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winter field with dead corn stalks in monochrome, bluish

Welcome to 2025 and the lotta things hanging over us… And David Lynch just died. I hope he went out gently. It’s interesting, sort of, to see what he meant to different people. Blue Velvet was one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen. I felt disturbed for days by the scissors scene… And the summer after my grandmother died, I tried to re-watch Erasure Head and cried my guts out. The previous viewing didn’t impact me that way, I was with friends in a dingy Detroit apartment, all of us on a wrinkled bed with beer and cold pizza watching a tiny screen. There’s a way company can impact how you experience film (or any art), but I recall how everyone seemed so disconnected in his movies, such an existential feeling… And yet often lacking something human for me, and so, not quite relatable, but still always impactful emotionally. I will probably revisit his work now…

Some people I’m fond of and who I have considered as part of my lit community have vanished due to all the social media corruption. I admit I’m a person with some residual abandonment issues, but having found a small creative community for the first time in my life, I am really saddened by the dismantling of it. If nothing else, I hope people find richer relationships that exist outside of social show-and-tell, character-limited interactions… I’m a bit amazed though at how easily people toss connections, almost as if this were all some kind of simulation (thanks Teresa Mestizo for seeding this concept).

About ten years ago or so, I got off Facebook for a year and mostly never communicated with people including what little family I have because that it the only way they wanted to interact.

This may be time for people to start having more picnics and for lesbians to do potlucks again. Social media has harmed us in so many ways. I think queers tried harder to get along, to build communities before online dating and social made us all seem like disposable objects.

For writerly news, I did an interview with James Diaz about my book in Anti-Heroin Chic in December. If you missed it, it’s here, and there’s another with Kristine Esser-Slentz in (Re) An Ideas Journal soon (maybe this month). Jami McCarty wrote a review of my book for New Pages (also out this month). I will be posting links! We talk some about grief in both of the interviews–also, about privacy issues, grandmothers, and writing trauma.

I have found it increasingly difficult to promote my work on social as my Meta accounts saw a shift awhile back, greatly reducing my reach. I believe it is shadowbanning. A lot of people including creatives are complaining about it. But also, some time last year, all the hashtags I used to tag queers disappeared (or were banned). Instagram won’t publish an actual list, but you can tell when you type or search (through suggestions) if they exist. The problem is that they will penalize your account for using them. I lost track of most of the queers I interacted with–and we used to see each other’s post regularly. You can read about this online. Instagram has been called out multiple times since 2016 for taking negative actions on queer accounts. I have spoken about the recent shift for months, but what I find is people are not alarmed about things until it impacts them personally. Right now, Meta’s tactics are impacting a lot of people, and they’ve given the red light for people to harass queers, not just ignoring it as they have for most of their history.

And Twitter (I still call it that), is another asshole you don’t need me to tell you about. My reach on Twitter, the month my book came out (before the election) was reduced by 75%. I used to count on 4000 views for a post (that is no influencer number), but suddenly, I was lucky to get 1000. Anyone who has been there long knows this isn’t good for a book. I feel really discouraged. But I’m staying–because I’m stubborn, and because there are people who are kind and who enrich my life with their art and their presence. I don’t think people will spring back as they did in previous exoduses, but I don’t know where this is all leading. I hated Bluesky the first time I was there, but some think it has improved. For now, I don’t have the bandwidth for another channel.

I will be doing another post about social soon, but I just wanted to drop in with a ’25 post. I hope you’re all hanging in there. I hope something comes of this cease fire, but I’m already hearing whacky things. Stay sane in the crazy new year, and find people to be safe with and furry creatures to cuddle. And please consider also that if you leave, they win. It’s divide and conquer. These evil people know what they’re after.

xo,

Koss

asemic art with earth tones, watercolor, and black ink characters in square format — Asemic Writing Image Published in Cutbow Quarterly

It’s been a busy publishing year and since creating a “What’s New” page, I’ve been really lazy about updating the site. I see people are actually looking at my blog, so I should be writing something brilliant for you (thank you for checking it out). Truth is, my Aquarian brain is sometimes visual, sometimes verbal, and sometimes able to write things. But I’ve mostly been in visual mode all year… so I hope you enjoy those things. I’ve had lots of publications since my last update. You will find some, but not all on my “What’s New” page. If you are not up to reading, you can certainly skip to that page for quick links. But know there are some erasure poems at the end of this article.

Compared to other years I submitted SIGNIFICANTLY less this year, but I did submit some. You may have read the popular blog post suggesting you submit 100 subs. I think 200-300 is a better range if you are serious about publishing. Of course, if you do long-form writing, 300 will probably not be possible, but if you write microfiction, flash, and poetry, maybe…

You will hear criticism about sending lots of subs and, of course, editors would like to feel their magazine is special so you should only submit to them and a couple of select others, but here’s the thing, their journals can still be special while you are trying to take care of yourself. Subbing in quantity is especially important for marginalized people as we don’t have access to the same networks and, I have to say, privileges that certain other groups have. This does not reduce it to a numbers game — you should still send to journals you like and editors you trust. If 300 is overwhelming, then start with 100. If you’re only submitting to say, those university presses and fancy publications, you might get a 3-percent placement. From what I’ve heard, this would not be a bad number, depending on the acceptance rates of the publications. But enough of my advice.

So here are a few highlights of my publishing life since April (when I published my last update). I had five poems including a new erasure published in Speakeasy, a new queer journal. They are to be compiled into their inaugural issue. If you like Transformers, you’ll like the erasure. It’s so nice to get a little love for erasure poems.

Cutbow included an asemic piece and used it for the cover (check out the main image on this page). If you haven’t seen Cutbow, it’s a very professionally managed (by editor, Arden Hunter) print and digital journal for experimental and visual poetry.

pink flamingos with beaver mag text and orange and pink psychadelic background

I have two Wuthering Heights visual erasures forthcoming in the print version of Permafrost. They say it will be released this month after a long delay. Fingers crossed. You can find more of my Wuthering Heights pieces here and here in several other journals including Sage Cigarettes and Beaver Mag, both run by lovely people, I can’t say enough nice things about the Sage Cigarettes staff (Sadee, L.E., Steph and all). Beaver Mag also included one of my crossword poem/collages in their “Tacky and Tasteless” issue this past summer. Beaver Mag is a queer-friendly newer journal with very diverse taste in art and poetry. They are LOVELY and friendly. You should send them work if they seem like a good fit.

black eyeglasses with purple lenses on pink background with promotional text

Another of my favorite journals for experimental work, Petrichor, also published crossword poems in their latest giant issue. They were published in the Pebbles section and they have a new future/sci-fi call up soon you might want to check out. I believe the deadline was extended, but I’d check out their Twitter or Blue Sky page for updates. Petrichor also blew me away with a BoTN nomination for an ekphrastic poem they previously published. Find it here. Seth (EIC) is another extremely professional editor and I highly recommend Petrichor, especially for experimental writing and visual poetry.

I have several new asemic writing pieces up at Up the Staircase Quarterly. They do an excellent job of displaying art and there’s lots to look at in this issue, so be sure to check it out. April is another super-nice-professional editor to work with.

I was lucky to get invited to Second Sunday readings. You already missed it, but it lives on YouTube.

And, finally, I was blessed to receive some Best of the Net nominations this year. You can read about them and find links to the work, along with many of the other nominees on this dedicated page. I’m very grateful to all of the editors for thinking of me, and this happened during a rather discouraging time… Being a writer and artist is a tough path, as I’m sure you know if you’re reading this.

Be well. Keep writing, painting, drinking coffee, and most of all, I hope you’re making space for joy. My recent joys include joining an asemic group on social and seeing all the wonderful work people do. There is something very different about taking in art as opposed to reading for me as it occurs in a “brain-rest” state. I highly recommend inviting visual art into your world. The other joy over the last couple days is the blackout rejection letter poems people are sharing on social. I’ll leave you with several I made. Thanks for stopping by.

Welcome to 2025 – Is Social Media Dead?

2023 Three-Quarter Year Publishing Update | Koss

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