January
Moan for Bigfoot by Virginia Wade
“Needs More Salt” by Liz Schriftsteller
“The Next Generation” by Michael Adam Robson
“After the Trains Stopped” by J Kyle Turner
“Not an Ordinary Dog” by Sara Puls
“The Final Seam” by T. Callihan
“The Keepsake Box” by Alex Shvartsman
“The Dragon and the Bond” by Mari Ness
“21st Century Dragonslayer’s Lament” by Susan E. Connolly
“And Silver Fountains, Mud” by Lisa Nohealani Morton
“Have You Seen My Girl?” by Brent C. Smith

February
Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu by Mercedes M. Yardley
“Servant Leader and Rat” by Steven Mathes
“Cigarette Lighter Love Song” by Josh Rountree
“Spellsketching” by Vylar Kaftan
“Dear John” by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley
“St. Valentine’s Day Mashup” by G. O. Clark
“Why Women Turn To Stone” by Heather Morris
“Toads” by Mari Ness
“Miss Violet May from the Twelve Thousand Lakes” by Tina Connolly
“What Is Expected of a Wedding Host” by Ken Liu
“On Disposing of a Corpse” by Tom Jolly
Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet (helloooo, favorite childhood program)

“The Decent Thing” by Dex Fernandez
“Totality” by Tony Pisculli
“Goldfish” by Elizabeth Archer
“We Are All But Embers” by Gemma Noon
“Silence” by Lydia Waldman
“Followers” by S. R. Algernon
“The Clasp” by Jarod K. Anderson
“Asleep” by Jeremy Minton
“Patchwork Blouse” by James E Guin
“The Christmas Zombie” by Marissa James
Dominoes by John Boden

I didn’t read half of my 50-book goal, but I read a hell of a lot more short stories than in years past. We’ll see if I can keep that going. Below, my favorites.

“Unwanted” by Holly Jennings
“Little Red Robin Hood” by Melissa Mead
“Three Kisses” by Henry Szabranski
“Hungry” by Robert E. Stutts
“They’re Made Out of Meat” by Terry Bisson
“I Heard You Got a Cat, I Heard You Named Him Charles” by M. Bennardo
Are You Listening? (The Fathomless Abyss) by J.M. McDermott
“The Sandman’s Dreams” by Jess Hyslop
“Legerdemain” by Gabriel Murray
“Puppet Man” by Cate Gardner
“Jumbo Gumdrop Serenade” by E. Catherine Tobler
“Pictures in Crayon” by Elizabeth Shack
“Airship Hope” by Laurel Amberdine
“Chasing Unicorns” by Terra LeMay
“City of Chrysanthemum” by Ken Liu
“Holy Diver” by Grá Linnaea
“Pinned and Wriggling on the Wall” by Usman T Malik
“Such Days Deserved” by Lee Hallison
“Squeak” by Emma Osborne
“Theories of Pain” by Rose Lemberg
“The Witch’s Cat” by Kalisa Ann Lessnau
“The Velveteen Rabbit Says Goodbye” by Melissa Mead
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
“Scraps” by Michael Haynes
“The World Will End in Fire” by K. C. Norton
“Wolf, or Faith in the Future” by Michelle Ann King
“The Dollmaker’s Grief” by Michelle M. Denham
“The Princess and Her Tale” by Mari Ness
Dominoes by John Boden

From yesterday’s journal entry: I feel anxious and don’t know why. I just want to run until my legs give out. But I have nowhere to go.

Jobs to do. Stories to write (and rewrite). Sick cats, a sick dog. Trying to move. A month became six months became a year.

Money going out. Nothing coming in.

To say I’m overwhelmed would be an understatement.

To anyone waiting to hear from me, please accept my apologies. I haven’t forgotten you.

I just have to hold my breath long enough to find the surface.