Hi there! My name is Austin and I am a writer, teacher, and podcaster from Indiana. I am currently working on two major projects: edits for my first novel and an anthology short fiction podcast that I produce with my wife and our friends.
I primarily write long-form speculative fiction, but I have crossed into short-form literary fiction, personal essays, magic realism, and young adult. The novel I am working on is a paranormal thriller set in a small town in Indiana that I modeled after my home town (start with what you know, I suppose!). My goal is to use this summer to do major edits and rewrites and begin querying agents in August.
I tend to read what I crave in the moment, and those cravings don't follow any sort of pattern (other than maybe lunar cycles). Often, I bounce between fantasy, mystery, literary, and horror, not necessarily in that order.
I have been writing since I could hold a pencil and make legible marks, but there has been an enormous gap in my creative writing. I wrote stories constantly as a kid, and I'm sure my parents still have some of my most poignant scribblings scrapbooked somewhere. But in high school, I became obsessed with reading and writing about what I read. I carried this through college and, after getting my BA in English Literature, went on to get an MA in English Literature. I wrote a lot, just not creatively. I began this novel a year ago, and it is the first extended piece of fiction I've worked on since I was 12.
Outside of writing, I enjoy gaming (tabletop and video games), baking, and the Irish sport hurling. I've recently succumbed to the world of podcasting, which has been one of the most creatively challenging and rejuvenating things I've done in my life, but it has allowed me to look at fiction in a new way and have meaningful conversations about writing, editing, and publishing with some fascinating people.
I look forward to engaging with all of you. If there is one thing I've learned this past year, it is that creativity thrives in a community.
I primarily write long-form speculative fiction, but I have crossed into short-form literary fiction, personal essays, magic realism, and young adult. The novel I am working on is a paranormal thriller set in a small town in Indiana that I modeled after my home town (start with what you know, I suppose!). My goal is to use this summer to do major edits and rewrites and begin querying agents in August.
I tend to read what I crave in the moment, and those cravings don't follow any sort of pattern (other than maybe lunar cycles). Often, I bounce between fantasy, mystery, literary, and horror, not necessarily in that order.
I have been writing since I could hold a pencil and make legible marks, but there has been an enormous gap in my creative writing. I wrote stories constantly as a kid, and I'm sure my parents still have some of my most poignant scribblings scrapbooked somewhere. But in high school, I became obsessed with reading and writing about what I read. I carried this through college and, after getting my BA in English Literature, went on to get an MA in English Literature. I wrote a lot, just not creatively. I began this novel a year ago, and it is the first extended piece of fiction I've worked on since I was 12.
Outside of writing, I enjoy gaming (tabletop and video games), baking, and the Irish sport hurling. I've recently succumbed to the world of podcasting, which has been one of the most creatively challenging and rejuvenating things I've done in my life, but it has allowed me to look at fiction in a new way and have meaningful conversations about writing, editing, and publishing with some fascinating people.
I look forward to engaging with all of you. If there is one thing I've learned this past year, it is that creativity thrives in a community.
Good luck with the edits and then sending it out to agents.
