In May 2024, a tornado hit Temple, TX and obliterated my house and everything inside it, leaving me with literally with the clothes on my back, some salvageable books and pieces of furniture, and—most importantly—six miraculously intact dogs. Much to my surprise, the loss of my “stuff” had very little impact on me. Truthfully, I was just grateful that I wasn’t home when the shit came down and that my pups escaped the situation unscathed (save a lot of wet fur and nervous conditions that lasted a couple of weeks). However, being unhoused for a period of time and the feeling of powerlessness that pervaded my brain did much to completely throw my equilibrium off…for almost a year now.

Ironically, the creative spark that has long been so out of sight and out of touch, despite many unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate it, seems to have re-ignited, and for that I am truly grateful. Luckily, the ideas never stopped coming over the past year; they just didn’t have much fertile ground to root themselves in. So, now I look ahead, dubiously, into 2025 and see many creative projects that I can sink my teeth into. Will I do them all? Probably not, but there is nothing wrong with dreaming big, right? What I do know for sure is that I need to put all my focus into my craft (and not get distracted with other non-writing passion projects) if I am to realize whatever it is one realizes in these types of moments of clarity and inspiration.

So, here are the carrots that universe is currently dangling before my face…

a collection of Latinx, speculative short fiction
a serialized novella
a novel
a column for a literary magazine
more poetry (of course)
more short fiction (goes without saying)

Gonna put my energy into writing poetry and will hopefully have some out for submission by April. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Until later,