Check out my review of Katharina Volckmer's excellent new novel "Calls May Be Recorded." It's one of the latest releases from the excellent small press @twodollarradio.bsky.social. Review is up now on the Massachusetts Review blog: massreview.org/2025/11/18/a...

This is not an @nplusonemag.com stan account, but I do love this publication. I’ve been reading it for years and the quality of the work is still so high. One of the few magazines that can still expand my vocabulary

One of the more formally inventive entries in the autofiction canon, this 2023 release from @fencebooks.bsky.social challenged and delighted me. If you like reading oddball fiction about the art world, this is for you.

Finally got around to reading this 2025 title from @nplusonemag.com that I picked up at AWP this year. An incredible follow up to Lomasko’s Other Russias, which I love and recommend to literally everyone. This book took me places I’ve never been.

Rainy day vibe

Got some new pubs coming out soon so it’s a good time to get back to posting…

Breaking my 4 month posting hiatus to say my form rejection arrived in the mail yesterday. Seemed newsworthy

“The autumn sun steams the long grass, broken and brown and sweet to smell. Tim settles down in its coarse strands, the better to point up the silkiness of his caramel/colored flanks.” RIP Edmund While, celebrant of male beauty, glorifier of the homosexual gaze. When I write, his voice hovers near.

Today at @therumpus.net is a story both sharp and tender, vulnerable and bold. It is the kind of story I aspire to write. Characters that bleed life's fullness, ideas that challenge my priors, and a narrative that expands perception. "Casserole" by @mckatie.bsky.social is one hell of a bake.

It's Casserole time!! Huge thanks to the fiction team at The Rumpus for giving my weird little story a home ❤️ Actually a bit nervous about people seeing this one so pls let me know your thoughts if you read it ahaha 🫣 😬 link below:

This one didn’t wow me tbh #books

This book was delectable. Sexy, funny, and reflective of July’s combo of artistic vigor and intellectual humility. This is the kind of text I aspire to write.

Literary magazines have been a part of my life for the past decade+ and I am still “finding” great ones. Enjoyed my first issue of Santa Monica Review!

I was at my bf’s parents’ house in Dayton, OH (2019) when I first read “Fugato,” the second story in this collection. I think I was depressed, as I typically was back then, and I’d never read a more convincing portrayal of a psychotic break. It’s just as good as I remember it.

My first Danielle Dutton book. I loved it! Thanks to the folks at the @coffeehousepress.bsky.social AWP booth for the recommendation! I’m already feeling more unfettered, genre-wise.

This stunning and gorgeous stunner just arrived in my mail slot. Yes!

It’s been a while, but I’m back with a book rec for anyone who’s into fiction about the environment, the super-rich, and/or the gap between intent and impact. Eleanor Catton’s BIRNAM WOOD is a literary thriller that places richly textured characters against the lush New Zealand countryside.

@crsantastic.bsky.social in the latest issue of Story, just picked up from AWP

James is every bit as good as the critics say. I was skeptical, but damn is this book affecting in the best possible way. I’m glad I reread Huck Finn prior to, though. I don’t think it would hit the same otherwise.

Read this on my flight home after being away from my partner for almost two weeks. Bawling. Tears streaming down my face. Incredible. Garth at the height of his powers. My favorite of his work so far.

Exceptionally proud that @egreenberg.bsky.social asked me to interview her for @therumpus.net about her debut collection ALTERNATIVE FACTS. It’s out tomorrow!

Actually loved this one. In 700+ pages there are just a handful of memorable scenes and a few virtuosic passages of description. But that’s life, right? Mann perfectly captures the weight of generations and its bearing on progeny.

Ghostly and impressionistic, Yu Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station is brief but emotionally dense. I had to read it slowly in short bursts. As a fan of Kawabata and Tanizaki, I found much to relish in this one.

The only thing I can say about When We Cease to Understand the World is that it totally lived up to the hype. A thrilling level of idea density, yet written with utmost clarity. The conclusion took me by complete suprise. Looking forward to rereading soon. #books #booksky

Another memorable book I read in 2024 was the new edition of Edmund White's Nocturnes for the King of Naples, with a great intro by Garth Greenwell. I learned so much from how White draws on the character and form of the musical nocturne to shape his narratives. #books #booksky

I read all 6 volumes of Knausgaard's My Struggle in 2023 and was so taken by it that I started learning Norwegian and seeking out other Norwegian works in translation. This is how I found Per Petterson's Men in My Situation. It has a hypnotic quality that still preoccupies me. #books

Here’s another one that blew me away in 2024, Paul Yoon’s collection “The Hive and the Honey.” Quiet stories about geographic and generational displacement. The kind of stories I love to write. The kind of stories that are hard to publish these days. Magic.

For Detroit-based writers and artists, the Kresge Foundation is open for fellowship applications. Learn more here: kresge.org/grants-socia...

I'm a slow reader with high aspirations--so I've never hit my reading annual reading goal. In the spirit of valuing quality over quantity, I'm going to spotlight a few of my favorites starting with Barbar Eisenberg's 2018 collection YOUR DUCK IS MY DUCK 1/2 #books

My last post described my writing output in 2023. I didn't publish a lot, but I did produce many new words! In September, I finished a novel draft, a goal I'd held since 2009 when I started writing in earnest. I did my first writing residency and published one short piece. A 🧵

Before picking back up with my writing journey, here's a recap: -2012: collab with my undergrad writing mentor results in a peer-reviewed article -2015: My first short story publication + the One Story Summer Workshop -2017: My first personal essay is published + MFA enrollment... 1/4

Hello #writingcommunity ! ICYMI, @therumpus.net is holding our first ever contest! Submissions for the Rumpus Prize for Poetry, Fiction, & Nonfiction are now open! More information here: therumpus.net/the-rumpus-p...

Let's talk #writingcontests. Entry fees add up, but you have to be in it to win it, or, in my case, to be shortlisted for it. This has happened to me a lot, and it does get old. To consistently feel like you're just a hair's breath from glory is exhausting. A🧵:

For me, being part of a #writingcommunity in 2020 was about bearing witness. I experienced the optimism of the movement for racial justice and a violent backlash. Returning to the page, I recognzied I needed to connect with others, but also strengthen ties across social boundaries. A🧵

2020 wasn't a great year for my writing, and I'm at peace with this now. I spent less time at my laptop and more time in my community. Columbus, OH convulsed in the months after George Floyd was killed, and my efforts as a writer couldn't meet the urgency of the moment. 1/5 #writingtips

After my story "Persistence" was published by One Story in November of 2018, I was full of hope. Two literary agencies reached out and wanted to see more of my work. In 2019, "Persistence" was listed as a distinguished story in Best American. I had reached a new stage in my #writing career 1/5

Hayden's Ferry Review is open for submissions of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, translation, and hybrid work until the end of the year. Visit our website to read our guidelines and then send your work to be considered for our upcoming web or print issue: haydensferryreview.com/submit

This is wonderful, the kind of work that I don't think we would have without the internet. A glimpse coterminous with an exhale, the fundamentals shivering through. It has a stumbled-upon quality, a gift from the fiber optic flea market where we spend our days. I recommend!

Funnily enough, in reviewing the ups and downs of my first few years of writing for publication, I skipped right over "Persistence," which was a turning point for me. This was a story I'd started before my MFA, and it was the first piece I submitted to workshop in fall of 2017. 1/5

June of 2019 was a good month for me. A couple weeks after my piece "Duet" ran in the Baltimore Review, @smokelong.bsky.social ran my piece "Viewfinder." This was my first "dream" publication. SmokeLong was one of the first journals I encountered after I started #writing flash! 1/3

In fall of 2017, full of confidence and newly equipped with MFA candidate status, I sent out submission after submission to lit mags and contests. The rejections hit harder than ever. If I could land a fully-funded MFA, why was publication still so elusive? 1/3 #writing

Before starting my MFA, I took a few memorable writing courses. I participated in the 2015 One Story Summer Workshop where I met my first fiction writing mentor, Will Allison. I also took a flash memoir class with the inimitable Amanda Miska, former publisher of Split Lip Press. 1/4

With my meager handful of publications, it seemed like grad school was the logical next step in my literary career. I applied to 15 programs, got accepted to three, waitlisted at 2 including Syracuse, my top choice. But my offers didn’t come with guaranteed funding so I declined them.

I started submitting my work to lit mags in early 2014, and by May of 2016, I received my fifth publication offer. Readling online lit mags had become an important part of my process. I loved decomP magazinE. The website was simple with an early internet-age look that appealed to me. 1/2

After publishing my first short story and two book reviews in 2015, I wanted to work on something larger in scale. The previous year, I’d had an idea for a novella-in-fragments about my grandmother. I had so few memories of her, but they captivated me. 1/3

My second published piece was a review of "Dog Men," a short story collection by Alana Noel Voth published in 2015 by Tiny Hardcore Press. Nearly a decade later, both the press and the journal that published my review (Word Riot) are defunct. I also lost my copy of the book, which is out of print.

Books reviews can be a great way for developing writers to build a portfolio of published work. Many magazines publish them, and some, like @necessaryfiction.bsky.social even provide a list of books to choose from. Go with a recently published or upcoming book from a small press. #writing

I struggle with titles. Always have. One thing that helps me is to avoid using “working” titles altogether. I leave my works in progress untitled until I finish a draft, get feedback, and do a revision or two. #writing

I was having lunch at a cafe in New Castle, Delaware when I got my first short story accepted for publication in 2015. It was from Helen McClory at Necessary Fiction. All these years later, I’m still proud of “Hemisphere,” my gay alien story. 👽

Since I'm new on here, I thought I'd share links to some of my published work. It's really the best way to get to know me! First up is this peer-reviewed article I cowrote with my incredible mentor. Dr. Marsha Baxter. It appeared in Music Educator's Journal in 2012. What an experience.