LEE HALLISON

I recently joined an online Flash Fiction workshop hosted by an online magazine, Smokelong Quarterly. Smokelong publishes only flash fiction – mostly literary fiction, cnf (creative nonfiction), poetry, and some speculative fiction with a literary bent. (Would love to be published by them!!)

So far it has been great. Every Monday we get a new prompt and everyone shares their draft – the other writers are terrific, the feedback has been extremely helpful, and the occasional lecture/interviews with editors have been excellent. I’m very pleased and starting to think this will help my genre writing immensely and prod me to continue writing cnf.

Meanwhile, my garden has been pulling me away from the computer on most afternoons, at least while the sun is shining (which it has been lately!)

Dusting Off

Dusting off this old blog, hoping to turn a leaf and start posting at least once in a while! It has been years since my last post. Which was right before the 2016 election, the results of which sent me into a tailspin. Then my father died, then my mother was sick and needed caregiving, then some family relatives issues/trauma, then I started a business selling vintage online, tried to write a novel, got too busy to work steadily on it, then my husband retired, which made my homelife busier, then my mom died, then Covid, which made my business busier, and whew, so much time has passed.

So now, 2024, staring at another stressful election year, I’m still doing the business, husband still retired, still cooking, gardening, fixing up our old house, paying the bills and doing taxes, still playing/visiting/talking with kids and grandkids (lots of both) and vowing to be steadier with writing.

I’ve returned to participating in the Codex Weekend Warrior for the past three years, and submitted a few flash stories. I’ve consistently attended Rainforest Writers Retreat every year, even during Covid (we did it online), so at least I can say I’ve been writing during the winters.

I’m trying to look at my life as four buckets. One bucket for writing work. One for house/garden/cooking. One for spouse/family/friends. And one for my business/tax prep/financial misc. I’ve been using a bullet journal for the past year to help me focus and I’d like to try to use this blog to record my progress – or my thoughts – or something, just to get myself back into the habit!

Here is another photo from this year’s retreat!