Optimism and Doubt

I don’t have a lot to share today, so this update will be brief. I am excited to enter some of my short story projects to local magazines. “Women on the Camino del Norte” is almost done. I intend to submit it to more contests instead of self publishing it.

My next set of interconnected stories about my family will be collectively titled “Fireflies in the Tides.” It will be six short stories – three on mom, dad and grandmother, two on my life, and one where all of us talk about how we got to where we are today. It definitely is aimed at national level publications.

I plan to start a Gotham poetry class in May and possibly start one more project that I haven’t decided on yet. After we visit Japan in September, I want to write a novelette called “The Men’s Travelogue” for local publications like Hawaii Pacific Review, Manoa, Bamboo Ridge Press, etc.

There is a growing feeling of doubt watching Jackie descend into desperation due to how her life has been changed by Las Vegas. I know she really wants an upstanding publisher to accept a mental health story. I think that it should be speculative, and not a tragicomedy like “The Men’s Travelogue.” I have lost faith in mainland America after how they treated Jackie. Even third world countries wouldn’t do things like that to people. The unjustified hatred has become unbearable.