The pandemic encouraged me to go back to higher academia to finally pursuit an M.A. in English, but boy did it derail my writing pursuits. Well, creative writing pursuits.

My time at Southern New Hampshire University allowed me to create many essays that I am quite proud of, like a linguistic study of Roxane Gay’s writing style. I also wrote a slightly controversial take (at least to my Scottish native family members) on Tobias Smollett’s Tears of Scotland poem. For my grand finale (thesis), I did an extensive analysis of utilizing comics literature in composition classrooms, which can be read at your leisure if you have access to ProQuest.

Now, I am able to breathe again!

I celebrated by sending one of my stories to a literary magazine. Getting stories published is way more finicky than that, so I doubt it will be accepted. However, putting it out there is a reminder that part of writing is investing in your work; you have to believe it deserves readers and advocate for it as you would anything else you deem valuable.

Additionally, I am finally getting through the edits of the sequel for Children of the Planes. It will be available July 26th, just in time to celebrate my daughter’s birthday month. She is, after all, who Lei Mai is based off, so what better gift to give a teenager than a written representation of her?

Good things are coming readers. To those that have been patient and are still around, thank you. I promise that I will earn the loyalty of your patience.