Writing Update: November & December 2024

Another year around the sun and, as it sets, we have some science fiction and humor to close out the year.

Another year has flown by, and 2024 for me included some of the best books I’ve read to date - here’s looking at you The Great Post Office Scandal - starting a new job, closing a chapter in a second city, and shepherding twenty pieces to publication that I’m simultaneously proud of and embarrassed by. Another thirty, promising those same contradictory feelings, are waiting in the wings, most created in this year alone.

In the spirit of pausing and reflecting at the end of year, rather than giving you a list of my publications (you can check out my reel for that here instead), I give you two longer-form essays. The first was recommended to me by a good friend and made the rounds on BlueSky from Vanity Fair about Cormac McCarthy’s muse. The second was also a BlueSky find, and is an account from Esquire of the harrowing experiences of a recently houseless writer. Unlike the two I highlighted from HAD’s 99-word issue last month, these require a bit of a time commitment from start to finish, so get off social media, grab a coffee, and settle in:

• Cormac McCarthy’s Secret Muse Breaks Her Silence After Half a Century by Vincenzo Barney

  • I also highly recommend you check out his last two novels: Stella Maris and The Passenger

• The Invisible Man by Patrick Fealey

What was published in November & December

Since I started this final newsletter of 2024 with a few longer pieces, I’ll continue the trend below, ordering them longest to shortest.

• Human Resources - Literally Stories

  • Read time: <10 minutes (2,000 words)

  • Governmental affairs meets climate apocalypse, so totally cool too if this is just too close to home for you these days.

• Tell Me About a Time You Lied - The Literary Hatchet

  • Read time: <5 minutes (1,500 words)

  • I had a nightmare about this happening and so, decided to write about it. Who would have known you could have unfounded fears based on work anxiety?

• Striking - Westword Monthly Micro

  • Read time: <2 minutes (150 words)

  • Not a winner, but shortlisted, this teeny tableau on Mars was written for their November sci-fi theme.

My favorite reads of November & December

I’ll be honest, the books I finished these past two months didn’t blow me away so instead, I’ll give you two in progress that I’m enjoying right now and that will likely find their completion in the new year.

• Non-fiction: Mad As Hell by Dominic Sandbrook

  • My Spotify wrapped podcast summary has four “The Rest Is…” shows in my lineup including “The Rest Is History” with Dominic Sandbrook himself. After seeing him and his counterpart live in Boston post-election, he talked about parallels of political movement between those of today and those of the 70s. The read is a firehose of historical context and emotion of the time as the nation exited the watergate scandal and found itself back in the hold of populism and insularity (not unlike the times we find ourselves in today).

• Fiction: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

  • If you’ve known me for a while, you know this is not a new recommendation and that these pages, even on kindle, are well worn. This book was a part of my college thesis on the Romantics and how they contributed to and solidified the Frankensteinian monster that is the fantasy and science fiction genres today. Anyway, this is part Catcher In The Rye, part The Chronicles of Narnia, and it’s just such a seasonal, guilty-pleasure read of mine that even now, over ten years since I first read the novel, I still find solace in its story. Also, who doesn’t love a magical boarding school and the competition that goes along with it?

A Final Reflection:

I created a little infographic to celebrate the wins and progress of the year and thank ALL OF YOU for sticking with me in my very spontaneous schedule of writing updates. Here’s to being more consistent in 2025.

Other things of note & the look ahead

I am already stoked for the 2025 publication lineup: Libre Lit, Writers Resist, Ghost Parachute, The Forge, Five Minutes, Pictura Journal, and hopefully many more to come. I’ll be attending a Grub Street Workshop in January around kick-starting a novel (I know, eek!) and trying to hold myself accountable to the goal of writing on days when I don’t run (shout-out to Erica Zendell on holding me accountable there).