distraction no.99 – Nova Ren Suma • Writing about writing to distract ...

On the liminal space between book projects, taming the ideas, and embracing the wait
All my creative ideas have crawled out from under their mossy rocks and are batting their eyes at me asking if it’s their moment yet. They want to be fed and watered and dusted off. They want their time in my lap. It’s exciting and overwhelming—both...

On the changing landscape of publishing, bookish fears, and finding the wonder again
The last time I published a novel—a book called A Room Away from the Wolves in the fall of 2018—the world was a different one. Among all the obstacles that have come since, from the physical to the private and personal, I wonder if this is connected...

On bad dreams, working in publishing, & the fear of the unknown
During the years I worked a full-time job in book publishing I used to have a recurring dream about a rotting house.
No matter how a dream might begin, at some point I’d find myself back in the attic of the house: ceiling sloped down, dark decay, floorboards grotesquely soft and sinking into sludge under my feet, sickly pinkish-orange stains on the walls. In the way...

There is no greater pairing than a misfit thirteen-year-old girl and her Ouija board. I was new in town, afraid to speak up, and sporting an extremely unfortunate haircut. I’d never been kissed. I loathed my odd name. I ached 24/7, in different inexplicable...