jana h-s (they/she)

look

SETTING: Exterior, a rocky beach. Calm surf. Dim morning light. You try to remember sitting here with Her. You try to remember the first time She brought you here. You feel yourself sink into the mud. The cold water soaks into your clothes. You do not remember how you got here. A single figure stands in the distance, unmoving. Two voices are heard.

You had the dream again?

Yes.

Better or worse than the ones where you're drowning?

Different. Barely.

Have you figured out what it means yet?

Are you going to tell me?

No. I want you to describe it to me again.

And that will help me understand?

Are you under the impression that I'm here to help you understand?

this is an excerpt from my forthcoming novella, Nearshore. it is about grief and crabs and the end of the world. I hope you like it

SETTING: Exterior, a rocky beach. Calm surf. Dim morning light. You try to remember sitting here with Her. You try to remember the first time She brought you here. You feel yourself sink into the mud. The cold water soaks into your clothes. You do not remember how you got here. A single figure stands in the distance, unmoving. Two voices are heard.

You had the dream again?

Yes.

Better or worse than the ones where you're drowning?

Different. Barely.

Have you figured out what it means yet?

Are you going to tell me?

No. I want you to describe it to me again.

And that will help me understand?

Are you under the impression that I'm here to help you understand?

in the interest of reaffirming both my Existence as a person and my continued activity as a Producer of Serious Writing, I am pleased to announce that my novella continues to materialize

if I'm being ambitious, I'd say there's a decent chance I'll have a full draft done by the end of november, then I'll polish it up and put it out around the end of the year. but, it turns out, I'm not a particularly ambitious person, so it's more likely that it will be out "early next year" which, appropriately, would put the life cycle of this strange creature at almost exactly one year

I'm currently undecided on whether I'm going to want beta readers, mainly because the venn diagram of people who I would seek feedback from and people who are likely to actually read the final product is essentially a circle, and a fairly small one at that. that said, Act I is starting to solidify. so, if I do decide to let some people see it, that might start happening relatively soon. tbh, I'm not sure for whose benefit I'm saying this part, since I'll reach out to whoever through other means. just thinking out loud, mostly

I do think I'm going to start pulling scenes to tease On Here, since I feel like that will help keep up my momentum. so, uh, Watch This Space if that's something you care about

I hope you're doing well. I'm doing okay. 💚💜🦀