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What I've Done During Our Year of Dumpster Fire 2025

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I keep saying I'm going to write this post, but so much of this year has been overwhelming and traumatic in ways that make me run and hide from having to look back. I also recognize that's part of why I need to write this post. I need to see the places where creativity and exploration grew through the cracks like dandelions in the sidewalk. Remind me to tell you the dandelion story someday. Not today, though. I've already got a lot to cover here.  (Three very large piles of origami cranes in a variety of colors.) I started the year with a commitment to folding one thousand origami cranes, and I did it! I'm thankful for everyone who told me how much they loved seeing the pictures each day. Each crane was folded as a prayer, but I don't know how far I would have made it if I hadn't had those little messages of joy and hope. (Green cherry tomatoes growing on a plant with a red brick wall in the background.) After too many years of not growin...
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I did not create a new form of poetry.

I was going through organizing the poems I've written this year (current count: more than I thought!) and I had an idea for a form based on one of my favorite numbers.  Okay, this may be important information because you will see me make mistakes with numbers. If not now, it will happen eventually. It does happen in me talking about what I was doing with this. I have dyscalculia. It is a learning disability often called "the mathematical dyslexia" because it's similar enough, in some ways, that people who have never heard of it don't have to sit through a long explanation when that isn't the focus of the conversation. I make mistakes with numbers that people don't usually expect from someone who has made it through first or second grade. It's not because I don't understand basic math. It's because a learning disability makes it hard for me to add without counting on my fingers, read maps, remember which coin has which value, and a list of other...
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Kindle, goodreads, and sharing poems

I have a "What I Did During Our Year of Dumpster Fire 2025" post in mind, but we're not there yet. Where are we, then? We're at a point where my writing is more widely available!  You can now get  my work on Kindle . That means you can also gift my work to someone else on Kindle. Yes, it's still available  on Itch.io  and through  my ko-fi . Some people would prefer not to buy from Amazon, others will find it easier on Kindle, and I'm keeping options open.  You can also find those books on goodreads now! I'm working on getting in with their author program, but for now you can find my work on goodreads by searching for "LK Nesse". I admit I'm nervous about reviews. I don't think everyone would love my work. If that's what I was aiming for, I wouldn't be putting enchanted forest stories and American cinquain poems out there. Ideally, I think reviews are important for helping people find what is right for them and avoid what isn'...
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Where am I going with all of this?

It's after 3:30 am, so I can tell you where I should be going, and that's to bed. Sleep isn't coming easily, though, I have a little cat friend curled up close to me, and I said in the beginning that I would likely use this blog to talk through things for myself more than anything else. Welcome to Me Talking to Myself!  I started Our Year of Dumpster Fire 2025 determined to finally make good on a promise I made to myself many years ago when I was in elementary school. Become an author! Which, okay...I guess I had already done that. I've written a lot of things over the years. But I meant an author who has books available for people to buy! The problem at the beginning of the year was that I was scared. Information about Amazon seemed overwhelming. Everything else looked even more overwhelming. There were a few options I read information about and didn't understand enough of it to know if I thought it would be overwhelming or not.  Let's not forget my dear friend...
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"Little Things" now available!

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Remember when  I shared some of the cinquain poems  I've been writing? Well, that grew into a collection of 42 poems!  (The cover of the collection of poems by LK Nesse titled Little Things . A purple background with the title, author's name, and three outlines of star shapes in soft white.) You can get the collection as both epub and pdf  through itch. io , or for the same price from  my ko-fi .  The few poems I shared before are included in this collection. Obviously, that's not 42 poems, so what else is in there? Most of them are about things like communication in relationships, frustration when people don't follow directions, love of lakes and oceans, and thoughts about deciding to release a collection of poems into the world. It starts, though, with explanations of the formats written as poems. For example, here's the explanation of the butterfly cinquain: Just two syllables in the middle will attach a line of eight to another line of eigh...
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What am I working on?

I want to tell you I'm taking the winter off from working on anything other than promoting what I've already put out. I want to make it sound like life is so luxurious that I can just take several months off and do that "picture perfect holidays with family" thing. But I think one of my cinquain poems gives a more accurate expression of what winter often is for me.  The earth sleeps. Families prepare to celebrate. The neurons in my brain say we are doomed. Winter is most definitely not  "the most wonderful time of the year" for me. Holidays add stress to it, and I don't even have a mountain of social obligations piled up with the gifts. (I'm thankful for that. Please do not send me your social obligations. I'm good with what I've got.) Writing is work, but it's also therapeutic for me. I will keep writing through the winter. And, seriously, maybe I don't want to make it sound like everything is so ridiculously luxurious. I'd eithe...
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The Pirate Story

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Have I ever told you the pirate story? If you know me outside of the Internet, there's a pretty good chance that I've pulled a deck of cards out and told it in person. If you've been following me long enough, you may have seen me go through it on one social media platform or another over the years.  I don't do videos, so we're going to use photos for this. Grab a deck of playing cards and follow along so you'll know I didn't just lay out whichever cards I wanted to! Maybe you'll even decide to tell the story yourself at some holiday gathering. If your deck has Jokers, take them out for this. You'll want the cards put in order for each suit. If you're looking at the stacked up, the Ace should be on top, then 2 through 10, Jack, Queen, and King. I guess the King has to carry the weight of everything in his domain. It doesn't matter what order you put the suits in, but I like to alternate the colors. A deck of cards with one suit spr...
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