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To the lady at the bookstore who bought a stack of banned books and told me, “I want my child to be able to read these in the future,” I see you.

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Caffeine and chapters the perfect duo ☕📚

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The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

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My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s Ok. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? Ask me the altitude of heaven, and I will answer, “How tall are you?” In my back pocket is a love note with every word you wish you’d said. At night I sit ecstatic at the loom weaving forgiveness into our worldly regrets. All day I listen to the radio of your memories. Yes, I know every secret you thought too dark to tell me, and love you more for everything you feared might make me love you less. When you cry I guide your tears toward the garden of kisses I once planted on your cheek, so you know they are all perennials. Forgive me, for not being able to weep with you. One day you will understand. One day you will know why I read the poetry of your grief to those waiting to be born, and they are all the more excited. There is nothing I want for now that we are so close I open the curtain of your eyelids with my own smile every morning. I wish you could see the beauty your spirit is right now making of your pain, your deep seated fears playing musical chairs, laughing about how real they are not. My love, I want to sing it through the rafters of your bones, Dying is the opposite of leaving. I want to echo it through the corridor of your temples, I am more with you than I ever was before.  Do you understand? It was me who beckoned the stranger who caught you in her arms when you forgot not to order for two at the coffee shop. It was me who was up all night gathering sunflowers into your chest the last day you feared you would never again wake up feeling lighthearted. I know it’s hard to believe, but I promise it’s the truth. I promise one day you will say it too– I can’t believe I ever thought I could lose you.

love letter from the afterlife, andrea gibson

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Sanctum,

in perigee to the eloquence of contours, the way we sway and move in tune with the sea,

becomes a tale of chemistry, we play palmistry

—your fingers reading me aptly and sans thought, only sense,

unmoored and carried by the currents.

Memories

aren't made to shine alabaster and pristine, they bear verdigris chapters of layer-by-layer feeling, morsels of pearl mixed with barnacles and mud, silt

upon the ocean floor—

and, rummaging through tresses of seaweed, I try to remember vestiges of something wrapped in mist, a trace of touch

that seems only a dream.

© Anna S. 2025

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Tumblr has changed so much since the last time I was on it (literally a decade ago)

Anyways. Welcome to the silly little writing blog where I don't keep the chaos much in check, and I aim to bring the vibes and collect some resources. Occasionally, I'll post some snippets from old journals and such. But really I'm hoping to find more community.

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10 Writing Exercises

Keep a journal. One fundamental way to become a better writer is to practice daily writing in a journal. Setting a daily writing time can help you get into the consistent habit of writing and help you push through writer’s block. Freewriting can also turn into blogging and eventually lead to published pieces. The best way to confront the blank page is to keep writing with regularity.

Choose a setting. If you’re having trouble getting started on a piece of writing or want to practice with a writing exercise, choose a location and structure a story around it. Choose someplace with which you have familiarity or are able to thoroughly research.

Describe a real person. One way to get the creative juices flowing and practice writing character development is to freewrite about a real person. This could be anyone in your life: an ex-boyfriend, a former English teacher, or even your younger self. This is a great way to strengthen your powers of description.

Write a series of first sentences. A fun writing activity for your practice sessions is to seek out or create your own prompt sentences that you can use to start a piece of writing. Using a good creative writing prompt can be a fun writing activity that gets you out of your head and helps you put your thoughts onto the page.

Join a writing workshop. Seeking out writing courses can be a great way to meet fellow writers and get a step-by-step approach to the writing process from a teacher you trust. A writing instruction course or workshop is often a more informal group of writers who trade things they’ve written and give suggestions and feedback. A writing class often has a lesson plan with distinct writing lessons that will give you a chance to practice different writing techniques. Teachers of a writing class might give a writing assignment between classes in order to help you develop a specific skill.

Break down your favorite pieces of writing. One good way to develop your own style and learn about the writing process is to analyze a written work that you admire. Look for books or essays by a great writer whose style you would like to emulate and do an in-depth close reading. For instance, if you like Ernest Hemingway, take some time to read The Sun Also Rises while paying close attention to story structure, diction, and stylistic choices.

Write an outline without feeling the pressure to use it. A tip for first-time writers is to spend time outlining and pre-writing ideas without committing to turning them into fully-fledged written works. This practice exercise applies across genres, whether you’re writing a novel or starting out in essay writing.

Edit something you’ve set aside for a while. The best writers never speed through the editing and revising stage on a writing project. First drafts are meant to be revised and it’s important to put the time into editing your work in order to produce something worth reading. Dig up something you haven’t worked on in a while, and practice editing it. Note how your writing sensibilities have changed over time.

Experiment with different genres. Just because you have more experience or familiarity with a particular type of writing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment in other genres. A great way to develop your own writing and gain practical know-how is to dabble in something out of your comfort zone. Fashion bloggers might try writing short stories and novelists might try their hand at business writing.

Brush up on the rules. Studying grammatical rules and stylistic guidelines can be a great way to spend your time during a writing practice session. Even if you feel that you know grammar inside and out, a little refresher will improve your writing and make you more confident.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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Oscar Wilde, from a letter featured in The Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde

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sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

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Molly Brodak

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From Upstream by Mary Oliver

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July Morning Joys by Dmitry Alekseev

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Hurricane

by Mary Oliver

It didn't behave like anything you had ever imagined. The wind tore at the trees, the rain fell for days slant and hard. The back of the hand to everything. I watched the trees bow and their leaves fall and crawl back into the earth. As though, that was that. This was one hurricane I lived through, the other one was of a different sort, and lasted longer. Then I felt my own leaves giving up and falling. The back of the hand to everything. But listen now to what happened to the actual trees; toward the end of that summer they pushed new leaves from their stubbed limbs. It was the wrong season, yes, but they couldn't stop. They looked like telephone poles and didn't care. And after the leaves came blossoms. For some things there are no wrong seasons. Which is what I dream of for me.

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friendly reminder to visit your local library