Another Day for Love (Monsters)

Another year, another Valentine’s, another monster doodle to remind you there are worse things to celebrate than a day for love. Happy Valentine’s Day.

You can read the original post here if you’d like.

A Sad-nice Fantasy Poem Publication

My fantasy poem, “One More Walk in the Stars,” appears in the January issue of Shelter of Daylight (from Hiraeth Publishing). Woot.

Nothing sad about this update, except for the poem itself. And it’s only a little sad. By the end, you might call it heartwarming. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

You can check out a preview of the poem below, and if you’d like to keep reading, you can grab the issue here.

Short Story and Poetry Cover Letter Template

Sending stories and poems to publications often requires sending a cover letter. Here’s a template that has worked for me throughout the years. You may need to make updates based on individual publication guidelines, but this version requires the fewest for me.

You can copy the template or example below and save it as an email draft. Then simply replace the words between the brackets—quoted words within them are recommendations.

Subject line template

[“Short Story” / “Fiction” / “Poem” / “Poems”], [Title of Your Writing], [Last Name]

Body template

Hi [Editor Name or Publication “Editors”],

Please find my [“short story” / “story” / “flash fiction” / “poem” / “poems”], “[Title of Your Writing]” ([amount of words or lines of poetry]), [use “attached” for attaching your story versus “included” for pasting it into the email or submission manager tools].

[Your Name]’s writing has appeared in [Publication Title 1], [Publication Title 2], [Publication Title 3]. Find more of [your pronoun] at [website / primary social site].

Thank you for considering my [“story” / “poetry”].

[Your Name]

[Your phone number]

[Your email address]

Example

Fiction, The Heartbreak Hotel Gets Renovated, Dennin

Hi LuvLit Mag Editors,

Please find my short story, “The Heartbreak Hotel Gets Renovated” (1,222 words), attached for your consideration.

Sue Dennin’s writing has won the Heartache Story Award, and has appeared in publications such as Lovely Zine and Drama Digest. Find more of her work at www.suedennin.com.

Thank you for considering my story.

Sue Dennin

555-555-5555

suedennin@domain.com

Notes

1. When I save an email draft I tend to reuse, I typically add “TEMPLATE” to the start of the subject line, making the original easier to find and duplicate among other drafts.

2. The biography section should be

   1. written in the third person—this deviates from novel queries.

   2. dynamic. If you have several publications and awards, only list a few that fit with the magazine’s genre, ones their readers would appreciate.

   3. skipped if you have no publications, unless the place you’re sending to asks for personal details.

   4. brief, as the publication will ask for more information about you if they accept your piece and want extra details to share with readers.

3. When in doubt, write a shorter cover letter. The message bridges your story or poem to the editor. The longer you make that bridge, the more planks you need to set correctly, lest you risk the editor falling through before they can reach and fall in love with your piece.

A Starry Poem Acceptance

My poetry publications page is growing a little brighter.

Hiraeth Publishing accepted my fantasy poem, “One More Walk in the Stars,” for their Shelter of Daylight publication in January 2026. The poem follows a narrator trying to hold onto a fallen star.

I’m looking forward to sharing it with you.

A Day for Love (Monsters)

Every online journal I’ve had shares a similar post about Valentine’s Day.

About time this one followed suit.

Each year, I hear people say they don’t celebrate Valentine’s. Their reasons are typically one, it was started to sell greeting cards, or two, you shouldn’t need a day to celebrate love.

Here’s another take.

You don’t need to wait for the holidays to give gifts, eat candy, or play dress up, but many of us celebrate holidays where giving gifts, eating candy, and playing dress up are a big part. So why should love be any different?

Show some heart every day, and when Valentine’s comes around, consider showing it again and showing it more. And regardless of how it started (I believe the aforementioned beginning is a myth) or even if it’s become commercialized, you don’t have to spend money to express nice sentiments for another. Do it however feels best to you. Remember, there are worse things to celebrate in the world than a day of love—and it’s even more beautiful to think that millions might be celebrating it at the same time. Imagine what the world might be like, if we celebrated love together a little more often.

With that, I leave you with a monster doodle of love that cost nothing and was fun to make. We’ll call him Heartmouth, and he hopes you’ll join him in wishing others a Happy Valentine’s.

Monster Doodles

I’ve been doodling monsters.

I often doodle them to unwind. I’ll either grab a notebook and a pen or my iPad and Procreate and just start drawing. I treat the process like a first draft of writing, focusing on a smidge of an idea and seeing what lands on the page. If I’m using Procreate, I usually start with a pencil tool, then add a layer to go over it with a pen tool. Sometimes I add color, sometimes not, whatever I’m feeling in the moment.

These doodles are brief but wonderful escapes from the day, and I try not to worry about the finished product or making “mistakes.” They’re supposed to be messy and fun and offer a moment to not worry about “mistakes,” but let seemingly errant lines lead where they may.

You’ll likely see some of these doodles wind up on my site, like the guy on the homepage, and you can also see them on Instagram. I’ve reduced how much I use social media—I’ve virtually stopped on X after having to block and report over 100 bot followers, plus no longer being able to make much sense of my feed—but I realized that the little I was using the socials, I was opening Instagram for cats and art. That brought me small moments of joy, so I figured I’d play around there for a bit. The plan right now is to share doodles, book and movie reviews, likely some writing tips and tidbits, and anything else that feels fun. Say hi if you’re around those parts, and feel free to share your own monster doodles!

And with that, I’ll say goodbye with two colored versions of the homepage monster doodle. Find more on the gram (@mattisnotscary).

Letter to the Great Pumpkin

Have you written your letter to the Great Pumpkin this year? He only visits one sincere pumpkin patch each Halloween, so you better put your pen to paper soon, if you haven’t already.

Here’s mine.

The letter reads:

Dear Great Pumpkin,

I want to tell you about my friends Charlie and Linus. Not that Charlie and Linus. Mine are cats, and they do not hang out in pumpkin patches. They probably don’t even like pumpkins. So, I’m asking that you do not visit them on Halloween. You should visit the other Charlie and Linus. They would appreciate seeing you—at least Linus would, but probably Charlie too. I know aloof cats can be irresistible, but they won’t care if you stop by—unless you bring food.

Happy Halloween!

Matt

P.S. The aloof cats.

Here There Be Promises: Writing Goals for Q4 2023

That time of year, again. Sharing more good ol’ goals. And, actually, if you look at the date on this post, it’s a little past that time of year, but the Post Your Goals On Time Police rarely patrol these parts, so we should be safe.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue to post goals in 2024, but I’ll likely continue creating them in the Reminders app. I have thoughts after four quarters of sharing them in this journal, and those thoughts should come early next year here.

For now, let’s take a look at last quarter.

#

If you remember, I decided to focus on fewer goals and wholly concentrate on writing. I mostly succeeded, although I chatted with friends and jotted notes about some design projects, but that was about it.

My main goal was to complete the third draft of the LS (formerly TLS) novel manuscript. I did, but I was a little behind the deadline. I landed in mid-September rather than on August 31. I then jumped into the fourth draft, because there were enough spots with new content that I wanted to edit, before shipping the story to beta readers.

I also spent a bit of time sending stories to publications and queries to agents. I usually send one, sometimes two, a week. The amount of time spent researching where to send manuscripts and tailoring queries still surprises me. Maybe there’s a more efficient method, but from what I’ve heard from others, it seems par for the course.

As to my goal of connecting with more writers on social media, that one is in a weird place. Twitter was my go-to, but I’m finding it harder to stumble on posts from writers and other creators I follow. Plus, my posts feel like they’re barely registering with the new X algorithm gods, which is frustrating. Imagine a shrug emoji here.

#

For Q4, October, November, and December, expect more of the same from last quarter with slight variations:

• Finish the fourth draft of LS by December 15.

• Send the fourth draft to beta readers by December 31.

• Start a short story or nonfiction piece by December 16.

• Send stories and pitches weekly to new publications and agents.

• Connect with writers on:

  • Twitter / X / Whatever it’s called when you’re reading this.

  • Discord

  • Writing Meetups

• Reassess the social networks I’m interested in using by December 31.

Again, for reference, here’s how the goals look in the iOS Reminders app. I track them there. Some missing from this screenshot are related to personal health and other life goals.

Feel free to share your goals for the quarter, too, if public declarations help you hold yourself accountable.

Happy storytelling.

Right to Be Here

Below is a simple piece, a sort of prose poem, that I had jotted about belonging some time ago and forgot about. I recently stumbled on the writing, reread it, and liked it. Rather than keep it tucked away in digital limbo, I figured I would share it. I think anyone who hasn’t felt like they belonged might find some meaning from it.

Here it is:

You arrived, after an unimaginable journey, disoriented and shy and looking wrong for arriving.

You belong here, we said, but, No, you don’t, they said. So we showed them. We showed them your smile, your frown, the way you blush and pale, just like us, but, No, you don’t, they said. We showed them your bruises, your stories of crushing loss, of small gains, made them feel as you had, but No, you don’t, they said. Finally, we stopped showing them. We dressed you. We fed you. We housed you. We connected you to others. And now, when we see them, we don’t even ask, because we already know, You belong here.

Brief Book and Movie Reviews

If you read my design article with Smashing Magazine, you know I’m not a huge fan of star ratings, but I like writing reviews. They remind me of what I enjoyed or wished was different, and they help me make recommendations, which I also like doing. With that in mind, here are a few brief reviews from recent reads and watches.

You can follow along and see more book reviews on Goodreads and movie reviews on Letterboxd.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Book Review

A novel written by Gabrielle Zevin.

I finished reading the last page and asked myself, Why did I like this book?

It’s a simple premise. Two friends try to make games together with varying levels of success. But success and failure means something different to each of them, and their reactions to outcomes and to each other’s reactions, while hard to agree with at times, always make sense, because Zevin has created two unique characters who are fully, and wonderfully, and tragically human.

That is a long way of saying that I like this book, because the story is well told.

Nanny

Movie Review

A horror movie written and directed by Nikyatu Jusu.

Anna Diop’s—the main actor’s—range from sweet and charming to haunting and angered drives the film. Her actions, speech, and mannerisms do a lot of heavy lifting to create a character, Aisha, you feel for, despite the story sometimes introducing disparate elements that can distract viewers from empathizing with Aisha. Even after the credits roll, you’ll probably still wonder how some of the elements connect, but that reflection feels more like a welcome challenge than one intending to frustrate you with ambiguity. Plus, the strong main character, dark story, and beautiful cinematography are more than engaging enough to make a well-crafted horror film. My biggest wish is that they would remove the “scary” CGI. It actually detracts from the quieter and more grounded horrors Aisha faces.

The Book of the Cat: Cats in Art

Book Review

An art book written by Angus Hyland and Caroline Roberts.

I may have read the best book I will ever read.