Ash Vale Updates: November 2025
A day late and maybe a few dollars short
I usually do my newsletters on the last day of the month, a thing I decided very arbitrarily, but yesterday it just wasn’t in the cards. It also worked out just fine because I now have a short story out that you can read for free (linked below!)
Life is hectic coming into the holidays, as it feels every year, but especially in this season of life with a small child. There’s so much pressure to do every little thing possible; to see all the lights, to go on sleigh rides, to see Santa, to nail all the presents…I’m trying to give myself some grace and remind myself that my kid is small and loves just being at home with me, and doesn’t need anything more elaborate than that. It’s so hard, though, y’all!
Bi-annually I end up deactivating my personal Instagram account, and I did the same this year sometime in November. I start to feel this overwhelming need to be and do all the things at once, to get the elf on the shelf, to do woodsy crafts but also bake cookies, and some socials don’t trigger this feeling so intensely in me but Instagram does, really badly. I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll reactivate it but right now it feels like the right decision. If you’re feeling at all this same way, I highly recommend a break!
It’s been a great month, social overwhelm aside. For the first time, I was asked to do a virtual workshop on horror (me??) by a library in California who found me through the Horror Writers Association. A very surreal but fun experience!
I’ve also had a few story acceptances recently, and a few things still to come out either by the end of the year or (hopefully) early next year. I’m hoping once I finish the current revision draft of my novel, I can take a break from it for a few weeks and write a couple more short stories if time permits.
Writing
Out Now
"Results of groundwater formaldehyde reduction using M4501 strain of pleurotus ostreatus", my silly/scary mushrooms eating people story 🍄 is now free to read at Die Laughing Magazine!
It’s a short read, written in a “found footage” style where the real story is told in the comments on an academic article. I think it’s funny, maybe you will too 🤡
Sales/Updates
I was waiting a bit for the contract on this one but earlier this year I sold a horror story about a pregnant woman eating her own hair to Uncharted Magazine! I think it’ll be out in December so hopefully when I do my December update I can link it here.
In Progress
Progress is happening slowly but surely! Last time I said I was in the last ¼ of this revision draft and now I’m in the last…3/16? What’s another disgusting fraction I could use? I’m still really hoping to finish this draft by the end of the year so I can take a little break from it and then come back to a third draft with fresh(er) eyes 🎉
Short Story Recs
Two recs again this month, both from magazines I love to read!
The first is “Counting To A Hundred” by Aishatu Ado in Heartlines Spec. A heartbreaking short fantasy piece about the Frost Weaver and her hunger for children, and ultimately about a young girl’s sacrifice for her brother. It’s beautifully written and tense, with just the right edge of fear to keep you reading.
The second this month is “Ghost Leopard” by Crystal Koo in Inner Worlds. In a rural village, potential suitors aren’t considered serious until they’ve killed a leopard and brought back the evidence. The story’s protagonist hunts the leopards, too, but the ones she keeps finding are ghosts who take pieces of her just as she does of them. This story weaves interesting sci-fi body modification with ghosts, queer longing, and the balance between tradition and progression.
📚️ Reading
Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun (sapphic contemporary romance)
📺️ Watching
Stranger Things Season 5
🎵 Listening To
Cha Cha by Sophie Hunter