#lkwrnl

i think it's been almost 10 years since i changed my blog colors/theme and 5 years since i changed my profile pic, but it is time. i am no longer Jesse Pinkman but Marilyn Monroe. this specific photo is widely acknowledged as her favorite.

it's been colorized though and i can't find that attribution. but the photo itself was taken by Cecil Beaton in 1956.

i spent a big portion of last year researching Marilyn's life for basically no reason. i just wanted to. and here i am, no longer a person but 10,000 Marilyn facts in a trench coat.

i took an accidental 6 month hiatus from my newsletter, but! i posted a new one this month to celebrate my fifth year as a writing coach.

i also launched an additional substack, unhinged morning pages, where i'll post my writing log, craft analyses, fiction, and personal essays. my lowkey writing-related newsletter will remain free, but unhinged writing pages will have paywalled posts.

if you want to support me as a writer, you can subscribe to unhinged morning pages for $7 a month or $70 a year. at the moment i plan to post 2-3 times per month.

coming up:

my August 2024 writing log (scheduled to post tomorrow on ump).

i'll be opening summer asynchronous @fanauthorworkshop applications and @oficmag issue #13 submissions soon.

i'm working on revising my novella, Coping Skills, to post to ump in 4 parts.

i fully intend to post another lkwrnl in May. whether or not this will actually happen remains to be seen.

as soon as i have H4H out to early readers, i'm pivoting back to fanfic. i've got multiple wips to finish, an anora fic idea, a sunrise on the reaping fic idea, and my FTH fic which i'm jazzed to start working on.

some of you may have noticed that i haven't posted a newsletter in a million years. there are many reasons for this and they're nearly all good ones, including making a lot of progress on a novel, exercising and eating well, organizing all my worldly possessions, and watching Succession.

aaaand i've been on the fence about something i've finally made a decision about:

after many, many years of hesitation, i've decided to create a paid publication.

this is separate from my main newsletter in part because 1) i may post more frequently, and 2) it's not the kind of content that i think people signed up for in my main newsletter.

you can think of it as

my lowkey writing-related newsletter: me as a coach/teacher/editor

my unhinged morning pages: me as a writer

over the years, a lot of people have asked for a way to support my writing and suggested that i get a Patreon. Patreon has never sat right with me though. Substack has many, many problems but after much research, i haven't found a suitable alternative that i'm ready to pull the trigger on. it takes a lot to move platforms, and one day i will, but that day is not today.

Unhinged Morning Pages (or "ump" as i've been calling it, because i love my ridiculous acronyms) is a grand experiment in posting my writing logs, original fiction, and personal essays that don't belong anywhere else.

my main newsletter is a far cry from what it started as, and i have more subscribers than i ever anticipated. the lkwrnl won't change at all; i'll still post monthly-ish craft essays along with news and announcements, and writing advice round-ups when applicable. it will remain free to read.

but now i have a sidestack that you can subscribe to for $7 a month (or $70 a year) where you'll get alllll the other stuff i don't post elsewhere and that i'd like to keep to a smaller audience and behind a paywall. although you can subscribe for free, i don't intend to post free content there.

those who sign up for a paid subscription can read the first chapter of the novel that has taken over my life, Heavy for Hire, about a shitty criminal who kidnaps a girl, lets her go, and then 8 years later becomes her bodyguard.

i posted this to lend some context to my writing log which i'll begin sharing next week, hopefully Monday. (ideally i'd like to post on Mondays. maybe not every Monday but i do have a lot of content to share.)

that's great to hear! i'm glad you're enjoying the stories. i'm sorry to hear about Flossy going down. that was a litmag started by a couple friends of mine that i guess folded. unfortunately it's not published anywhere else and i'm probably taking it out of my short story collection. it's a two part story where the first part is 2k and the second part is i think 10k

but! i was hoping eventually to launch some kind of lowkey, easy peasy patreon-esque thing where i could send out some of my work to the people who are interested in it. by that i mean, the work that is most unpublishable. unfortunately, patreon is making changes later this year that aren't compatible at all with what i would need it for, and everything else i've found is just too...i don't know, made-for-seeking-huge-audiences vibe. i do not want a huge audience. until i find a platform that's like "hi mailing list, if you're interested in this story please send me five dollars and in return you will get a PDF or EPUB* of a story too spicy for the general public" ** that 1) doesn't take a million years to set up, 2) is incapable of going viral, and 3) i don't have to update on a consistent basis (and that doesn't cost a ton of money), then these pieces will be unavailable. but surely someone will eventually make such a service

*making ebooks is so hard. at least, making pretty ones. but @emimayooo has found a way so that's one obstacle down

I was wondering if you planned on sending out a newsletter again? I’m pretty sure I’ve read all of them and really appreciated the rawness of your most recent newsletter. No pressure, I just wanted to know if this is something you’d still be doing. Have a great day!

yes! the accidental hiatus has been for a few reasons:

i'm making insane progress on the second draft of my kidnapper-turned-bodyguard shitty john wick novel and i might actually be able to send it out this year or early next. i've been so jazzed about it for so long that i forgot i made a newsletter specifically for updating people on when i am jazzed about something

substack appears to have fallen to the fascists and i'll have to move platforms. that creates a number of logistical problems i haven't had the time or energy to focus on

i had intended to continue posting my writing log. i continued writing my writing log but it became so long (over 15k for october alone) that i then didn't have the energy or will to pare it down. i can't seem to find a happy medium between "just sending out a newsletter" and "i must be sharing my deepest intellectual thoughts with the world or else i am not worthy of others' attention"

so good news, i'm making writing coaching my full time job. i even filed an LLC, which i probably should have done sooner since i've been doing this now for two years. Going Legit, babey. pro zoom subscription and everything.

here's my cool new logo by the amazing @significationary!

what i can do:

break out a novel idea and provide accountability through the writing process until you have a draft ready to send out

the same as above but with fanfic

help with the agent querying process if you're interested in traditional publishing

provide ongoing developmental (big picture) feedback on your work as well as your overall writing

brainstorm solutions to said feedback

once a piece is structurally ready, i can offer sentence-level edits and also go over them with you to explain my reasoning

help you prepare a writing sample and apply to creative writing MFAs, workshops, residencies, fellowships, and awards

come up with practical, process-based solutions for completing work for those who are neurodivergent or struggle with executive function

help you narrow down a daunting wip list, or develop ideas that you've had on the backburner for a while

offer reading recommendations of work in conversation with yours

for real, wherever you're at in your writing life, i'll meet you there. i've worked with established authors, people just starting out, and writers at all stages in between. to me what's most important is helping you get on the page exactly the things that are in your brain in a way that you can feel proud of, and coaching you toward your goals as a writer by providing ongoing accountability, feedback, and clear-cut tasks to complete each month.

here's how it works:

you can just straight-up book a session. you don't even need to talk to me first (though you can always feel free to DM me).

you send me some of your work to read ahead of time (optional).

we get on zoom. i ask you questions about your writing life. you answer them. i take notes. if applicable, i offer feedback on your piece, plus reading recommendations and, if you're interested in ongoing coaching, an action plan for moving forward with your writing goals.

i shoot you an invoice via paypal after the call. you book another session whenever you're ready to talk again. most of my clients meet with me monthly, but i can make exceptions to meet more frequently. i also have several clients who only meet with me once or twice a year. (no pressure on frequency. everyone moves at their own pace.)

boom. all your dreams come true*

*might take a while though

i have 1.5 graduate degrees in creative writing pedagogy, and i've taught writing at the university level for 5 years. obvs i'm also an avid fangirl with a deep respect not just for fanfiction, but for all creative pursuits. to get a better idea of my writing beliefs, you can scroll through my writing advice tag.

for more of my credentials, feel free to click around my website. you can also check out the testimonials from my clients.

if you don't want a full consultation, i still have a few commissions open on ko-fi for line edits or a crit letter.

please don't hesitate to reach out via ask or DM if you have any questions. i'm also on twitter, and i have a monthly-ish lowkey writing-related newsletter.