summertime

working, working, working. it’s going well, and i don’t want to jinx it, but this screenplay is really taking shape, you know? FYI i’m prepping for the next screenwriting course (#3) in September, and have act 2 prepped for it. wish me luck. PS imaginary readers, i did it. 59 pages.

2022 (a review)

dear imaginary readers of this blog, another year. i moved into my own house this year and it’s been busy getting settled, but it feels good, you know? it’s peaceful. anyway, my office is cosy and i’ve got a serious shelving shortage to attend to in the new year, but that’s definitely fixable. and i’m … Read more

a publication

i have a story upcoming in TNQ. it’s called “the paradise motel” and it’s about a teenaged girl named Marty who works in a cleaning crew at, you guessed it, the paradise motel. i’m slowly building a MS of linked shorts about teenaged girls that’s set in the 70s. i’m trying to give my stories … Read more

files

the boys files are thick with reports and diagrams, notes and questions. there are many medical words in the files, blunt words like infection and gangrene, necrosis and debridement. but there is a strange beauty for each file contains sketches of the boys, with a fading purple or blue background. there is the sketch of … Read more

ReLit

dear imaginary readers of this blog, i’m pleased that my book of shorts HOW TO PICK UP A MAID IN STATUE SQUARE has placed on the long short list for the ReLit Awards! for more info on the award and all the nominees, check here. and read a short story, any short story, will you? … Read more

i take a room

i take a room or it takes me. i bring one suitcase, that is all. i own little. trinkets from the war. these i leave at the bottom of the suitcase, in an old tin box. with mary’s papers. mary’s papers. an old tin box. i am an old tin box. or do i wish i … Read more

a response to John Ashbery’s Abstentions

not the shy tourist, hopping up the salty steps of Rome. the shy man, sitting on the steps by the Piazza di Spagna, waiting for your Lothario. transparent feelings stream, stream, stream past: curiosity, desire, a wish to know it all. but all of it as it is not. not tall enough, not strong enough, … Read more

hell, ya

it’s time for a writing loop. see you on the other side.  

alan’s bike basket

“what you got there, Alan?” Sid says. he’s smiling at me but it’s a mean smile. he’s not nice. my Mom told me, she told me, you stay away, Sid’s not nice, and she’s right. my Mom is always right. “nothing.” i shield my bike basket with my body. i know it’s not a real … Read more