My annual list of favorites.
I’ve consumed (read and/or listened to) a lot of books (for me) this year, and I’m still reading some newer releases, but I think I’ve read enough to come up with my at-the-moment year-end list. So, here goes.
Disclaimer: this is not a “best-of” list. I’m not smart enough to declare what is best for anyone but myself. So here you’ll see favorites and least favorites.
Continue reading “Friday Five: the year in books”Eleven books for twelve dollars. Money well spent.
Last month, I went to the Rolla (Missouri) Public Library’s fall book sale and came home with a nice haul of reading materials. It was $12 well spent, and the money went to support our local library.
Here’s what I got, and what I hope to read over the holidays and beyond:
Continue reading “Library book sale haul”‘Innovating within structure is the great genius pop artists have in common.’
Content warning: interview contains language some readers may find offensive.
“There’s a specific kind of masochism in picking an industry built on rejection,” says Viv, one of the main characters in Kirsti MacKenzie‘s debut novel Better to Beg (Sweet Trash Press, November 2025). It sounds like something a writer might say as they hope against hope that their works will be picked up by literary magazines or agents in their quest for a bit of fame, if not fortune.
Viv and her partner in music, the British expat Hux, are also on a quest for fame. The two form the fictional indie band The Deserters, and they are riding the crest of underground popularity, thanks to music bloggers and file-sharing services. They embark on a cross-country rock’n’roll/road trip fueled by enough dope to make Hunter S. Thompson consider rehab. Learn more about the novel and Kirsti in this excellent interview on X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine.
A writer from northern Ontario, Kirsti also creates superb short fiction (see this page for four years’ worth of stories) and is the founder and editor of Major 7th Magazine, a literary mixtape composed of short pieces related to specific songs. Read on for more about that litmag, Kirsti’s debut novel, and her thoughts on writing.
Continue reading “Friday Five: writer and Major 7th editor Kirsti MacKenzie”Don’t let these goblins creep into your writing.
Peak scary season is upon us, my goblins and ghouls, friends and fiends. Whether you’ll be doling out sugary treats to the little monsters that knock on your door this Halloween night, partake in an adult-oriented costume party, or binge on classics like Young Frankenstein or Rocky Horror Picture Show (I highly recommend either, or both if you’re in the mood for a science fiction double feature), know that after tonight, it all comes crashing down like a sugar high, and we all must end our revelries and return to our writing. (Although some of us may prolong that inevitability by celebrating well into el Dia de los Muertos. Why not make a weekend of it? They’ve already got Christmas decor in the aisles of Dollar General and Hobby Lobby.)
Even after all the hoopla subsides, we writers must come to terms with some scary goblins that can haunt our work year round. Here are five scary creatures that may hang around well after All Hallows Eve, like toilet paper on the stately elm in the front yard of Mr. Henderson, who always handed out those filling-yanking sticky, taffy-like things wrapped in waxy orange and black paper.
Continue reading “Friday Five: ghastly, ghoulish gaffes that can haunt your writing”Introducing a new Substack to help you draft your novel in November
Even though the annual November writeathon known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is no longer a thing,* you can still get started on that novel in November. A new Substack is here to help you out.
Introducing First Draft November, a new writing challenge for aspiring novelists.
Continue reading “No more NaNoWriMo? No problem! Write that novel anyway”
