows the strained relationship of a couple where one of the pair has returned home very much changed after six months spent on a deep sea expedition. Like most of my favorite reads, Armfield’s book combines magic realism with two unique character voices to give you a strange, florid and deeply heartbreaking story about how we all try and fail and try again to relate to one another.
Other things of note & the look ahead
I’m trying to be realistic about the goals I set for myself this new year whether it’s writing or reading or running or working, I hope to strike a healthy and rewarding balance between them all. What I’ll say is: be kind to yourself and do what you love. I hope you have a fantastic start to your 2024.