<![CDATA[The Fox Writes - Aliska\'s blog]]>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:14:57 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Writing News]]>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:14:29 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/writing-news9149192Almost a year ago I posted that I had a story coming out in the Beyond Words Anthology Do Not Disturb.  It's a collection of creepy hotel stories and poetry, published by Beyond Words Press, Berlin, Germany.  My story is titled "The Buena Vista Inn." Published in August 2025, it took a while for my copy to arrive, but the quality was worth the wait.


]]><![CDATA[Interlochen Writing Retreat]]>Sun, 22 Jun 2025 17:53:33 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/interlochen-writing-retreatI've posted a few pictures from last week at Interlochen.  The retreat is a generative workshop, with writing prompts and free writing, as well as working on individual projects.  It's also great just to be "Up North" in the summer.  

I have a story coming out soon in Beyond Words Literary Magazine.  I wrote the story about 15 years ago, and it was rejected so many times that I thought I would never find a home for it!  Browsing Submittable, I found a themed contest and it was accepted within 2 days.  This journal promises a quick decision, and they delivered on that.  I'll post something when it comes out.
]]><![CDATA[Back to writing after a short detour]]>Sat, 15 Jan 2022 22:53:31 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/back-to-writing-after-a-short-detourIn August 2021 I accepted a consulting job through The Registry, a specialized firm that places higher ed professional in temporary assignments.  This involved a month of remote work, and then a move to Bethany, West Virginia, home of Bethany College.  I was on-site there until just before Christmas, when I returned to Michigan and finished the assignment remotely.
At Bethany I learned a lot and I met a lot of great people.  A permanent employee was hired in November, so we had the chance to work together for a few weeks.  Bethany is a very small town located near the Ohio River.  It's an easy drive most of the way, except for the last six miles, when Bethany Pike winds up a mountain road to the college location at U.S. 88 & 67.  

In August I was also trying to finish my online journal, Fox Paw Literary.  The consulting job made it difficult to work on the journal and get it published.  Three MFA colleagues helped me select the work, and I am grateful to them!  Eventually I hired a firm to finish building and publishing the site.  Without Design Pros USA, Fox Paw would probably still not be a reality!  

I enjoyed the assignment, but it's good to be home.  Looking forward to writing some stories drawing on this experience and maybe, eventually, a 2nd edition of Fox Paw.  

Update...well, now I'm into my 3rd year as a consultant for The Registry and have just finished my 5th assignment.  I guess it must be said that I am more Registrar than Writer at this point, yet the two professions are not that far apart. Both require ingenuity, creativity, patience and perseverance.  Registry assignments have taken me West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and most recently North Carolina (my New Jersey assignment was 100% remote.)

I'm back home in Michigan for now, and writing a story that attempts to bring together some of the elements I've observed over the years.  Hoping to produce a lighthearted take on the woes of modern-day higher education, with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor.




]]><![CDATA[Persistence pays off...sometimes]]>Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:44:05 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/persistence-pays-offsometimesIn the past week I've received my usual quota of rejections, but also two acceptances!

The two stories are from my MFA collection.  I wrote "Swimming in the Dark" about 15 years ago.  The story made it through the MFA critique process and then it was rejected 10 times.  It will be published by Pure Slush as part of their "growing up" series: pureslush.com/submissions/current-submissions/lifespan-series/growing-up-lifespan-vol-2/
Note that if you're a writer, submissions are still open until March 31, 2021!

The other story, 'Reality Check', was written during my Abu Dhabi years and critiqued by the Abu Dhabi Writers' workshop and other writer friends.  It will be published online April 1 by Change Seven Magazine.changesevenmag.com/
]]><![CDATA[805 Lit Blog Post]]>Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:46:12 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/805-lit-blog-postOne more acceptance recently from 805lit.org - a blog post about my (modest) home library.  It's part of a series and I'm in excellent company! This was posted on Feb. 11, 2021.

www.805lit.org/post/on-the-other-side]]><![CDATA[Second-guessing the story's ending...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2020 18:41:36 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/second-guessing-the-storys-endingI collected a couple more rejections the past few weeks but still have 8 pieces out to different journals.  Also got some good feedback on one story.  The editors liked the piece but not the ending.  I have a weakness for happy endings and in this case, I might have got an acceptance if I had "killed my darlings" as the saying goes.

The feedback continued that I should consider submitting the piece to a women's magazine instead of a literary journal, saying "This is no shade...these can be well-paying markets."

I sometimes buy these magazines to see what fiction they are publishing.  Sometimes quite good stuff (Redbook, for example.)  And sometimes stories like the one I wrote, where the author almost, but not quite, gets it right.  

So I can choose to keep the new ending, where the eccentric character gets back on her feet and is given a fluffy kitten, and submit it to Women's World or similar.  Or I can revert back to the ambiguous ending and keep trying to place the piece in a journal.

As I think about this, I'm afraid that 2020 may have given me a bias toward fluffy-kitten endings!
]]><![CDATA[Nanowrimo 2020]]>Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:17:24 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/nanowrimo-2020This year has given people like me plenty of time, so I decided to attempt Nanowrimo again.  More than halfway through the month, I'm only at 14,727 words.  Need to step it up if I'm going to "win" Nano for the third year!  50K words needed by midnight on Nov. 30.

I'm fortunate to have new writing buddies from the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, known as "Ermites."  
]]><![CDATA[Erma Bombeck Workshop]]>Sun, 25 Oct 2020 19:37:05 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/erma-bombeck-workshopExcited to be participating in this workshop at the end of this week:
https://udayton.edu/artssciences/initiatives/erma/2020-workshop/index.php
I've long admired humor writers - I'm a fan of Dave Barry, Carl Hiassen and others.  Sometimes humor does come out in my writing, but always by accident - so I am looking forward to this workshop.  Plus, we need it right now!
]]><![CDATA['The Tyranny of Bacon' is published]]>Mon, 24 Aug 2020 17:26:55 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/the-tyranny-of-bacon-is-publishedI received my copy the other day:
https://pureslush.com/store/anthologies-themed/the-tyranny-of-bacon/
]]><![CDATA[Writing in the time of Covid-19]]>Sat, 01 Aug 2020 19:48:44 GMThttps://www.thefoxwrites.com/aliskas-blog/writing-in-the-time-of-covid-19My job at Marygrove College has mostly ended.  I work only an hour or two a week, helping the students figure out how to get transcripts.  So once again I'm fortunate to have plenty of time for writing.

Right now I have 10 pieces under consideration by various journals.  Six of those are marked as "received" on Submittable.com. This most likely means they are in the slush pile.  The other four are "in progress."  This might mean (I hope) that someone has read them and they are not rejected (yet!)

I have one story set to be published by Pure Slush in their anthology, "Tyranny of Bacon."  I wrote this piece in a couple of days, but I'd had in mind to write about bacon sometime.  Living in a country where pork products are forbidden for a large segment of the population, I developed more of a taste for them!  They are available to non-Muslims.  The government is vigilant about regulating these products.  Even pet foods are screened.  The publication date for this book has been delayed by the pandemic but it should be published later this month.

Today I posted my first-ever live video on my page 

www.facebook.com/The-Fox-Writes-108940060690557
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