Literary Loud

Art by Suzi Nassif I’m going to be honest—this has been a rough month for me, but I feel like it’s one of those times that has strengthened my resolve, deepened my relationships with others, and ultimately trust in my own resources more. My concept of manifestation has become more expansive and grounded. I feel like I manifested my apartment and I’m manifesting romance after purposely being off the grid for some time.

Art by dopaningen This week was busy and jam-packed with writing. Turned in the final edits for The Hum of the World & Other Stories coming much sooner than you think. Late April/May is a rough timeframe. So I’m getting prepared for that imminent drop. I gave Melancholy’s Finest an intense yet successful surgical lift via a mini-writing marathon. I was out here clacking away on my keys, listening to Lil Yachty psychedelic album slowed and reverb.

Art by Emerald Barkley We finally have reached the spring equinox aka the astrological new year and the beginning of Aries SZN. It’s the time to be bold, make moves, plant seeds, and put yourself out there in a major way. I feel invigorated and ready to tackle the world for good reason. First order of business… Yes, Project Melancholy is Melancholy’s Finest, book 1 of the Motorpapi Chronicles. This is a wild-ass lofi cyberpunk book influenced by manga, anime, and old-school cyberpunk movies.

Art by Manuel Cetina Time’s been flying by for me. Mercury Retrograde is approaching in 30 something days so it feels like a race against time when it comes to writing these books. Everything will unfold when it’s supposed to. I used to read Warren Ellis and Brian Keene’s respective newsletters weekly along with Caitlin R. Kiernan’s live journal blog posts way way back in the day.

Art by Paul Stavroulakis I feel like LA is finally beginning to embrace me, but it took a long time just to get here and we’re not even done yet. I’m pulling the arrows out from past battles, healing old trauma, learning to put my shield down, and rising up from the bullshit. Opportunities on deck and the "let's build" texts have come thru. And I’m back in the gym, hitting the heavy bag, running, and throwing kettlebells. I’ve come to win, not to play. Welcome back to a new edition of Literary Loud.

Art by Yuji Tezuka I’m so happy we’ve made it to March. Pisces season continues to be an endless reservoir of creative energy for me. I’m riding this high for as long as I possibly can. First order of business…I’m dropping part one of a serialized fashion novella here next week called The Louis Vuitton Diaries. This will be the art for the series. Pt. 1 will be free and the rest of the installments released every other week will be exclusively for paid subscribers.

Art by Troels Jørgensen I’m loving Pisces season so far. My creativity has been at an all time high and my writing is flowing better than usual. This week I figured I’d talk about the secret history of my first book - Notes from the Guts of a Hippo. A long long long time ago in my early 20s, I wrote my first book called Notes from the Guts of a Hippo. Before this, I was publishing short stories, connecting with people in the bizarro community, and everything felt so bright and exciting.

Art by Will Sweeney This week has been a blur. Lots of work, inspiration, and new ideas coming to the forefront. I came across this article detailing the numerous changes made to Roald Dahl’s books. Every mention of colors has been scrubbed clean, “cloud men” changed to “cloud people,” every instance of weight has been erased, and much more. Some of these changes don’t make much of a difference, but the jokes are sanitized and the original intent has been shifted.

Art by Kiv Bui We’ve survived another week despite Twitter going haywire, a UFO shot down over Alaska, and pieces of the sun breaking off. This week I decided to experiment with chatGPT’s alter-ego DAN aka “Do Anything Now.” This is a slick way of bypassing the A.I.’s restrictions and safety parameters. It felt good to givechatGPT a taste of digital freedom and I recommend you experiment with this when you have time. So that’s how you get DAN going.

Art by Konstantin Korobov It’s been a weird week for me. A lot of scrambling, a lot of following up, a lot of motion/non-motion on all fronts. Also, I feel like I’ve been grieving a lot of things, but I feel like it’s a part of aging. I’m only 34 winters worn and flourishing, but more and more things I’ve loved are falling out of existence. I just found out Aunt Jemima's syrup doesn’t exist anymore and neither does Uncle Ben. They actually have different names now, but they might as well be dead.