What makes up a person? Too many things to count, but here are some of those uncountable things.
Although I said in my subtitle that there are too many things that make up a person to count, I am going to count a few things here. That is, perhaps, the first thing about me: I am, at times, a walking contradiction.
The second thing, then, is that I like to write. Obviously, since I am writing this, and since I have written numerous articles about writing. I like writing and talking about the written word — writers and readers are truly magical.
A third thing on the list about myself is that I like connectedness. As I mentioned…
Being overly strict about my nightly routine made all the difference.
The pandemic ruined my sleep schedule. Like most young professionals, I started working at home in spring 2020. With that adjustment to my schedule came a lot of blurred boundaries and days where I was staring at a screen for fifteen hours straight. Add to it the general anxiety I was feeling from when COVID-19 first started showing up in the US, and I was a mess. There were several days — weeks, even — in the spring and summer last year where I was running on little to no sleep.
I’m the kind of person who needs her sleep…
A poem.
I wish I put more stock
in the stars.
The moon, meridian, mars,
mercury, midpoint —
elucidations for the W word.
Why Monday? Why
would she?
And I am back:
wall of windows,
Mandarin Bistro,
blue speckled laminate table,
red lines on the back of thighs.
JCPenney lunchbox
unzip, ice pack,
Honey-wheat Sara Lee,
smushed crust,
crunchy strawberry
peanut concoction.
Why do they leave?
Bathroom stall,
back again — free time
the bane of all times.
Inconspicuously stuck.
Was mercury in retrograde?
Is it now: flashbacks oozing, mind boozing, trying to forget. Knock it out. Cut it out. I wish…
My curation rate was 100% in March 2021, yet I still haven’t figured out exactly how curation works…
When I first started writing on Medium, I was utterly confused by the elusive idea of curation. I read articles and watched YouTube videos about things that new writers to Medium must know — writing here, after all, can be a bit like navigating through a maze — but curation was still a little confusing. It seems that some writers have no trouble getting curated, whereas others are constantly chasing curation as it eludes them again and again.
I seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I have had more than half of my stories curated thus far, 21 out…
A color from the sea, and a color that’s always stuck with me…
I realized today why I like the color coral so much.
When I was younger, one of our family friends was named Coral. A daughter, like me. A youngest child, like my brother. Now she has a different last name.
But that’s not it.
When I finally made it to senior year, I had dreams of what graduation day would look like. I’d walk across the stage, take my diploma, and smile at the camera. All while wearing a coral-colored dress I’d spotted at Target.
That’s not it, either.
When I was driving home one night — one of the…
And by we, I mean all of us as writers, because small presses, journals, and magazines deserve better
To date, my most viewed story is “An Editor’s Tips on Submitting to Literary Journals.” The people of Medium seem to like getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it’s like to be an editor at a literary journal, so I’m coming in hot and I’m ready to pull back the curtain again, this time on a somewhat widely debated topic: simultaneous submissions.
Explaining simultaneous submissions
In order to make my case that we need to do better when it comes to simultaneous submissions, I’ll first need to explain what they are and how they work.
First of all, what are simultaneous submissions
If you’ve submitted your work (poetry, fiction, nonfiction…
The answer is yes, and also no
Up until I met my writing friend, Nicole, the thought of using a pen name literally never crossed my mind. I like my actual name and don’t plan on writing anything scandalous during my writing career, and those are the two main reasons I used to think writers use pen names. As I learned from Nicole, and from chatting about the idea of pen names in an episode of borrowed solace: the podcast there are many more reasons, and a lot more nuance, as to why a writer chooses to use a pen name.
If you’re thinking about using a…
Sometimes you can learn just as much from returning to your old ways as by trying something new.
When I was in middle school, I started babysitting for one of our family’s next-door neighbors after school. Each weekday when I got off the bus, I’d head two houses up from home, and be there for the rest of the afternoon to supervise homework and help make after-school snacks. It was a pretty sweet gig for a fourteen-year-old, and I did it for an entire school year, plus some additional weekend or weeknight hours. …
It might seem impossible, but you can be happy with yourself, even when you’re all alone.
I’ve never considered myself a loner, per se, but I am by most definitions someone who would fall into that category. I spend much of my time by myself — I am currently single and, at present, I work from home every day. To some that might sound like a sad existence, but let me assure you that it’s not. I’m often happy even when I’m alone, and you can be too.
So what have I learned about being happy all by my lonesome? I’ve learned that the first step is to find a sense of peace with who you…
Foreshadowing is an artform you should learn to master if you want to be a successful writer
When you read the title of this article, what do you envision? For many, it probably brings images of a “Hansel and Gretel” movie to mind, or perhaps a traumatic experience of feeding ducks at a local park as a child (okay, that one’s a bit too specific on an image, but I digress.) …
Addey Vaters
Lover of cats and drinker of tea. Poetry editor & podcast host at borrowed solace. Words in Adroit Journal, Vita Brevis, & others. AddeyVaters.com
