NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 19: things strangers have told me after reading my stories.”
You write dialogue so vividly - absolute sweetest - achingly beautiful - a masterpiece - all I can say is that this is wonderful - breathtaking - passionate - filled with so much sorrow and hope - You made them a whole person and I am filled with such pride for that -...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 18: “they say twitter is dying…”
and so i think about the past 11 years i spent doom scrolling & retweeting & shouting into the endless void. i think about the first customized theme and background i made of my high school best friends who i never talked to since. i think about the...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 17: “you mist find the things that give you small joy.”
waking up on the first day of a long weekend. actually liking the way your hair looks in the mirror. your grandmother cooking a meal you love. a game going on sale. having a fully charged phone before leaving the house. hearing your favorite song on the taxi radio....
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 16: “a queen.”
I run into a friend at a bar and a waiter comes by to get our orders. The waiter smiles and asks, ‘What would you like, sir?’ I freeze and my friend grins, placing a warm hand on the waiter’s arm. ‘I’m a ma’am,’ she says, as if she’s used to correcting others this way...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 15: “knots.”
‘You’re terrible at this,’ you groan as I tie the end of your braided hair. I huff and roll my eyes. A ‘thank you’ would have been more welcome. I watch as you gently caress the knots, humming in deep thought. ‘Maybe I should cut my hair after all,’ you say. ‘Whatever...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 14: “present.”
You call yourself ‘self-sufficient’ but who is it you coax to get off a comfy bed at 11 PM to accompany you in grabbing discounted pre-packaged meals at the grocery? Who is it that indulges you when you choose true crime documentaries night after night? Who is it that...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 13: “that time in september.”
Remember when you said you ‘loved me a little less’ and all I felt in the days that followed was jagged icebergs pulling my soul down the deepest caverns? What I mean to say is that I’ve never been this empty and adrift when you found promise in a new horizon I...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 12: “it wasn’t a phase.”
Some nights I remember it still. After class in our white tees and jogging pants as I listened to your heartache at the farthest swing from the school bus that was supposedly to take me home. ‘She didn’t like me, she never would have,’ you cried and I strained my neck...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 11: “grocery list.”
A dozen eggs. 3 lemons. Unsalted butter. Cream cheese. Your favorite blueberry jam. A jar of salt after your mother called my cooking ‘bland‘ when she thought I couldn’t hear her. A bag of tortilla chips. A box of ginger ale and imported Japanese whiskey because we’re...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 10: “and in this wreckage, there you are.”
“The best stories are the ones where the ending is far from what you could expect,” he tells you, body sprawled over the bed with drooping, tired eyes. “Look at us.” “Us?” you ask, voice equally dripping with fatigue. “Mhm. Don’t you think that, with everything that’s...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 9: “for what is grief but…?”
I had been thinking about the emptiness I carried the entire drive home. How I felt the cold wind rush right through me, past my spine, my ribs, and my chest. But perhaps I wasn’t at all empty—perhaps the space that you had left was exactly that: space. Space...
NaNoWriMo 2022 Day 8: “if i read our story backwards.”
The air is still at 2 in the morning with nothing but the cicadas filling this empty silence. The moon gazes down at you with a forlorn smile, and you think that there’s nothing more you can say than, “I’m sorry.” They rehearsed the words better in their head. “And...