“I wrote this stream of consciousness just after Roe v. Wade was overturned and I started working full time as a camp counselor to children 3-5 years old. I didn’t re-read it for 5 months. Looking at it now, it is collaged in such a way that accurately shows how I was feeling at the time, but it might be too unrelatable to other people, maybe only a treasure to myself alone.”

“I trashed this writing because I wrote it off a personal experience and think it is too localized in that specific situation to be relatable, and because I don't think I have found a place to live.”

“I originally wrote this story after witnessing an elderly gentleman in Gaeta, Italy walking out to the sea wall each day with his deceased wife’s photo in hand.  It was heartbreaking when I first heard the man’s story, yet steadying after watching him for weeks and weeks one summer when I was very young.  I rejected this work of mine for a couple reasons.  One, I always thought I’d write more on it, make it much longer.  And two, for a long time, I didn’t like how it ended.  I thought it would be more pleasing and rounded if the ring were to return to the old heartbroken man.  At this point in my life, I think it’s important to remember that good fortune is not just some guarantee that you can wait on, that you can expect.  Luck, the good kind and the bad, enters without knocking.”

“This is based on a childhood memory of growing up with a very clumsy, but lovely, sister. I “trashed” this piece, because I thought it might not have enough significance to be interesting to outsiders. Nonetheless, I enjoyed writing and capturing the moment, which we still laugh and talk about in our family many decades later.”