Showing My Ass In 2026

Or Learning How To Play Around

For most of my writing life I told myself the convenient lie that I had to create the best possible thing I could before sharing it with the world. For years I toiled away in private with tampered expectations of readership, hoping that if by some cosmic coincidence I wrote the perfect sentence or manifested the perfect story, then I’d finally muster up the courage to share my work with the world. But the endless pursuit of perfection is little more than a placation for one’s deep-seated insecurities. Because if you never share your work, never showed your ass, as Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah puts it, then you can never be critiqued. Never grow.

I had no intention of changing my ways, but then something interesting happened to me over the summer. I was accepted into a workshop on Sex and Bodies taught by Deesha Philyaw and for a week I biked over to a small classroom to share my ill-conceived, generative exercises with some incredibly, INCREDIBLY talented writers.

And if you don’t know vulnerability, you sure will after you share your hastily crafted sex poems at 9 in the morning with a bunch of folks you admire.

Yet, the more I shared, the more I gained by the way of friends, conversations, and lessons. I received some endearing words of encouragement by some amazing human beings, found myself breaking through my own walls, showing my ass more often, so to speak. Then, with the encouragement of this same group of writers, I started this weird little newsletter so I can learn how to become a public writer.

And I’ve found that as I mess around with essays on fractals or evil music companies, I find myself more motivated than ever to continue the vital work of fiction writing. Dreaming of Kafka has become an endless wellspring from which I can draw because playing around propels me forward.

So this upcoming year I can promise you nothing other than that. More playing around, more joy, more aimless wandering.

Fiction will always be my bedrock, my home, but every now and then I’ll continue to take the occasional stroll, kick over a stone or two just to see what’s underneath. Here’s a few things I got in mind.

Travel Writing

This past year I finally started got out the house and went to London and then Vegas. I didn’t write about London because it was a rather dark/busy time for me. ICE was raiding my neighborhood so I spent most of my free time helping with patrols and such. I’ll revisit this period in a future piece, when I have a bit more distance from it.

But I did write about my brief week in the waning sin city. Travel writing had never been on my vision board until then, but after that trip, I’ve been hooked. My next trip is already lined up.

In a few weeks, I’ll be going to Joshua Tree for a reading retreat (yes it’s exactly as it sounds, a bunch of folks traveling across the country to read a book together) run by PageBreak.nyc. We’ll spend the weekend reading Vigil by George Saunders, have nice drinks and food and convos. I’ve been so giddy about this trip, I can’t believe it’s real. Apologies in advance to all those who will have to hear me talk about it over and over and over again 😁

Books Reviews

I never thought I’d be in the business of writing book or movie reviews, but these short pieces have been a lifeline for me. Largely because almost everytime I write about a new book or film, someone reaches out to me and tells me how much they enjoyed my analysis or review of a piece. Thank you.

I’ll continue the work of talking about books, film, and art that draws me in. I also have some exciting collabs in mind that I think you’ll all appreciate, so stay tuned.

Additionally, if you have a book or movie or show that you’d like me to write about, let me know! I always love a good rec. 😉

Craft, Class & Retreats

As someone that’s never pursued an MFA (nor has plans to, it’s expensive AF 😂), I feel it’s necessary to continue my literary education by taking classes or workshops when I can. They help me feel tied to a larger writing community and nourish my creative spirit. So this upcoming year I’ll be taking a once a month writing class with Julia Fine at Story Studio.

I also plan on applying to all those workshops/retreats that I once thought were outta my league, because you never know until you try.

Fiction Writing

Ironically, since I’ve started this newsletter I haven’t shared much of my fiction writing.

I have a good reason though, I promise!

Over the past year I’ve been busy working on the first draft of my novel, and 59k words later, I’m finally done. 🎉

This upcoming year I’ll be spending quite a bit of time editing and ultimately pitching it to agents, so unfortunately it’s unlikely that any of you will read it for awhile…

BUT!

I do have quite a few short stories written that I’ve never released, and I plan on releasing more of those soon. I’m currently editing this short thriller that I hope will be ready by the end of next month. No promises, but I’m aiming to make short/flash fiction a more recurring part of my newsletter. We’ll see how much time I have leftover after editing the novel 🙃.

All The Stuff In Between

I hope to do more writing about the odd and fascinating things that I can’t stop thinking about. The esoteric things that may defy category, but are still worth sharing. The first of which is a fun little piece I wrote along time ago about coffee shops and brothels that I aim to release soon. Some of my long-time readers may remember this one.

And lastly, I want to thank everyone who’s taken the time to read my work, share it, or support me financially. To all those paying subscribers, you’re the realest.

I don’t take for granted the small audience I’ve built in a short period of time, and I’m happy that I’ve gotten the chance to share my work with each and everyone of you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again to all my readers. There wouldn’t be a me without you.

I hope you have a safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!