Ghosted along a long and wanzy road...

Welcome to the launch of a long and wanzy road! Over the years, I've had folks inquiry when I mention I'm a writer where they can read my work. Cue: my explanations around only have a few things properly published, that I was working on a secret short story collection, and that I don't really have an online presence as it came to my writing--but to keep fingers crossed for the collection to eventually be out there.

Jump to: the year is 2024, where I've been working on getting the short story collection out after completing it at start of 2023. Although unsuccessful, the process of trying to pitch the collection has been fantastic practice in understanding the greater publishing world and the process gifted me a chance to pause and rethink. While I've been hustling to get this collection somewhere, the reality settles in that I will likely need to explore a novel before dishing out the delightful tales detailed in the collection. And from out of the ether, a fascinating topic surfaces, that can be delivered in a novel-in-stories (similar to what I'd read in Homegoing or There, There):

Ghosting.

It's a topic we are all familiar with, especially in the current era and landscape of dating. Either we have been ghosted or have ghosted others--for a variety of reason. And beyond the dating world, ghosting has happened between friends, family members, colleagues, etc. It was during those final months of 2024 I began outline the concepts for this untitled novel-in-stories on ghosting and have been working on it ever since.

During 2025, I also realized there might be a great opportunity for some of the stories within the short story collection to find life in several literary journals, and I took time to disassemble some of the stories from the collection and began to actively submit them to submission competitions. (The plan is to return to the collection after time spent with the novel, with some new stories being incorporated that fit more thematically with the collection.) Meanwhile, the question remained: where can others find my writing? That was when I explored ideas with some of my fellow writers around Substack (a social media space for publishing stories, think pieces, and other ramblings that would connect me to other writers) and a website.

After some intentional preparation during the summer, I launched my Substack on my 39th birthday, where I planned to post several of my short stories, micro-stories, poems, and think pieces that I would not be submitting to literary journal competitions. (Most submissions detail that you cannot submit pieces that have already been published elsewhere, including Substack.) But it gave a home and place to point people to read my work. On the 17th of each month, I would have a piece published (some from the vaults of my work, a few newer pieces from my wonderful writing workshops I'm in), leading up to an official website launch!

a long and wanzy road is meant to be a hub for my creative writing and storytelling. Most of my major Substack pieces funnel into this site (with a little extra organizing), while also offering updates around the untitled ghosting novel! There will also be services featured, as a I have been facilitating groups since my high school days, and I will be offering opportunities to facilitate writing workshops, deliver assessments tailored to writers and other creatives, and even highlighting my wedding officiant experiences in a variety of ways.

Thank you for all my friends, colleagues, fellow creatives, and greater community who have supported me from my elementary school days writing stories and pieces on fanfiction.net to my peers and professors from the Puget Sound days to the many other creatives I have met in workshops in Oakland, in Chicago, and in world wide web (folks still call it that, right?). The significance of writing in community is never lost upon me and I'm thankful for all those I've met on my writing journey.

The goal is to have the first full draft of the ghosting novel completed by this summer! And then begins the editing, the revising, the workshopping, the pitch, and more! But for now, here is a quickie technical update on what has been crafted so far, as I shoot to complete Chapter 8 this week...

Word Total Count: 87,854

Total Pages: 253