February aged me

It does so every year, and as I am progressing through my mid-forties, I FEEL that. Also, I hear it when I rise in the morning. Anyway, as a late present, you could nudge someone to read a story of mine. I would love that. Come a bit closer; I will tell you what I have been up to.

Projects

Short story collection(s)

I didn’t do much editing of those, was simply way too busy getting fresh stories done and participating in this distracting thing called life. Complete with day job, social obligations, doomscrolling on social media, etc. And that’s a wrap.

Develop new writing routines

That went astoundingly well! I did, in fact, put seven pieces online (Ko-Fi but free to read) since the last issue of this newsletter? I mean… how? What the heck? I went from a weird, slow, meager 2025 to a rushing, shooting, frenzied 2026. Here, have some links (disclaimer: I call everything beneath 1599 words flash fiction):

For the Silverbark Forest
A fantasy flash fiction about a duo of treewardens facing an impossible task to protect their forest.

Falling Star
A sci-fi fantasy flash fiction, also Author Avengers Prompt Fill - it has a dragon and a spaceship?

…and Vengeance
A fantasy short story that has our favorite vampire Vraska visit Splicziovsya by the Sea.

Derelict, Freelancer, Scavenger, Void
A sci-fi flash fiction - Gustav accepted a shady salvaging contract. What could go wrong?

Too Much Power
A fantasy flash fiction, where an elven shaman makes a terrifying discovery.

Two Batteries And Seven Years
A sci-fi flash fiction where we revisit Caestus II seven years after Jana Drost tried to escape with her son Calvin from a secret Arnand Tek experiment(read this first, probably).

Too Much To Ask
A fantasy flash fiction and Author Avengers prompt fill. Grand Vizier Silnias finds his world has significantly changed in the course of one breakfast.

Rewriting my novel

This stalled as well as the collection project. I still don’t know if rewriting is the way to go. Reading my old, rushed draft zero is kind of depressing in its own way. I have to figure out a routine or mindset that won’t feed my impostor syndrome into a frenzy.

A blink from the past

As I have already posted seven stories for you to read, I won’t bore you with an eighth piece here. Instead, I remind myself and everybody who reads this that three years ago I joined the Author Avengers, a group of writers who promised to help each other out, promoting their pieces. Two months after that, I changed my pen name from a gamer handle to Morris Wayts, which felt like a very important step to feel like a ‘real’ writer. I don’t know if this sounds silly to you, but I wouldn’t have done that without the support this group gave me.

We created a space that I feel is welcoming and wholesome, and filled with immensely creative people. They also saved (and continue to save) me from tearing myself apart in the eternal battle with my impostor syndrome. I can’t give back remotely enough to them to make up for it, but I will forever try.

Promotions

Facets - Short story compilation by Aradhna K

“A collection of five short stories about love, heartbreak, and hope. These are stories about first loves and second chances, family and friends, healing and finding yourself.”
My opinion: at $3.99 this is a steal and worth every cent! Ara’s stories touch my heart without fail, and I love the facets of emotions she evokes!

Free promotion slot!

Dear reader, you want me to put your link in the next newsletter to tell the world (my readers are my world! At least one of my worlds!) about your project?

You can contact me replying to this newsletter or via the contact form on my website.

Fizz & Bang

I will not muse about the obvious here. Everybody smells the smoke and feels the heat. It is difficult to think about anything else, for most of us who are aware; some decide to refuse that awareness, to not follow news or social media, and damn… I envy them, kind of, knowing that I can’t do that. I am not built that way.

To mitigate the effects of smoke and heat, I turn to the little joys: hugging my child, cooking, stuff like that. Providing food is always a good way to show affection and fill a room with little joys. I am also dead set on hugging my son as many times as I manage before he grows out of that, which won’t be long; he is nine years old now, after all.

Also, music. Songs are always helping me to change gears, and sometimes mood. Some voices soothe more than others; Amy Lee from Evanescence, for example, Lzzy Hale from Halestorm. Sting, always and forever my fallback if worries take over. Linking Park.

Lately, I've started cleaning up the workshop and working on some small projects again, mostly woodworking. I want to carve primitive bows again. It soothes the mind to create something with your hands. I missed out on that for way too long now.

Don’t forget to find something you can do with your hands, remember to listen to the music that you love, and hug your loved ones and prepare a good meal for them. Despite the Everything we need to breathe.

So breathe.

It’s wild out there, be excellent to each other.

Best regards,

Morris

P.S.: Would love to read your feedback/what you want to know more about? Thx & bye!