Friday Five: February finds

Despite my good intentions, the writing and blogging have been inconsistent (read: nonexistent) lately.

As John Lennon wrote and sang, “Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans.”

But that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking off. No, not at all, dear reader.

I’ve been busy absorbing, noticing, listening, composting ideas while life things happen and letting it all mix together (I’m never not writing, even when I’m not writing, remember?). And I’ve dutifully adhered to my morning writing routine and I’m capturing ideas here and there as they come to me in my mental dream catcher, typing them into my Notes app or scribbling into a paper notepad if one is handy, so not all is lost.

As I wrap up a week of life things, here are five morsels from this month that I hope you find worth consuming.

1. On the February 7 episode of the podcast Short Story Today, writer Doug Brown reads his work, “My Bohemian Baptism,” the title story of his debut short story collection. I’m encouraged by Brown’s success because he, like me, spent some 30 years in a career and set his creativity on the shelf. If “My Bohemian Baptism” is any indication, though, that creativity had a long shelf life. Have a listen to the interview with Brown and his reading of this wonderful story, which might resonate more with people of a certain age (e.g., children of the ’60s and ’70s).
2. Read “Couplets,” by Chloe Martinez, The Missouri Review‘s poem of the week for February 14.
3. Another worthwhile read from a Missouri-based publication is the short story “Strays,” by Gregory Brown, published in River Styx, a literary magazine out of St. Louis.
4. “The 1% Rule: A Poet’s Take on Atomic Habits” is poet Maya C. Popa’s, well, take on the popular James Clear productivity book and how it can help poets and other writers. Popa provides her own five-step approach. It’s worth a read, even if you aren’t a fan of these types of books. (Atomic Habits is also the book of the month — through April — on Popa’s Poetry Today substack, so you might want to consider subscribing if you’re interested in following along.)
5. I’ve been adding to my X/Twitter list of literary magazines and now have 125 accounts on the list. Most of them actual litmags but a few are related accounts of book publishers, writers, agents, etc. Feel free to follow it to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of little magazines.