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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here There Be Promises: Writing Goals for Q3 2023

Apparently, Squarespace has an AI feature that helps people write. Always curious to toy with new tech—even if I don’t intend to continue using it—of course I tried it. I asked it to sum up my goals from Q2. And according to AI, I spent a lot

How to Tell a Story With a Central Dramatic Argument

If you read my goals for this quarter, you know this entry is a few days late, but life (and other writing projects) happen. On we go. Some time back, my favorite writing podcast, The Bestseller Experiment, mentioned writing with a Central Dramatic Argument in mind. The concept comes from

writing resource

Here There Be Promises: Writing and Design Goals for Q2 2023

The first quarter has come and gone, seemingly as fast as a cobbler elf in the night. So now we’re here, early April, and it’s time to review what I completed and what’s coming next. You can learn more about my goals process from the January post.

reviews

Love for The Last House on Needless Street

I wrote a short review on Goodreads for Catriona Ward’s novel, The Last House on Needless Street. It’s early in the year, but there’s a good chance this is my book of the year. Similar to my favorite book in 2021, Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart

design

January Echoes: Writing and Design Goals for Q1 2023

I set goals most quarters, and January often sets the tone for the year. Writing goals can feel like starting a mini-story. I’m the character, I jot down what I want to achieve, and then, like a fun first draft, I set out to see how the story unfolds.

writing advice

A Writing Interview With a Manuscript Pitch

I recently had the privilege of chatting with author Mark Stay on one of my favorite writing podcasts, The Bestseller Experiment. We briefly discuss why I joined the Bestseller Academy for a spell, how it surrounded me with a much-needed creative community, and we talk about my finished novel manuscript.

writing resource

Writing Project Playlist: The Love Juke

While doing research or writing early drafts of a new story, I often enjoy playing music that matches the tale’s atmosphere. At least, what I think the atmosphere will be, as I don’t typically outline, and my early assumptions about the story may change—except for the original

writing advice

A Note About the Time I Failed to Quit Writing

This entry turned out longer than expected. I had planned to write about a small piece of good writing news, but I found that the backstory was relevant, and important for me personally, to jot down. So here we go. # Once, before I understood query letters and the amount of

design

A Starry—Or Not So Starry—Nonfiction Article

It’s been hectic, to say the least. Life in general has been. I’ll add more color to that claim later, but most of my sabbatical goals have been thrown for a loop. Disappointing, but it’s not all bad news around these parts. The good news is that

health

Sabbatical Goals that Include More Work. I Am Excited.

I helped create a sabbatical benefit with the company I work for, and I am using the benefit mid-July through mid-October. I was the sixth hire and have been at the company almost nine years. Contributing to growing the business and devoting myself to learn as much as I could—

learnings

Links to What I’ve Read About Star Ratings

I’m writing an article about star ratings, the ambiguity of them, mainly focused on how they fail readers. While writing the piece, I’ve read a number of articles for research. Several are linked to in the article, but not all. I’m sharing most of them here for

health

You Should Be Free to Care for Your Health

I’m writing an article about star ratings and creating designs. This week, I had planned to share links to interesting resources I found, while researching the topic, but with Roe v. Wade being overturned, I’m sharing five abortion healthcare resources instead. When your health is at risk, not

learnings

A Final Date with Tommy Shelby

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1600"] Image from Wikimedia Commons. [https://www.mattathanasiou.com/caption] I remember our first date. I started watching Peaky Blinders because, in addition to the dark, atmospheric setting, the opening credits uses the song Red Right Hand by my

design

Site Designs Left by the Wayside

I wrote in a previous entry that I designed too many versions of this site and wanted to stop. While that entry talks about how I ended up with the current iteration, I saved several of the unused versions. Here are a few mock-ups of those iterations, along with brief