I'm a recent college graduate working in the PR industry in Austin, Texas. I've been writing for a little over ten years, but I have little experience in submitting my stories to literary journals and contests. Recently I've been contemplating applying to grad school and getting my MFA in Creative Writing, but I want to fine tune my manuscript and ensure that I have something solid to submit when/if I apply. I'd like feedback on my writing just so I know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Since most MFA programs are highly selective, I really want to make sure that I submit my best work. 

I graduated from college with a degree in Public Relations. At the time, I picked PR because I had read it was writing heavy. In the back of my mind, I envisioned myself working in PR while also working on my novels once I finish school, and once I started my writing career, I could leave my PR job. Now I'm working a PR job, and I see that I don't have time to write. I feel lucky if I can get an hour of writing in, and I spend that hour trying not to fall asleep from exhaustion. This is a part of the reason why I want to go back to school, so I can dedicate myself full-time to writing to see if this is a career path I want to pursue.

I haven't been able to rid myself of the desire to become a writer, though sometimes I wish I could. Life would be much easier if I was passionate and excited about my current career trajectory. 

As for what I write, I tend to focus on fiction. The types of fiction I write varies, but lately I've been focusing on horror, mystery, etc. Some of my favorite authors (and the ones I look to for inspiration) are Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Shirley Jackson and Flannery O'Connor. 

I have been a digital non-fiction writer for as long as I can remember now, and I have recently made the switch into fiction. As a relatively young fiction writer with borderline unrealistic aspirations which my ambition would never allow me to consider unrealistic (crazy delusional thing, ambition), I'm looking to meet other writers in different milestones of their writer journeys and learn as much as I can from their stories and the paths they've treaded on. Apart from being new to the world of fiction I'm also new to this crazy concrete jungle of a city and I would love to socialise with writers from all walks of life in any way, shape or form this pandemic allows us to. 

I’m trying to define myself as a writer and think that group support will facilitate the process. My fiction—short stories and a self-published novel— comprises a variety of genres: realistic, flash, speculative.

I studied under Gordon Lish at the Center for Fiction, participated in the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and attended One Story and Narrative Magazine fiction workshops. My work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Journal of Microliterature, The Examined Life Journal, Perspective Literary Magazine, Spark: A Creative Anthology, and elsewhere. I won First Prize among 7000 entries in the Writer’s Digest 13th Annual Short-Short Story Competition.

These days, however, inertia is sucking me into a void: I haven’t published anything in years, I rarely post on social media, and my website is idling uselessly. I hope to meet other writers for a productive exchange of ideas . . . and a good swift (creative) kick in the butt.