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Words Deferred is a blog about writing fiction, in all of its myriad forms.

It’s 2025, and I’m reviewing books and giving away my story ideas!

2024 was my Year of Short Stories. I spent 52 weeks writing sci-fi and fantasy stories and submitting them to publications. I wrote weekly updates to discuss my progress, as well as the ins and outs of writing and submitting short fiction in these markets. Read the kickoff, or see all the posts.

Previously, I spent almost two years writing Razor Mountain, a novel that I updated here twice per month. I documented the entire process, from ideas and outlining to the cover design and back-cover blurb to the chapters themselves. You can read all of it on my Razor Mountain landing page.

If you’d rather read some of my free microfiction or hundred-word drabbles, check out the Fiction section.

If you’re looking for something else, use the search, categories and tags in the sidebar, or check out my most recent posts below.

Week 10 — Year of Short Stories 2026

2026 is another year of short stories. In this weekly series, I talk about short story writing, from idea and draft to submission. This is week ten: Mar. 9-15. Stats Goals and Results My goals for last week were: I had a story in the Critters queue, and I needed…

Solarpunk 101

The term “solarpunk” has been on my radar for a couple years: a fuzzy idea of a genre that has ecology and climate change near its center, and the overused “-punk” suffix that we can no longer trust to have much real meaning. When I finally picked up an actual…

Week 9 — Year of Short Stories 2026

2026 is another year of short stories. In this weekly series, I talk about short story writing, from idea and draft to submission. This is week nine: Mar. 2 – 8. Stats Goals and Results My goals for last week were: It was a busy week outside of writing, but…

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