Publication News: "Salty Tea and the Sea"

via

My selkie-inspired story, Salty Tea and the Sea, is out today. It’s a short (just under 2,000 words) piece about families reuniting, fairy tales, and, of course, tea. I’ve wanted to write a selkie story for ages, and this one couldn’t have been published in a nicer magazine. Kith Issue 03 is full of other food-themed fantasy stories, so do go check it out if you’re interested!

There’s a sense of loss, loneliness, and mystery to selkie folklore that’s always inspired me, and I hope it comes across in my own story. In hindsight, another big inspiration was Jane Yolen’s poem The Selchie’s Children’s Plaint, especially these lines: But Mama goes first, leaving us/ with only a box empty of promises/ and a cold kitchen.

You can find my story here.

Publication News: "A Forest of Bones"

 

Back in November, I blogged about my short story Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, “A Forest of Bones”. Since then I’ve rewritten it at least four times, and went from liking it to loving it to hating it and back to liking it again. This story put me through the wringer, and I’m so happy to be able to say that it’s finally been published!

Quail Bell Magazine publishes both “real” and “unreal” stories. Some seriously talented writers have been featured on their website, so be sure to check it out.

I’ve already talked a bit about the inspirations behind “A Forest of Bones”--visually, it was very much inspired by Kay Nielsen’s illustrations and the whole baroque/rococo-type look. Starting out, I didn’t have a specific image or sentence in mind, just a feel--I wanted something pale, pretty, flowery, but also dark and spindly. The story really took off when I came up with the last sentence and the naming scheme. Each princess is named after a specific virtue, so you begin with Mild and end with Noble. I knew that Mild would be the main character, and I knew that neither she nor her love interest, the soldier, would be especially young or beautiful.

Here is the music I listened to while editing, and here is the Pinterest board. You can read the full story here.

Taking Stock: October

Reading: Lots of comics: Batman: The Long Halloween (good), Batman: Hush (great), All Star Batman and Robin (so bad it’s good); plus Phoebe and Her Unicorn; Jane, the Fox, and Me; and The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, which I wanted to like so badly but just couldn’t get into.

Watching: Season 1 of Gotham, season 11 of Supernatural, some of The X-Files.

Drinking: Sparkling apple cider (it’s delicious).

Also Reading: Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex.

Listening: To Nero by Thomas Bergersen.

Journaling: Here and there. One of my goals for next month is to write at least two entries a week.

Planning: Projects for NaNoWriMo. I probably won’t actually be writing a novel in a month, but I’d like to use it as a jumping-off point for being more productive.

Eating: Salt and vinegar potato chips.

Knitting: A red and yellow Gryffindor scarf.

Looking forward to: Halloween! I don’t trick-or-treat anymore, but I love the pumpkins and the costumes and especially the candy.

Publishing: "Morte Mare", a ghost story I wrote a while back. It's quite a bit darker than my usual stuff, but I hope you'll like it! You can read it here.

All pictures via Pinterest 

Taking Stock: September

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward: To October. Autumn is my favorite season, and I can't wait until the leaves start to turn and there's a real chill in the air.

Eating: Popcorn. Extra-extra butter is the only way to go.

Publishing: Another ghost story! Morte Mare will appear in Inkblots & Typing Spots on October 30th. A ghost story published the day before Halloween--how cool is that? I can't wait for you guys to read it!

Reading: Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War

Hoping: For a productive week. (Haha.)

Watching: (Or Watched, rather) The lunar eclipse on the 27th. I didn't stay outside for the whole thing, because I'm a wimp who bores easily, but I did get a good look at the blood moon.

Drinking: Cherry coke.

Loving: Gel pens, journals, good books, and visits from friends.

Still wishing: For hot cocoa.

Realizing: That the one-year anniversary of this blog is coming up! I started posting here all the way back in November, and I honestly can't believe I made it this far.

 

 

All pictures via Tumblr and Pinterest.

Publication News: "The Girl Who Fell to Earth"

   

 
    Just a quick note to say that one of my short stories,"The Girl Who Fell to Earth", has been published in 308 Words!
    
   308 Words is a collection of flash fiction stories (308 words long, minus the title) published on Tumblr by 308 Press. You can find more about it here and here; it's an incredibly cool new press and I couldn't be happier to see my story up there. 

   "The Girl Who Fell to Earth" is a flash fiction fairy tale with a bit of magical realism thrown in. I carried the basic idea around for a long time before pounding it out in one afternoon--less because I was hit with some huge surge of creativity and more because I felt like I'd go crazy if I didn't write something. It's a pinch of astronomy mixed with a bunch of weirdness, and I hope you'll enjoy it. 

Publication News: "Jenny of the Road"

   A pretty short post this time, but hopefully my news makes up for it. One of my short stories, “Jenny of the Road”, was published last Friday in Inkblots and Typing Spots!
    
“Jenny of the Road” is basically a mash up of two traditional ghost stories retold by Kevin-Crossley Holland in his book British Folktales: New Versions. I love ghost stories, and I wanted to write something truly scary in the style of a folktale. I’m still not sure if I succeeded, but Colette, the Inkblots editor, was kind enough to suggest some changes that helped make it 10x better (and about 600 words longer) than it was originally. My sister, Claudia, was also a HUGE help in going over drafts :) 
  
   Inkblots and Typing Spots is an online magazine that publishes some seriously fantastic stories by young and aspiring writers. Be sure to stop by and have a look around--some of my favorite stories are “The Bells of Campden” by Miss Smiley and “Lift Girl” by Fantasy Girl. You can read my contribution here. 

Publication News: "Fox Sister"

    So…I nearly drove myself crazy trying to find a snappy way to say this. Then I realized there’s nothing snappier than--

   I’m getting published!

   My flash fiction story, "Fox Sister", will be appearing in The Teacup Trail on November 30th. 

   
    The Teacup Trail is an online lit and art magazine dedicated to all things speculative. I've wanted to publish something with them for ages (read: I bombarded them with submissions) and am beyond honored that they accepted this story. I planned to write up a nice little post about how I wrote "Fox Sister", and the inspiration behind it…but honestly I’m so stupefied I don’t know what to say, besides that if you've always longed for a (very) short story about a girl and her fox, this might be your cup of tea (heh). It started out as a horrible draft that moldered in my freewrites file for months before I rewrote it from scratch, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I can’t wait for you to read it. 

   EDIT: "Fox Sister" is up! You can check it out here.  
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13200361/?claim=kgn28z4eqag">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>