In November I opened a rejection from the flash litmag Fractured Lit. This was the 26th time I’d opened a rejection from Fractured Lit, over the course of 5 years, and I yawned and read it and then stopped and said, “What?” and read it again, and said, “Wait, WHAT?” and read it the third and fourth and tenth time and said, “WHAT IS THIS? WHAT?” because after 5 years and 26 tries, Fractured Lit was accepting my story for publication.
I’d written “The Billionaires Are Having a Party” as a formal sort of third-person overview and showed it to my first reader, my son, who said, “It’s a good foundation, but you need a specific character for the reader to be invested in.” I was like NO IT’S PERFECT and then I posted it to the peer-feedback site Smokelong Fitness, and everyone there said the same thing and I was like NO IT’S PERFECT and I went on thinking it was perfect until my son convinced me to just give a specific character a try and if I hated it I didn’t have to continue. I wrote the first sentence of the new version, adored it, finished it, sent it to Fractured Lit, and here we are. (The original story was not so perfect after all.)
Fractured Lit is one of those litmags I’ve been pining after since I discovered it in 2020. I wanted very, very badly to be published alongside the amazing stories already there, and even though sometimes I wondered if I was being obnoxious, if 25 rejections should be telling me it just wasn’t a good fit, I did keep trying and trying and trying and — TA DA! Here I am, here’s my story, persistence matters, listening to useful feedback matters. Click here to read the story.
Here’s the photo that inspired the piece. In 2016 a massive group of rich people ate outside my highrise, doing nothing but eating and being richer than everyone else, and I was so creeped out I knew I was going to write about it someday. (Photo by my son, Daegan Lunsford.)
Harlequin Pants with Wide Legs
I taught myself to sew because I wanted clothes that fit and were strange and fun with wild patterns. These harlequin pattern pants are EXACTLY the kind of pants I assumed were inaccessible. My experience has been that pants like this either don’t come in my size, or are priced outside my budget. I made these eclectic pants this month and have already worn them a billion times.
Workshops Coming Up
Writing from a child’s perspective is more than simplifying language. It is about capturing a unique worldview, where logic is intuitive, emotions are raw, and details are magnified. This sophisticated technique can bring unparalleled depth and vulnerability to literary fiction, memoirs, and short stories.
This workshop is designed for writers looking to craft child narrators who are convincing, compelling, and utterly real. We will move beyond clichés and sentimentality to explore the nuanced mechanics of perspective. Learn how a child’s age shapes their voice, how they process trauma or joy, and how to balance innocence with insight.
You will gain practical tools to access that youthful mindset and translate it onto the page with honesty and power.
Elevate your storytelling. Reserve your spot and learn to see the world through the most truthful, and often most revealing, of lenses. Click here to register.
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