First Birthday

Today is the first birthday of my debut, Those Fantastic Lives. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past week reflecting on the year that’s been for my little book.

It made a handful of “best of” and “most anticipated” lists. It received thoughtful and kind reviews and attention from places I didn’t even dream of. Electric Lit. Lit Hub. Strange Horizons. Nashville Scene. Fiction Writers Review. Heavy Feather Review. And others.

I was invited to speak at The Southern Festival of Books, an event I’ve attended for years. I had signings. I read at various places. I walked in bookstores (thank you Parnassus and Square) and libraries and unexpectedly saw my collection staring back at me from the cozy shelves.

I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me. I’ve felt more love and support in these few months than I’m worthy of receiving. Just know how much everyone out there is appreciated by me. As I’ve said many times, the release of Those Fantastic Lives has been a dream that I got to live. I’ll never ever forget it.

People have started to ask about the next book. The truth is, I’m a relatively slow writer. I go through long periods when I’m too depressed, stressed, and/or anxious to write. Imposter syndrome also gets in my way. I haven’t written anything new since (around) the start of the year. I’ve edited several pieces and gotten them ready for publication, but I haven’t been in the right headspace to actually create. I’m hoping that’ll change soon.

I can say that my current cycle of stories is, I believe, some of my best work. It’s experimental in form, largely, and it has an urgent feel to it. It’s also very heavy. I seem to be exploring grief and death even more than my previous work did. It’s funny in spots, but darkly so. There’s a bleakness, too, that’s a little more pronounced than in Those Fantastic Lives. That’s what writing in the current climate has done to me, I guess. Also, in my personal life, there’s been a lot of sickness and loss and things like that.

Anyhow, my hope is that I’ll have a draft of a collection by sometime in 2024. It could be earlier. It could, also, be later. Potentially much later. But sometime in 2024 is my goal. That would hopefully have the book out by 2026–and two books born before I hit the big 4-0.

Thank you again to everyone out there who has supported my work this past year. It’s been quite a ride, and I’m humbled by it all.