Despite all the craziness and isolation, 2021 was my best ever writerly year.

A novella sold, a story picked up, a review published. In the spirit of the season, here’s a look back at some literary accomplishments.

“Dreaming Home,” a novella-in-stories
After being mentored in 2020 by Canadian writer, Caroline Adderson, in March of this year Biblioasis fiction editor, John Metcalf, agreed to publish my debut work, “Dreaming Home.” The manuscript is now at the publisher awaiting copy-editing and is tentatively planned for release Spring 2023.

Short stories - “Napoli” to be published by Prairie Fire
I didn’t submit much in 2021, since I was busy reworking stories for two novellas. Even so, I’m ecstatic that the venerable Canadian journal Prairie Fire picked up “Napoli,” a story I toiled over for years and never gave up on. Look for it next spring or summer.

Being published by Grain Magazine, The Puritan, Prairie Fire and Biblioasis, this former Texan will be able to say I’m at least a Canadian-American writer. After living in Canada for most of the last 13 years, I’ve even started writing about the place!

Book Reviews
I’ve been writing book reviews on my website for over a year. This year I pitched reviews to Prairie Fire and Plenitude Magazine. They both said yes! The Plenitude review of “Alec” came out in November. Look for a review early next year in Prairie Fire of Marion Quednau’s excellent story collection, “Sunday Drive to Gun Club Road.”

Reading
With so much time in lockdown, I really hit the books this year. I read 42, a lifetime best.

So, while I didn’t set the literary world on fire, I think this is still pretty darn good!

Happy New Year!